Capacity building for wildlife health professionals: the Wildlife Health Bridge

The Wildlife Health Bridge was established in 2009 with the aim of improving the expertise and knowledge base of wildlife health professionals in biodiverse low- and middle-income countries. The Wildlife Health Bridge centres around partnerships among educational institutions: the Zoological Society of London, the Royal Veterinary College, the University of Edinburgh’s Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, the Wildlife Institute of India, and the University of Melbourne Veterinary School. The Wildlife Health Bridge provides quality education in wildlife health, ecosystem health, and wildlife biology, facilitates the interchange of students between collaborating countries for research studies and provides a global graduate network of wildlife health professionals. In addition to established Masters’ level wildlife health training programmes run by the partner organisations, the Wildlife Health Bridge has developed a collaborative field-based course, Interventions in Wild Animal Health, provided annually in India since 2016, which has trained 138 veterinarians to date, enhancing local and international capacity in managing emerging wildlife health issues and building global professional linkages. The Wildlife Health Bridge’s Wild Animal Alumni network facilitates networking and exchange between Wildlife Health Bridge institutions and graduates, with over 701 members from 67 countries, half of which are biodiverse low- and middle-income countries. Collaboration between educational institutions has enabled new ideas and ongoing developments in the delivery of materials and learning outcomes. The Wildlife Health Bridge is building global capacity in trained wildlife health professionals, through educational programmes and a synergised network, with the aim of impacting conservation practice to benefit human, domestic animal and wildlife health

Exploring Identity: What We Do as Qualitative Researchers

Although there has been much discussion about distinctions between quantitative and qualitative research, our purpose here is not to revive those conversations, but instead to attempt to explore and articulate our identities as researchers who practice in the qualitative tradition. Using autoethnography as our methodology, we as six researchers from various social science disciplines and at various career stages engaged in focused introspection by responding individually to two questions: who am I as a qualitative researcher; and how did I come to that understanding? This reflection led to discussions of those elements and experiences that have shaped the way we see ourselves in the context of our research. The question of “identity” evolved into a discussion about “what we do.” During our data analysis, six themes emerged, representing our group’s responses: (a) building epistemology, (b) making/doing good research, (c) as an art or craft, (d) why does qualitative research need legitimating? (e) qualitative research as a social bridge, and (f) stewards of people’s lived experience. We conclude by reflecting on the value of building a community of practice among qualitative researchers

Transformative learning partnerships: bridging research and practice to improve the lives of older people

This dissertation focused on consensus building and learning partnerships between researchers and practitioners aimed at improving the lives of older people. A series of three papers used an exploratory qualitative approach to describe the application of innovative methods that bridge the gap between research and practice in three case studies. Three research questions guided these case studies: (1) What joint perspectives and recommendations emerge when participants in community-based participatory research partnerships reach consensus about issues that impact the lives of older people?, (2) What role does learning play in community-based participatory research partnerships involving researchers and practitioners?, and (3) How do the experiences of the participants in the CITRA research-to-practice consensus workshop compare to adult learning practice, and how does adult learning theory describe their experiences?;These papers (1) describe the planning and implementation of the studies, (2) report the recommendations resulting from them, and (3) frame the studies within the context of adult learning theory and practice. Taken together, these papers generated the proposition that participants in the consensus workshops and appreciative inquiry made recommendations for policy, practice and research in areas of critical importance to the improvement of aging services. Evidence was also provided to support the proposition that participants engaged in the acquisition of valuable new knowledge and skills that resulted in a transformation of their meaning schemes and frames of reference

An analysis of the application of best management practices in collaborative watershed management to community-based sustainable development

This research seeks to determine if BMPs from CWM can inform the broader concept of CBSD. In order to answer this question, I conduct a desk study, which involves an extensive review of the CWM literature in two areas: stakeholder participation and building trust among stakeholders. I then analyze my research to deduce BMPs for these areas of CWM. As part of this analysis, I also explore how effective environmental communication plays a fundamental role in achieving these BMPs. The culmination of this work is the production of guidelines of best practice for stakeholder participation and building trust among stakeholders in CWM, which then is applied to challenges identified in CBSD. While creating thorough guidelines of best practice is not within the scope of this research, the following seven main principles could form the foundation of such a guide: identify and involve stakeholders from the beginning, analyze stakeholder knowledge and trust, identify and prioritize goals, implement structure to monitor and assess successes, reduce gaps in stakeholder knowledge, bridge the gaps between scientists and non-scientists involved, and use effective communication strategies to achieve goals

An analogue study examining Attitude Change Theory and its implications for dissemination and implementation of empirically supported treatments

Despite the promise of research-based treatments, dissemination into community settings has been problematic. Attitudes toward these treatments may be partially responsible for the slow uptake. Building on the functional theory of attitudes, it was hypothesized that presenting emotion-focused rather than cognitively-focused information about a treatment would produce more positive attitudes toward the treatment in individuals interested in clinical practice. To test this hypothesis, 144 students (116 women; Mage = 22.46 years) completed a measure of vocational interest and evaluated a treatment after reading either an emotional or cognitive passage about the treatment. Consistent with the hypothesis, participants’ interests in clinical activities were related to more favorable reactions to the emotional passage but not the cognitive passage. This effect was partially mediated by message elaboration. Findings suggest that presenting clinicians with emotionally rich information on treatment options may help bridge the gap between research and practice

Next Generation Outsourcing – A Research Agenda Guided By Practice

Over the last decades outsourcing has established itself as widely accepted management practice. Information systems researchers have spent considerable effort in studying the outsourcing phenomenon and theorizing about it. Through the interaction between research and practice, as well as through own experiences, industry managers underwent a noticeable learning curve. This poses the question: is research still up to date or do we need to think about the next stage, a form of next generation outsourcing? To investigate this issue, expert interviews with thirteen sourcing managers from different industries have been conducted. The aim was to learn about the state of outsourcing management in practice and to identify what the new topics are which keep outsourcing managers awake at night. The basis for the structured interviews was a thorough analysis of the outsourcing literature. Building on these the interviewees were asked to discuss their experiences and to highlight current issues of concern. We identified four emerging topics which call for further research: (1) Multi-vendor Outsourcing and Sourcing Networks, (2) Cloud Computing and its implications for outsourcing, (3) Risk Management of Outsourcing, and (4) Methods to bridge the Offshoring gap

Building bridges - seeking collaboration with a Maori community

The context for this thesis is the pressing need to help mainstream schools become more proactive and culturally responsive in how they engage with the whānau of their Māori pupils. The thesis examines how the author, a facilitator within the Te Kotahitanga Professional Development project, established a responsive and dialogic relationship with a local Māori community, so that the school could more fully support the educational achievements of its Māori students in mainstream classes. She explored ways to build “educationally powerful connections” with whānau. Initially, there was little interaction with Māori families through the traditional formats that this school was employing. She describes her personal journey of learning to engage with whānau members outside of the school context, and to work collaboratively with them to find more effective solutions. In the first part of the thesis the author examines literature which helps to understand important differences between Pākehā and Māori ‘World Views’, and the reluctance that many Māori feel to engage with Pākehā institutions. She documents how she and whānau members, working together, identified contexts and cultural processes (tikanga) that enabled this collaborative research project to proceed in a culturally responsive way. In the second part of the thesis the author examines the particular culturally-grounded learning events and experiences that she encountered along the way. Concurrently with this identification and reporting of events and experiences, she reflects on how these events and experiences impacted on her professional practice, and on her professional and personal identities. The author also considers what implications her collaborative research journey with Māori colleagues and friends and learning might have for school leaders and whānau members in other schools. Throughout the thesis, the author sustains a metaphor of bridge building. This metaphor helps to appreciate how, although starting from quite different cultural locations and positions at either end of the bridge, members of both cultures were able to meet in the middle and find respectful and trusting ways of working together

ASSESSING THE RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY OF THE NETWORK ENGAGEMENT QUESTIONNAIRE: CAN ENGAGEMENT PREDICT KNOWLEDGE USE IN A COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE?

A disconnect exists between research and practice that is impeding the flow of knowledge between researchers, practitioners and decision makers. This obstruction of knowledge is acting as a barrier to the use of evidence in decisions and also as a barrier to informing research of important questions that need answering through scientific investigation. This divide between research and practice can be crossed by building a bridge between researchers and practitioners across which knowledge can be transmitted, translated and exchanged. A possible mechanism to understand the key contributors to bridge building is by using Wenger's Community of Practice model as a framework upon which to understand the importance of and how to build connections between research, policy and practice. The defining characteristic of a Community of Practice is the interaction between members in order to jointly determine and embrace goals, eventually resulting in shared practices. Crucial to the success of a Community of Practice is the engagement between community members. Without engagement, a Community of Practice can not share knowledge and achieve its negotiated goals. This thesis studied a Community of Practice that is being deliberately formed to facilitate the development of a pan-Canadian population health research network. This network, CANSPANN (Canadian School Physical Activity and Nutrition Network) aims to bring together researchers, practitioners, and decision makers to create research programs studying the social-environmental influence of schools on youth physical activity and healthy eating that address priorities for policy and practice. This thesis assessed if a quantitative questionnaire tool could validly and reliably measure the level of engagement between CANSPANN members. The questionnaire also aimed to determine if engagement predicted knowledge use. Eighteen items in the NEQ validly measure engagement of CANSPANN members. Sufficient content validly was established for these items. Of these eighteen items, only four subscales significantly predicted knowledge use. Through reliability testing with qualitative interviews it was determined that the Network Engagement Questionnaire reliably measures engagement for CANSPANN members who are centrally involved. It is far less able to reliably measure engagement for peripheral members. Further testing with the NEQ is necessary in order to increase its reliability

Photography with/in a Broader Humanity

In 2010, I was commissioned to create a portrait of Ngarrindjeri artist, Rita Lindsay Jnr for Country Arts SA (South Australia). We met at a healing ceremony at the coastal town of Goolwa in Ngarrindjeri Country. The aim of the ceremony was to attend the trauma caused by the building of the Hindmarsh Island Bridge; an action by developers that instigated South Australia’s most tragic land rights battle. Becoming familiar with the story of Kumarangk and the bridge became a catalyst for a two-year conversation with Rita, her mother and grandmother. What followed was an invitation to use the medium of photography to explore the metaphysical relationship between Country and its human kin. What began as a single exhibition of works in 2013 has now prospectively become a life’s work. To date this has spanned three exhibitions, an Honours project and a PhD, all of which aim to articulate a practice of relational photography over one that objectifies its subjects. Acknowledging the ontological divide between Indigenous and non-Indigenous knowledge production, my aim is to talk about the notion of relational photography through the idea of kin-making across cultural knowledges and thinking. This paper is an introduction to a practice-based research project I have enacted over the last decade that troubles landscape photography and is motivated by the desire to decolonise my own thinking. By decolonisation, I mean the disinvestment in colonial hierarchies, binary thinking and practices of anthropocentrism

Accountability at the Local Level in Fragile Contexts: Nepal Case Study

This paper presents the Nepal case study from a research project on accountability carried out in three countries. The research project aimed at identifying practices and factors contributing to the success of accountability initiatives in fragile contexts. In the case of Nepal, the research focused on the relationship between the state and its citizens and on the accountability mechanisms operating on the supply side and demand side of that relationship. This relationship was observed in the framework of a trail bridge project implemented with a community approach and including the Public Audit Practice, an accountability tool developed in Nepal by Helvetas Swiss Intercooperation. This paper argues that the public meetings held in the framework of the Public Audit Practice, as well as the trail bridge user committee, represent participatory spaces that are created by the project organisation but whose boundaries and internal functioning are shaped by (in part pre-existing) power relations. Furthermore, the active engagement of villagers in these spaces can represent an opportunity for ‘empowerment’, mostly in the form of the building of a network of useful contacts within and outside the community. However, in a context of polarised power structures and discriminatory social and cultural traditions, the meaningful participation of traditionally disadvantaged groups is limited. The findings also suggest that, in this context, accountability, and in particular the information-sharing process, assumes rather informal forms. This has to be considered in the planning of interventions so that the positive potential can be exploited and the risk of exclusion inherent to informal practices can be reduced. Finally, the paper argues that it is the space of the user committee that represents an accountability tool, while the space of the Public Audit Practice is more a symbolic one that can be used to build trust in, and legitimacy of, the actors involved