TY - JOUR
T1 - Performing collaborative research
T2 - A dramaturgical reflection on an institutional knowledge brokering service in the North East of England
AU - Van Der Graaf, Peter
AU - Shucksmith, Janet
AU - Rushmer, Rosemary
AU - Rhodes, Avril
AU - Welford, Mark
N1 - Funding Information:
Peter van der Graaf and Mark Welford are funded and Janet Shucksmith, Rosemary Rushmer and Avril Rhodes were funded by Fuse, the Centre for Translational Research in Public Health, a UKCRC Public Health Research Centre of Excellence. Funding from the British Heart Foundation, Cancer Research UK, Economic and Social Research Council, Medical Research Council, the National Institute for Health Research, and the Wellcome Trust, under the auspices of the UK Clinical Research Collaboration, is gratefully acknowledged.
PY - 2019/5/8
Y1 - 2019/5/8
N2 - Background: To increase the uptake of research evidence in practice, responsive research services have been developed within universities that broker access to academic expertise for practitioners and decision-makers. However, there has been little examination of the process of knowledge brokering within these services. This paper reflects on this process within the AskFuse service, which was launched in June 2013 by Fuse, the Centre for Translational Research in Public Health, in North East England. The paper outlines the challenges and opportunities faced by both academics and health practitioners collaborating through the service. Methods: The authors reflected on conversations between the AskFuse Research Manager and policy and practice partners accessing the service between June 2013 and March 2017. Summary notes of these conversations, including emails and documents relating to over 240 enquiries, have been analysed using an auto-ethnographic approach. Findings: We identified five challenges to knowledge brokering in an institutional service, namely length of brokerage time required, limits to collaboration, lack of resources, brokering research in a changing system, and multiple types of knowledge. Conclusions: To understand and overcome some of the identified challenges, we employ Goffman's dramaturgical perspective and argue for making better use of the distinction between front and back stages in the knowledge brokering process. We emphasise the importance of back stages for defusing destructive information that could discredit collaborative performances.
AB - Background: To increase the uptake of research evidence in practice, responsive research services have been developed within universities that broker access to academic expertise for practitioners and decision-makers. However, there has been little examination of the process of knowledge brokering within these services. This paper reflects on this process within the AskFuse service, which was launched in June 2013 by Fuse, the Centre for Translational Research in Public Health, in North East England. The paper outlines the challenges and opportunities faced by both academics and health practitioners collaborating through the service. Methods: The authors reflected on conversations between the AskFuse Research Manager and policy and practice partners accessing the service between June 2013 and March 2017. Summary notes of these conversations, including emails and documents relating to over 240 enquiries, have been analysed using an auto-ethnographic approach. Findings: We identified five challenges to knowledge brokering in an institutional service, namely length of brokerage time required, limits to collaboration, lack of resources, brokering research in a changing system, and multiple types of knowledge. Conclusions: To understand and overcome some of the identified challenges, we employ Goffman's dramaturgical perspective and argue for making better use of the distinction between front and back stages in the knowledge brokering process. We emphasise the importance of back stages for defusing destructive information that could discredit collaborative performances.
KW - auto-ethnography
KW - Goffman
KW - Institutional knowledge brokering
KW - public health
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85065482706&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1186/s12961-019-0449-7
DO - 10.1186/s12961-019-0449-7
M3 - Article
C2 - 31068186
AN - SCOPUS:85065482706
SN - 1478-4505
VL - 17
JO - Health Research Policy and Systems
JF - Health Research Policy and Systems
IS - 1
M1 - 49
ER -