Research User Group newsletter 2019 RUG newsletter FINAL version 30.10.19 | Page 6

6 RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS
POSTGRADUATE SYMPOSIUM
The Keele Postgraduate
Research Symposium is an
annual event whereby each
post-grad student has the
opportunity to share the area
of work that they are
researching.
For Laura Swaithes, who is
currently part of the Impact
Accelerator Unit team looking
at implementation, this was
an opportunity to showcase
her work in the field of
knowledge mobilisation.
Laura explained: "The title of
my presentation was ‘From
research to primary care: a
knowledge mobilisation study
in osteoarthritis’ which
basically means ‘ how do we
get research about joint pain
into general practice care’? I
provided an overview of my
thesis and the key findings,
which have been developed
into a toolkit (summarised
below). A main focus of my
presentation was the role that
patients and the public
played. Winning an award
that was voted by our PPIE
representatives was great and
reinforced that the way in
which I conducted and
presented my work is
understandable and relevant.
Overall, it was a great event
for sharing and learning and I
received lots of positive
comments about my work."
RUG member Katie Tempest
and LINK member Patricia
Callaghan volunteered to be
judges. Katie commented: "It
was my privilege to be asked
to attend the symposium. We
judged 10 minute
presentations made by
student members as well as
Laura Swaithes
posters that were on display
on many and varied topics. 
The overall quality of the
presentations made our job
very difficult. This
symposium is held every year
and I hope that other RUG
colleagues can attend next
year. The posters showed an
incredible depth of
knowledge on a variety of
topics pertinent to research.
Fortunately Patricia and I
were on the same page and
incredibly we came to the
same results with no
conferring."
KNOWLEDGE
MOBILISATION
Impact Accelerator Unit
Knowledge Mobilisation is an
active process that can
transform health care through
the movement of knowledge
across and between professional,
clinical and public boundaries.
It’s about making research
evidence accessible,
understandable and useful
beyond academia.
The aim of knowledge
mobilisation is to enable
stakeholders to work together to
increase research-informed
healthcare and health care-
informed research, thereby
improving patient care.