R&C
I read and re-read Craig Calhoun’s lecture on Interdisciplinarity, Innovation and Informing the Public.
If these issues are of interest to you, I encourage you to read the transcript of the lecture here. Skip the niceties and go straight to page 10.
While Calhoun’s lecture broached a variety of issues from interdisciplinarity in the social sciences to what it means to innovate, I was drawn most to the key ideas on effective communication of research outcomes and engagement of constituencies. Incidentally, these issues have been on my mind a lot. For whom is this knowledge for and why should they care? The work at IAL certainly sparked the interest early in 2009 because of the manner Andrew developed its research programme. Furthermore, experiencing first-hand the impact of research on policy-making and practice because of planned dissemination strategies reinforced their importance. I am certain that the strategic communication of research outcomes to its relevant constituencies (esp in Singapore) will continue to be an area of work I value and want to develop. In a most serendipitous way, I’ve now found a way to marry two big passions of mine – research and communication. I look forward to moving this forward with other like-minded individuals (who will get excited about these things). The time is right.
