As interest in impact-driven research grows, so does the demand for translating research findings into practical implications, policy considerations, design ideas, concepts, and even pilots. This poses certain challenges, especially for disciplines that don’t have a tradition of applied research, such as migration studies. An additional challenge can be working with the external stakeholders in conducting research and implementing findings, with contrasting requirements between the academic and non-academic worlds. As members of Trust M, we have first-hand experience facing these challenges, attempting to enhance integration services while working in an interdisciplinary team of social scientists, designers, and engineers.
With this session, we aim to invite migration researchers to reflect on their process of communicating research findings and explore means of bridging the gap between research and impact. Additionally, this can serve as a starting point for researchers who have previously not worked in impact-based research, but would like to do so. The participants will be asked to bring a visual representation of their process (e.g. a poster) and, after short presentations, we will invite everyone to an open discussion using a fishbowl method, often used in events such as unconferences (limited amount of seats for discussants, who are free to leave the conversation at any point and allow others to join). The chairs will facilitate the discussion, utilizing their translational design skills and recent experiences being a part of an interdisciplinary, impact-driven project. We hope the key takeaways from the session can serve as an inspiration for all participants to come up with novel ways of communicating their research findings, sharing common pitfalls and best practices, and connecting with “real-world” challenges and stakeholders.
Language of session: English.