Nominated by member scholarly associations of the Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences, the 2022 Congress Graduate Merit Awards recognize exceptional graduate students who will be presenting their work at the Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences.
Tell us about yourself.
I am a recent M.A. (Education & Society) graduate from McGill University. My primary research area is knowledge mobilization in education, focusing on the engagement of knowledge users. I am passionate about empowering individuals and organisations to make meaningful applications of research knowledge to address real-life problems.
At which conference(s) will you be presenting and/or attending?
Canadian Society for the Study of Education 2022
What is the title of your Congress 2022 presentation?
Findings from a scoping review on knowledge users’ engagement.
How would you describe the research you will be presenting at Congress 2022?
To understand how to make meaningful application of research knowledge, we need to first understand the people that will use that knowledge. Their interests, their priorities, their constraints. We, as research producers, need to actively engage with knowledge users. Research has shown that deliberate and direct engagement often results in an improved quality of impactful research. My research offers an exploratory look at knowledge users in knowledge mobilization research in Canadian K-12 teaching and education policy and examines the ways and frequency of engagement, so as to better develop engagement practices and meaningful application of research knowledge in the future.
How does the research you will be presenting connect with the Congress 2022 theme, Transitions?
During the pandemic, I’ve often heard it said that we are not all in the same boat, but rather we are in the same storm. Our lives and experiences are varied and divergent, and that can complicate our perspectives and solutions to today’s social and racial problems. Congress 2022 invites us to start having those challenging conversations with each other, to engage with each other, to understand each other. We need to start being aware of the positive effects of user engagement and actively foster collaborative connections to encourage the use of research evidence so as to bring about powerful and positive changes.
Share your hopes for Congress 2022.
This will be my first time attending Congress and I am excited to listen and learn from everyone. One specific finding that surfaced from my research was that knowledge mobilization is a highly interdisciplinary activity. So I always look forward to understanding new areas of research and meeting new people (and perhaps future research partners). You’ll never know where the research rabbit hole can lead you.