By Tom Addison, Policy Manager, The Physiological Society
The Society’s Annual Conference, Physiology 2021 (P21), was another fantastic opportunity to share the successes of the physiological community over the past 12 months and this blog wouldn’t be able to do the event justice. It was also a fantastic opportunity to look forward to how members can get involved in future projects focusing on knowledge exchange (KE) and the translation of research into real-world impact. We were excited to hold a special session to launch The Society’s Knowledge Exchange Champions Network.
Some members of The Society may feel that KE is modern code for industry working and commercialisation – and perhaps not something that should be a priority for them given the significant time pressures they are already experiencing, not to mention the research and teaching time that has been lost to COVID-19 over the past 18 months or so.
However, as Professor Lucy Green (Chair of The Society’s Education, Public Engagement and Policy Committee) noted when chairing the launch session at our Annual Conference, knowledge exchange goes beyond traditional concepts of intellectual property and commercialisation, to public engagement, sharing scientific insights in schools, organising internships and helping to inform community care.
This argument was strengthened during the session by Professor Richard Siow from King’s College London and Co-Chair of The Society’s Advisory Group, as he noted the success of recent King’s knowledge exchange in activities as varied as developing a summer school in Bangalore with Unilever, the development of the ZOE COVID-19 app and support for the APPG on Longevity to understand the physiological processes that underpin the ageing process.
As such, KE forms a key feedback loop for academics, understanding how their research is making an impact and using the public as a key stakeholder in identifying evidence gaps and new research questions.
Indeed, those members who participated in The Society’s project into knowledge exchange Translating UK knowledge and research into impact: physiology and knowledge exchange reported that gaining insights in their area of research and testing the practical application of their research were the two biggest drivers of their knowledge exchange.
These were closely followed by ‘further the outreach mission of my institution’, suggesting that there is a recognition that knowledge exchange has an important role to play in the recognition of academics’ work by their institutions beyond the lab. As Dr Amanda Baxendale, Business Engagement and Innovation Manager at the University of Derby noted during our recent KE webinar series, this link between academic outputs beyond publishing and institutional reward and recognition is only likely to increase with the introduction of the Knowledge Exchange Framework (KEF).
Barriers to knowledge exchange
The knowledge exchange session at our Annual Conference was also an excellent opportunity to recognise the barriers that exist to greater levels of knowledge exchange among physiologists.
Professor Tim Curtis from Queen’s University Belfast and co-chair of The Society’s Advisory Group for our report into knowledge exchange and physiology, noted that time constraints on individual academics, as well as difficulty of identifying partners and lack of sufficient training and skills in KE as the main barriers to greater participation in knowledge exchange among physiologists.
Curtis also noted that The Society had made a number of recommendations for Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to improve the number of physiologists conducting knowledge exchange including ensuring that criteria around academic promotion and reward recognise successful KE activities; that there is accessible professional KE support available to academics and the provision of support and training to academics for conducting KE activities, particularly focused on early career researchers.
Opportunities to promote knowledge exchange
With the significant barriers to greater knowledge exchange activity already widely understood by members, how can The Society support academics to realise the benefits of knowledge exchange activities?
In its recent report, the Society has already proposed a number of recommendations for its own work in this area:
- Explore establishing KE Fellowships to alleviate time barriers and to enhance KE mobility
- Develop KE continuing professional development resources, particularly focused on tackling the barriers faced by physiologists when engaging in KE.
- Establish of a network of physiologists across the UK who are regularly involved in knowledge exchange and would be able to oversee the development and implementation of The Society’s work in this area.
We were pleased to deliver on this final item by launching the Knowledge Exchange Champions Network. This network will be responsible for orchestrating The Society’s other recommended actions in this area. The Society’s strength lies in its members’ previous experiences of knowledge exchange and enthusiasm to engage with the next generation of physiologists looking to make real-world impact through the structure and delivery of their research.
The first step of the Knowledge Exchange Champions Network will be to gather a breadth of voices that will be able to set objectives for it and ensure that the correct focus and priorities are being made to maximise physiology’s impact in knowledge exchange and make a tangible difference to lives and prosperity in the future.
If you would like to join The Society’s Knowledge Exchange Champions Network, please email the policy team at taddison@physoc.org
For more information, please visit https://www.physoc.org/policy/knowledge-exchange/knowledge-exchange-champions-network/.