The Research: Planning for Impacts seminar, held in June 2012, outlined the value and process of strategic communications in knowledge mobilization. The session attracted approximately 60 attendees from our Research Partner projects and the wider UBC community.
In this session, Dr Evan Wood explained how effectively communicating research played a pivotal role in the adoption of a new treatment mechanism for HIV/AIDS patients and in the establishment of the controversial InSite facility. Robyn Sussel provided an overview of the critical steps involved in creating a communications strategy to maximize the impacts of research projects.
Watch the presentations below:
About the Speakers
Dr. Evan Wood (BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS):
Evan Wood, MD, PhD, ABIM, FRCPC is the Co-director of the Urban Health Research Initiative at the British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, and Professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of British Columbia where he holds a tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Inner City Medicine. He has extensive research experience in the area of clinical epidemiology, especially in evaluating the treatment of HIV/AIDS, drug addiction, and epidemiologic study design, especially among drug using populations and street involved youth.
In addition to publishing several hundred peer-reviewed publications in recent years, his lab has had a major emphasis on knowledge translation and had several hundred media stories and subsequent policy advancements secondary to his research.
Robyn Sussel (Signals Design Group):
Robyn Sussel is a principal of Signals Design Group, specializing in health and research communications for most of her 20-year career. Robyn provides specialized communication services including branding and positioning strategies, communications planning, and marketing and community relations strategies. In the past few years, Robyn has developed branding programs for Providence Health Care, the federally-funded PROOF Centre for Excellence, and the BC Cancer Agency. Her firm’s clients also include Genome BC, UBC’s Faculty of Medicine, the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research, the Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute and the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer.
