Professional development courses

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Professional development courses

Professional development courses were run for established research leaders, as well as senior policy makers and practitioners. While they all focused in i2S (or elements of i2S), some were labelled as inter- or transdisciplinary.

The following courses have been run:

  1. The Art and Science of Integration and Implementation
  2. Bridging the Research-Policy Divide
  3. Managing complexity in public policy: Tools for analysis and response
  4. Transdisciplinary co-design, integration and implementation
  5. Interdisciplinary research excellence

1. The Art and Science of Integration and Implementation

Four courses were run, with the first three run as “Research Integration for Knowledge and Action: A Short Course for Research Leaders.” Course descriptions are available for each, with additional information for some:

2. Bridging the Research-Policy Divide

A leadership program for senior researchers from the Asia-Pacific region (by invitation).

This leadership program is for senior researchers from the Asia-Pacific region. It is aimed at actual and potential researcher leaders who already have collaborative links with Australia. This is an invitation-only program, where the participants are nominated by their Australian collaborators (sponsors). The program enhances existing research collaborations by strengthening participants’ abilities to use their research to support policy and practice change in their home countries. To date, sponsors have been at The Australian National University and the University of New South Wales, but we would welcome the involvement of other universities.

The program is run at The Australian National University. The on-campus component of the program provides training in bridging the research-policy divide through an intense and highly supported six weeks of group, one-on-one, reflective and instructional learning. Each Fellow produces a policy brief and policy influence plan based on current research, as well as a case analysis of their previous experience in bridging the ‘know-do’ gap. This face-to-face component is followed by regular virtual on-line engagement.

The first program was run in April-May 2009 with six Fellows in the fields of environment and public health from China, India, Pakistan, Philippines and Thailand. The policy briefs and case studies produced by this group can be found at 2009 Alumni.

The second program was run in May-June 2010 with ten Fellows and one train-the-trainer participant in the fields of environment, public health and security from China, Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Solomon Islands and Timor-Leste. The policy briefs and case studies produced by this group can be found at 2010 Alumni.

The third program was run in August-September 2012 with seven Fellows and one train-the-trainer participant in the fields of public health and law from Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Philippines and Thailand. The policy briefs and case studies produced by this group can be found at 2012 Alumni.

The program is supported by the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) through the Australian Leadership Awards – Fellowships. Support is also provided by The Australian National University, the sponsors and the home country organisations of the participants.

Course site for participants (log-in required via Alliance) – now CLOSED.

3. Managing complexity in public policy: Tools for analysis and response

These Executive Education courses were run through the Crawford School of Public Policy at The Australian National University. They provided an overview of version 2 of the Integration and Implementation Sciences (i2S) framework, along with key concepts and methods, for analysing and responding to complex policy issues. Courses were run on:

4. Transdisciplinary co-design, integration and implementation

In 2020, three workshops were run in different time zones on “Transdisciplinary co-design, integration and implementation” for the Belmont Forum Collaborative Research Actions. A video of the presentation sections of the workshop, titled ‘Transdisciplinary co-design, integration and implementation Workshop’, is available on the Belmont Forum YouTube channel at: https://youtu.be/liYKY5Em2eM (YouTube video – 1hr and 3 min). You can also access the slides used in the presentation (PDF 2.6MB), as well as the handout (PDF 360KB).

5. Interdisciplinary research excellence

This short course was run for Egyptian participants through the company ‘Knowledge E’ in 2020. The key elements of the course were:

  • Week 1: General overview: What are the key ingredients of interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research on complex environmental and other problems? Covered: – What makes complex problems complex? – Working with and integrating multiple disciplines, those affected by the problem, those able to take action on the problem – Using research to support policy and practice change.
  • Week 2: Assembling the pieces. Covered: – who needs to be involved (identifying relevant disciplines and stakeholders) – framing the problem – planning for outcomes
  • Week 3: Working together. Covered: – different types of participation – making participation work well
  • Week 4: Integration: the heart of interdisciplinarity. Covered: – integration of what – methods for integration – dealing with what cannot be integrated
  • Week 5: Making a difference. Covered: – understanding change – options for influencing change – how to be an effective influencer.