ICRH is committed to supporting the members of its research community in adopting best practices in KT, as well as promoting innovative approaches in this field. Work is underway to ensure that KT planning and implementation can be integrated into every aspect of ICRH's strategic and operational planning, policies and processes.
The KT activities at ICRH are guided by an Institute Advisory Board (IAB) KT Working Group, whose members include:
The group is chaired by Kimberly M. Walker, Assistant Director of KT and Public Affairs at ICRH.
With the support of its research community, partners and key stakeholders, ICRH is establishing mechanisms for minimizing the gap between research evidence, clinical practice, and population actions, by promoting increased communication and interaction amongst these groups.
Additional KT activities that have been planned for ICRH include:
ICRH has created a strategic plan for the development and implementation of the KT related activities of the Institute. This plan links KT with communication activities and evaluation indicators.
The first year of KT at ICRH involved building a common understanding amongst its research community; this was facilitated by a pilot KT Workshop, which took place in October, 2007. Plans are underway for this initiative to be launched as a Summer Institute in future years.
KT tools are currently being developed centrally at CIHR and will include a KT Handbook and a KT Assessor peer review guide. Access to these resources will be made available to ICRH community members via the ICRH website and other communication vehicles.
Additionally, ICRH will be focusing increasingly on strengthening its community engagement initiatives, as well as developing networks to link researchers with other researchers, community, policymakers and other end users.
To date, ICRH has funded and partnered on a number of programs integrating KT activities into research, including the KT Strategies for Health Research (02/03) and (04/05) initiatives, the New Emerging Team (NET) grants, Interdisciplinary Capacity Enhancement (ICE) teams, as well as the Kidney Research Scientist Core Education and National Training (KRESCENT) program.
ICRH-funded research and researchers have been recognized through the CIHR KT Awards, including Dr. Jack Tu and the Canadian Cardiovascular Outcomes Research Team.
Please refer to the following link to review additional ICRH products relating to KT: