Centre for Psycho-Social Studies

Knowledge Exchange and Transfer

Knowledge transfer is about stimulating conversation, about talking to people. According to the ESRC knowledge transfer is a two way process, it’s about being open to learning from others as well as sharing your own ideas and experiences:

Knowledge transfer is about exchanging good ideas, research results, experiences and skills between universities, other research organisations, business, government, the public sector and the wider community, to enable innovative new products, services and policies to be developed. Knowledge transfer can involve a range of methods - from seminars to media relations, from placements to partnerships - but we believe that fundamentally it is a two-way process. By creating more of a dialogue between researchers and research users, the results of research are more likely to be applied in policy and practice.

(from ESRC web site)

One of the central aims of the Centre is to promote interdisciplinary work and to build bridges between the academic world, practitioners and communities. To this end we constantly strive to exchange and transfer knowledge between different communities through a variety of methods. These can range from one day conferences, through publication aimed at a wider audience, through our CPD activities to ongoing research programmes funded by the ESRC and other national or local bodies.

Examples of these methods include a one day conference exploring psycho-social interpretations of race and ethnicity. Speakers included both academics and clinical practitioners with delegates coming in large from local community groups and organisations. All our conferences whether they be one or three day events tend to be organised as working conferences where all participants share their views and exchange ideas. In publication we write with as wide an audience as possible in mind to bridge disciplinary boundaries and to influence the policy making process. So, it is our aim to introduce new ideas into mainstream academic subject areas like sociology and politics but also to leave the confines of academia and to talk to policy makers through collaborative publications with organisations such as the Kings Fund and Runnymede Trust (Simon Clarke’s work has appeared in a new Runnymede Trust publication on community cohesion and in the Commission for Integration and Cohesion factsheet). Our funded research and consultancy projects necessarily involve a high level of knowledge transfer between our project teams, policy makers, NGO’s, Government offices and community organisations. We are also committed, whenever possible, to sharing our emerging findings with our research participants so that we engage them in dialogue about our findings rather than exclude them from the process of analysis.

For further information on ESRC-funded knowledge transfer and exchange please see the ESRC website.

Knowledge Exchange and Learning Communities

There are two learning communities linked to the Centre, The Professional Learning Community and Group Relations Network West of England (GReNWE).

The main aim of The Professional Learning Community is to have a formal setting in which practitioners and academics can share and exchange knowledge and skills thus enhancing the practice of each. Of particular importance here are:

  • Establishing a network of contacts.
  • Allowing practitioners to update their academic knowledge in relevant areas.
  • Allowing academics to join in reflection on key problems faced by practitioners.
  • Allowing CPD on various levels.
  • Facilitating the possibility of members taking higher level modules or awards of the University, if desired.
  • Creating an environment for setting up joint research or consultancy projects.
  • This learning community is intended for interested parties in the West Country, working in the fields of psychoanalysis, psychodynamic psychotherapy, organisational consultancy, social work and the probation service.
  • Meetings are held three to four times a year, normally on Saturdays, and have been facilitated by Jem Thomas, Anne-Marie Cummins and Herbert Hahn. A preliminary members’ list of 29 practitioner members has been established. You can read profiles for some of them here.

For further information about this learning community please read 'Professional Learning Community for practitioners in Psychotherapy, Education, Consultancy and Healing' leaflet or contact Anne-Marie Cummins (anne-marie.cummins@uwe.ac.uk)

Group Relations Network West of England - GReNWE - is an international network of members who share a common interest in the world of group relations in all its dimensions and who want to learn and develop by creating space and opportunities to work, think, dialogue and elaborate on themes, ideas and projects. Examples of areas of special interest to GReNWE members are 'Rethinking Group Relations', 'Living with Difference', 'Gender, Sex and Power', 'Politics and Emotions', all of which are featured in the GReNWE on-line magazine, GReNWorld, available on the Members Section pages This commitment emerges from the belief that what goes on within and between groups, both conscious and unconscious, is crucial to the development of organisations and society. Therefore the life within groups, among and between groups is worth studying and learning about.

For further details see GReNWE’s website