1. Professor Huw Davies Outgoing Director Social Dimensions of Health Institute (SDHI) Universities of Dundee & St Andrews Director Knowledge Mobilisation Using evidence for improving services

2. High quality, user- driven research production Effective mobilisation of the knowledge created Building the absorptive capacity of the system to use knowledge CEO

3. “Yes, it’s quite a noise – but are we having any impact?” The challenge for all of us in the knowledge business…

4. Knowledge Production/Use The traditional linear model: Knowledge creation Knowledge validation Knowledge dissemination Knowledge adoption ResearchersUsers ‘KT’ --- THE PROBLEM WITH THIS MODEL --- Too - simple, rational, linear, uni-directional, individualised, unproblematised, asocial, and acontextual (otherwise, OK…) Research priorities

5. For some, research evidence = “what works” data i.e. Systematic reviews (and meta-analysis) of (preferably, double-blind, randomised control) evaluations -- or the next best thing that’s available. So, what IS Research EVIDENCE? ➮ Instrumentalist knowledge: making choices ➮ Quality assessment based mainly on methodological considerations ➮ Simple technical task of data integration

6. Broader sense of ‘social research’ – i.e. any systematic process of critical empirical investigation and evaluation, theory building, analysis and codification relevant to our organisational world… (AND it’s not just academic researchers that do this kind of thing anyway…)

7. Robust knowledge wider than ‘research’… Research & evaluation reports Audit & inspection findings/data Routine monitoring data/KPIs Local & international exemplars Costings data Client & user experience data Expert views & insider knowledge Opinion polls & stakeholder consults System capacity & implementation issues Models & forecasts ➮ Challenge of accessing and integrating across… ➮ Who has – perspective? skills? tools? authority?

8. Knowledge required for effective services is much broader than simply “what works” Know-about (problems): e.g. the nature, formation, natural history and interrelations of health and social problems… Know-why: explaining the relationship between values and policy/practice… Know-how (to put into practice): e.g. pragmatic knowledge about service and programme implementation… Know-who (to involve): e.g. service team composition; building alliances for action… ➮ Enlightenment knowledge  problematising, re-framing… ➮ Methodological pluralism  contentiousness ➮ Engagement with values  politics

9. Research  Evidence  Knowledge - very uncertain process; engages with values, existing (tacit) knowledge, and experience… - socially and contextually situated… - may require some difficult ‘unlearning’. Challenge of integrating “knowledge” And, not just what knowledge/evidence, but crucially, whose knowledge/evidence? - ‘evidence’ may be used selectively/tactically - knowledge/power intimately co-constructed ➮ Significant limits to stable acontextual knowledge creation

10. Key message for social research: Thus recognising: importance of dialogue in context; interaction with other types of knowledge (tacit; experiential); knowledge ‘use’ as ongoing process. …moving us away from ideas such as research as “answers”, “packaged knowledge”, and “doing knowledge transfer”. Social and interactive models – models that integrate knowledge creation and use – these better reflect what actually happens…

11. Social and interactive models… - these challenge us to develop and sustain some unusual interactions!