Creative Knowledge Translation in Healthcare
Personalized learning to help you create attention-grabbing research communications
Why Is It so Tough to Convince Others of the Value of Your Research?
It's not easy to bridge the gap between different cultures, and you face that challenge every time you communicate with people outside your research community.
This program gives you the strategies, tools, and confidence you need to close the cultural gap and get buy-in from the collaborators you need to move your research from peer review into practice.
By Tapping into Your Natural Empathy and Creativity, You Can Engage, Educate, and Inspire the People You Want to Impact
- Write successful grant applications
- Collaborate with researchers outside your discipline
- Demonstrate the value of your research time to health administrators
- Influence government policy
- Connect with community groups
- Form partnerships with industry
- Help practitioners adopt new methods
You'll Learn How To:
Tailor communication to a specific audience
Speak your audience's language so you can capture their attention and motivate them to act on your research insights.
Connect with your audience emotionally
Use stories, graphic design, and nuanced language to connect with your audience on a deep level and gain their trust.
Adopt an easy-to-read writing style
Unlearn habits of academic writing that confuse and annoy lay readers. Make your writing easy to skim so you capture the attention of busy people and keep them engaged.
Produce eye-catching visuals
Create data visualizations that tell an obvious data story and are easy for nonexperts to interpret.
You'll Also Complete an Authentic Knowledge Translation (KT) Project
Here are some examples of communications you might create to show the value of your research:
- Grant application
- Presentation to an executive of a regional health authority
- Briefing for a government representative
- Blog post
- Article for a mainstream publication
- Pitch deck
- One-pager to anchor a conversation with industry
- Podcast episode
- Infographic or poster
- Animated video or video script
How the Program Works
Two virtual group sessions will give you the chance to learn alongside other health researchers. You'll also learn independently, by completing online modules, and you'll complete your KT project.
You can expect to spend 12 to 20 hours on the whole program. Here's the schedule:
Week 1
Attend a three-hour virtual kick-off session. You'll learn guiding principles to help you get into the heads and hearts of your target audience. You'll also start brainstorming your approach to your KT project.
Week 2
Complete online modules at your own pace. (Expect to spend 2 to 5 hours on this.)
Weeks 3-4
Work on your KT project (independently or with other participants from your lab). Attend one or two of the optional group coaching sessions to get feedback on your draft. You can also get input from your program coach through a drop-in coaching session (first come first served).
Week 5
Attend a virtual group session where you'll present your KT project and get live feedback on it. Following the session, you'll also receive detailed written feedback from the program coach.
Topics You'll Explore
The program's flexible structure allows you to cherry-pick the topics you want to investigate. Here is the current list of module subjects for you to choose from:
- Kick-off session:
- Recognize the role of communication in knowledge translation
- Adopt the perspective of your Impact Audience
- Tailor a communication product to your Impact Audience
- Scope out your KT project
- Core Principles for Written Communication
- Focus on the Audience
- Provide an Obvious Structure
- Design for Influence
- Simplify Your Writiung Style
- Think Visually
- Improve Your Writing Fluency
- Grant Applications
- Video Scripts
- Infographics
- Blog Articles
- Web Copy
- Presentations
- Training Materials
Program Coach
Dr. Dawn Henwood has been doing knowledge translation for most of her career. With one foot in the academy and one in the business world, she has worked as a professor, an eLearning designer, an experiential learning practitioner, and a communications consultant. As a consultant, her clients have included universities, engineering firms, and startups.
Dawn is the author of two books: A Writing Guide for IT Professionals and Business Writing for Innovators and Change-Makers. She has also created and directed multi-course programs in technical writing for Dalhousie University’s Faculty of Open Learning and a global consulting firm.
What People Say About Learning With Dawn
I can't say enough how above and beyond this program went beyond my expectations. I have taken some knowledge translation courses, but what I really liked was how Dawn had everything organized in terms of different formats--tips and tricks for blogs, infographics, presentations, you name it.
If someone is looking for a program to make your research live, I would absolutely recommend this.
The experience was amazing. I feel much more confident, and I feel like I have more skills to do presentations to people who aren't in academia.
I also produced my first podcast episode during the program and now I'm thinking of doing a second episode. I have been living all my life as a student, but now it's time to give that knowledge back to society.
The course has impacted even my academic writing. It's helped me write more clearly and concisely, and I'm more conscious of my word choices.
The way Dawn taught us to outline our thoughts and to break down how we'd want to present our research topic really helped me to make my point concise and straightforward.