Info Briefs

The KTDRR Center offers information briefs on topics related to strategies to enhance KT outcomes and impact, as well as high-quality synthesis of research, through collaboration with national and international experts.

Knowledge Translation Info Briefs address the need to provide reliable knowledge about feasible approaches to KT, as well as topics reflecting grantees’ technical assistance requests. These Info Briefs synthesize and disseminate information from the KT literature and describe KT strategies for particular audiences, along with their research base.

Knowledge translation: The rise of implementation

Barwick, M., Dubrowski, R., & Petricca, K. (2020). Knowledge translation: The rise of implementation. Center on Knowledge Translation for Disability and Rehabilitation Research, American Institutes for Research

About the KT Implementation brief

Knowledge Translation: The Rise of Implementation is a monograph commissioned by the Center on Knowledge Translation for Disability and Rehabilitation Research (KTDRR). Lead author Melanie Barwick is an internationally recognized expert in knowledge translation (KT) and implementation science (IS). Raluca Dubrowski and Kadia Petricca complete the author team. The monograph provides an update of the KT literature and reflects on advancements in the KT process, as well as KT’s relationship with IS. KT practices related to disability research are highlighted along with a look at future directions in KT.

Engaging stakeholders for research impact

Heiden, T. & Saia, T. (2021). Engaging stakeholders for research impact. Center on Knowledge Translation for Disability and Rehabilitation Research, American Institutes for Research.

About the Stakeholder Engagement brief

Engaging Stakeholders for Research Impact defines stakeholder engagement, describes different types of stakeholders and addresses why research projects should focus on engagement. Author Dr. Tamika Heiden is the founder and principal of Australia’s Research Impact Academy. She has over 15 years of experience in translating research into practice. Joining Dr. Heiden as a contributing author is a member of the Center on KTDRR's Expert Review Panel, Dr. Toni Saia, an activist, professor and researcher who brings lived experience with disability to her work. Dr. Saia shares an example of how her collaborative research project resulted in accessibility improvements.

Research Synthesis Info Briefs identify and summarize emerging methods in research synthesis, such as systematic reviews, scoping and rapid evidence reviews, and evidence and gap maps.

New methods and technologies for keeping systematic reviews up to date

Thomas, J. (2022). New methods and technologies for keeping systematic reviews up to date. Center on Knowledge Translation for Disability and Rehabilitation Research, American Institutes for Research.

About the Keeping SR Up to Date brief

New Methods and Technologies for Keeping Systematic Reviews Up to Date outlines innovations in bibliographic data searching that may be helpful in identifying studies for systematic reviews. James Thomas, deputy director of the Evidence for Policy and Practice Information and Co-ordinating Centre (EPPI-Centre) at University College London, begins with an overview of methods currently used to search existing bibliographic databases. Next, he examines changes in the collection of bibliographic databases and recent advances in methods for retrieval of information, including a study using Microsoft Academic Graph (MAG) and OpenAlex as single-source databases. Finally, he illustrates the potential these new developments hold for the systematic review process with a case study of the EPPI-Centre’s living systematic map of COVID 19 research.