Introduction to knowledge exchange at the Foundation

The Canadian Health Services Research Foundation focuses on the evidence-based management of Canada’s healthcare system. We know that research can contribute to a knowledge base that helps ensure the best possible decisions are made in the management of our healthcare system. The Foundation’s role is to help bridge the gap between research and healthcare management and policy.

The Foundation has put together this guide to knowledge exchange resources to assist applicants for research funding and, more generally, to help decision makers and researchers incorporate knowledge exchange into their work. Throughout the guide, you will find links to definitions and resources which will help you to better understand knowledge exchange and apply it in your work, as well as suggestions for further reading. In addition, there are specific tips and checklists for individuals who have received, or are looking for, funding from the Foundation.

Knowledge exchange is at the heart of the Foundation’s work, an explicit part of our official mission and strategy, and woven throughout our objectives. The Foundation defines knowledge exchange as collaborative problem-solving between researchers and decision makers. Our model of knowledge exchange is distinguished by linkage and exchange between decision makers and health services researchers throughout the process of planning, producing, and disseminating research and applying research in decision-making.

The Foundation works on a number of fronts to incorporate knowledge exchange into health services research, management, and policy. We:

  • engage in collaborative priority-setting to establish national health services research directions;
  • fund health services research in our priority theme areas, in which knowledge exchange is a key criterion;
  • offer user-friendly summaries of research evidence, such as the Mythbusters series;
  • fund research syntheses in key areas such as nursing and primary healthcare — evaluations of research evidence aimed at making “best practice” recommendations for a specific area of management or policy development;
  • promote the effective dissemination of research results to help ensure they are a factor in decision-making;
  • organize workshops and exchanges to bring together researchers and decision makers;
  • encourage, via training and other activities, the development of research exchange capacity in the research community and receptor capacity in the decision-maker community; and
  • support the development of knowledge brokering and knowledge brokers.

Principles of knowledge exchange are also built into the operations of the Foundation. For example:

  • our board of trustees includes both decision makers and researchers;
  • proposals for research funding are assessed by a merit review panel that includes an equal number of decision makers and researchers;
  • assessments of research funding proposals award equal weight to scientific merit and potential impact on decision-making in the health system; and
  • applicants for funding must have a mix of researchers and decision makers as part of the applicant team.

For more information
Making Research Work