Exchange/Healthlinks Worldwide

2005

This report is based on discussions during a session organised by Exchange (which in early 2006 was subsumed into Healthlink Worldwide) at the Global Forum for Health Research in Mumbai, India on September 14 2005 on "Research to Practice: the role of information and communication." The document argues that communication matters in research, and is vital if research is going to make real impact. According to the document, without communication of research, findings are unlikely to have an impact on improving the health of poor and vulnerable people. It is stated that policy makers, researchers and communities need to work together to tackle ill-health and inequity. But gaps in communication are preventing a coordinated approach. Most problematic are the gulfs between the people who commission research, the people who conduct research, and the people who the research is meant to benefit. It is further stated that it is important that researchers not only share their research with other researchers, but also other stakeholders such as policy makers, media, organisations and end users.

Recommendations from the report include the need to strengthen researchers' communication skills. Researchers need to think about key communication issues from start of project. Who are the audiences? How will we do this? Which people will be invited to comment on the research design so that they will feel part of the process? There is a need to create strong alliances with policy makers, including inviting them to workshops and sending policy briefs. However, developing these relationships is complex and long-term. There is often a lack of access where one party may not have access to the other. Where they do meet, there is sometimes poor communication with language as a major barrier, as researchers can use very technical language.

The document suggests that this process is a dialogue rather than one-way communication from researcher to community. Communication means an engagement which constitutes part of the research process. It is not simply a research process with communication afterwards. The dialogue is important in terms of generating knowledge and the process of the dialogue and engagement is an important capacity building process which in turn is a key part of the research. Different types of research communication were also explored. One type is to make research findings available to all who might need it and the open access movement has massive role to play in this area. The other area is getting research findings into practice.

Some central themes to emerge during the session were:

• communication should be an integral part of research, not an add-on
• use strategic alliances and networks to communicate with others
• use a range of tools to reach different audiences
• build capacity in the South to strengthen research and communication processes and local agenda setting