Translating research findings into policy and practice – University World News

AFRICA

The United Nations Development Programme defines human development as a process of enlarging the range of peoples choice by increasing their opportunities for education, healthcare, income and employment, and covering the full range of human choices from a sound physical environment to socioeconomic, education, health, and political systems. And sustainable development refers to a multidimensional process defined by Michael Todaro as involving the reorganisation and reorientation of entire economic and social systems.

The process aims at meeting human development goals such as longevity, increased purchasing power and increased adult literacy rates, while at the same time sustaining the ability of the natural systems to provide natural resources and ecosystem services on which the economy, people and society depend, now and in future.

Impactful research

In Africa and the world over, universities are responsible for research, scholarship and innovation and are depended upon to serve as agents for discovery, innovation, adoption and dissemination of knowledge generated. A major challenge that many researchers engaged in impactful research face is how to translate their seminal research findings into policy and practice. The standard research process is to design and conduct quality research, then to disseminate findings through peer-reviewed conference presentations and peer-reviewed publications.

The only limitation is that most times, the leaders, policy-makers, and practitioners are rarely at these conferences and may never read the peer-reviewed articles published in top tier journals in the field.

Some innovative researchers now prepare policy briefs, and distribute them to funders, leaders and policy implementers in government agencies, for-profit and not-for-profit agencies. In addition, blogs, podcasts and social media outlets such as Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn are being used to communicate pertinent research findings instantly. While these are positive steps, however, they do not guarantee research policy and practice adoption.

In the case of my own discipline of education, quality research findings exist on how to address absolute inequity and relative inequity in our schools, how to address equity and improve learning, how to tap into research findings on emotional intelligence to improve quality of learning in our schools and colleges, how to close learning opportunity gaps, and how to improve the quality of online learning during this time of COVID-19.

However the challenge remains: how to translate research findings into policy and practice and how to obtain buy-in from leaders, practitioners and community stakeholders, or how to successfully engage in translational research.

Technology impact

With advancements in technology, the advent of social media, and based on the science of data analytics, information on research findings is readily available. In most higher education institutions, we now have advanced tools that assist institutions to measure faculty productivity and to summarise the kind of impactful research findings being generated. In the case of some higher education institutions, however, the fact that data-analytical tools are not being utilised is institutional- and policy-dependent.

While it is no longer complex to access and disseminate research findings to policy makers and practitioners, the process requires additional resources as well as the institutional and governmental willingness to put in place policies and regulations that nurture collaboration among researchers and community stakeholders.

Faculty learning and development

The world over, university professors and graduate students produce the majority of research. However, in the case of many African countries, higher education systems seem to pay less attention to academic staff development through professional learning and development. For instance, in Kenya, the higher education system seems to pay less attention to faculty development, and only 43% of university faculty have PhDs.

The enrolment in PhD programmes has remained flat. It is estimated that 4,394, 1% of the total population of the students, enrolled for doctoral degrees and only 400 students graduate within five years (Commission for University Education, 2017). This situation is the same in many African universities. The challenge here is not only translating research findings to practice, but getting doctoral students to complete their research and then share their findings with policy-makers and practitioners in a timely manner.

Research policy and practice

The need to translate research findings into policy and practice is essential to guide policy and institutional leaders on how they may enhance research productivity in pursuit of their shared purpose, mission, and goals.

Given the increasing amount of funding allocated to research by governments, foundations, and non-government institutions, it is necessary to critically explore the issue of translating research to policy and practice. Aside from financial resources allocated to research and development, the translation of research findings into policy and practice ensures the accomplishment of the core mission of discovery and innovation.

As correctly noted by Dr Nailah Suad Nasir, president of the Spencer Foundation, as researchers we often do not think enough about the consumers of our work. In the case of education, Nasir observes that it is critical for researchers to think about how their work translates into educational policies, educational practice, and how they support their colleagues who are running school districts, teaching, and creating educational environments for children. This should be the case with all researchers in all disciplines, and they should involve policymakers and community stakeholders.

Going back to the So what? question: the core mission of every researcher has to be about how their research is impacting the world. In fact, research funding organisations such as the Spencer Foundation are now investing in scholars capacity to communicate their own research to a wider audience.

Interdisciplinary research

To successfully impact the world, researchers cannot continue working in silos and must engage in interdisciplinary research. In addition, researchers in Africa need to collaborate with researchers from within and without Africa, especially their colleagues in the diaspora.

Researchers engaged in interdisciplinary research have a leading role to play in addressing grand challenges facing humanity such as how can technological advances can work for everyone and not just for a few in society.

How should sustainable development be achieved for all, while addressing global climate change? How can everyone in the world have sufficient clean water without conflict? How can Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan, for example, share the water resources of the river Nile? How can humane economies be developed to help to reduce the gap between the rich and the poor and eliminate poverty in the world? How can we ensure equity and educational improvement?

These grand challenges are so complex that no single genius, no single academic discipline, no single institution, community or country can solve them alone. Researchers from all disciplines need to work together collaboratively beyond the silos of discipline, department, college, business or industry, to positively impact the world through research, policy-making and practice.

Fredrick Muyia Nafukho is professor of educational administration and human resource development and associate dean for faculty affairs in the College of Education and Human Development, Texas A&M University, United States. He can be reached at nafukho@gmail.com.

Here is the original post:
Translating research findings into policy and practice - University World News