At the Knowledge Brokering Group we not only draw on our past experience in knowledge brokering as well as current literature and case studies, we also continue to contribute to the sector through our own Knowledge Brokering Initiatives and Platforms.

Our STEAM+ series takes the idea of STEM and more recently STEAM (A= Arts/Design) and adds to it.  In our STEAM+ series the A also stands for ‘the arts’, that is the social sciences and to an extent the humanities.  A large element of knowledge brokering is the people who produce, seek and use the knowledge and the context, culture and environment they operate in.  This is just as important when considering innovations in STEM.  Our STEAM + series takes this concept and working with our knowledge brokers develops a brokered event which applies the concept of STEAM+ to sectors needs and issues.

In our experience most people we meet through our work see the need for knowledge brokering, however what is less know is how to go about it and where to start.  Our National Knowledge ExChange Day is an initiative we have developed as a way to support organisations, projects and communities to begin talking about knowledge brokering and, with support, apply it in their workplaces and community settings for the purpose of addressing a specific need or issue.

The struggle to incorporate evidence in policy is well documented with the challenges and barriers to developing evidence based policy centring around both the supply of evidence and the demand for it.  The accessibility and utility of existing evidence as well as effective communication between researchers and policy makers are all recognised as challenges in EBP.

Our Research in Real Time platform is a knowledge brokering approach developed to address policy-makers needs.