Draft: KTTC Identity (including Mission, Vision, etc.)
This is the current draft of the KTTC mission and vision statements. All sections except principal principles have already gone through a round of review within the steering committee, with minor edits made. (The principal principles section was distilled from the notes from our meeting in Winnipeg.)
We would now like to have feedback from the KTTC as a whole. How do you feel about this? Does it reflect how you think of the KTTC and/or what you would like our community to be and do?
This will be open for comments from KTTC members until July 6.
Note 1: Anything enclosed in {curly brackets} is something that would be a link.
Note 2: This is deliberately kept as brief and concise as possible, both for general purposes and for web readability.
WHO WE ARE
The Knowledge Translation Trainee Collaborative (KTTC) is a community of practice in knowledge translation (KT). Members of the KTTC are junior researchers and practitioners who are interested in continuing to learn about and advance the field of KT, and who want to collaborate and build networks with other KT trainees. We define trainees as students, graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, junior faculty, community learners, and/or others, such as health care practitioners, who are newer to KT and are interested in actively exploring and developing KT research and practice.
VISION
We envision a sustainable network that provides accessible, ongoing opportunities for collaboration and learning; represents diversity of thought in KT theory, methods and tools; and grows and advances the field of KT by contributing to wide application of KT and encouraging the expansion of approaches to KT.
MISSION
We are creating our vision by sharing opportunities for:
1. collaborative learning
2. collaborative work
3. networking
4. career developmentSee our {Activities} to learn more about how we are pursuing these goals.
WHY A TRAINEE COLLABORATIVE?
As trainees ourselves, we feel it is important to have an additional space for junior KT researchers to complement existing groups led by KT leaders. This allows trainees to explore ideas in a forum of peers, develop relationships, and make connections with other members of the upcoming generation of KT researchers.
OUR PRINCIPAL PRINCIPLES
We value and uphold the following standards in our interactions within the collaborative:
- We treat each other with mutual respect and maintain awareness of our different languages and terminology. This means that we take extra care when using acronyms or talking about concepts that might be unfamiliar to those in other disciplines.
- We strive to strike the right balance between being decisive, action-oriented, and moving forward, and making space for due process and reflection.
- We bring openness, non-judgmental frankness, and the willingness to challenge and be challenged to our discussions and work.
- We value our diversity and interdisciplinarity, and we encourage stretching limits and exploring new ideas in research and practice.
OUR HISTORY
The KTTC grew out of the initiative of attendees of the KT Canada Summer Institute 2008 and CIHR KT Summer Institute 2009. Vivian Chan and Evelyn Cornelissen submitted a successful grant application for a meeting to begin forming the KTTC. A planning committee of 15 KT Summer Institute 2008 and 2009 participants organized a meeting for 34 KTTC members and four KT leaders, held in Winnipeg, March 6-7, 2010. Out of that first meeting came our {mission}, a {governance structure}, {working groups} to pursue some {strategic objectives}, and a great deal of enthusiasm for a geographically, disciplinarily and philosophically diverse network of trainees in KT. We look forward to building an ongoing network of collaborators and colleagues.
CONTACT US
info@kttc email address

Ryan DeForge 9:03 pm on June 21, 2010 Permalink
Hi Holly and to all other KTTCers,
Some feedback re: the KTTC Identity posting … I like the Who We Are section: we’ve spent a fair bit of time deliberating about the term “trainee” and i think you’ve done a nice job of defining it here, and it’s good that we’re doing so right up front, nice and early. My other Comment is that you’ve done a nice job of synthesizing the Principal Principles … they read well. I wonder though, despite loving the term Principal Principles, should we consider calling them something more conventional, eg, Guiding Principles? Just a thought. Lastly, I was at first tempted to want to see more info on this page (egs, what are our strategic objectives; what’s the difference between collaborative learning and work), but i think you’re quite right to point out that we’d be remiss to cram too much onto one page when with a click or two, one can find the answers to any such questions. So, i like it just as it is.
Looking forward to others’ Comments (and to getting through this infrastructure-building stage and into some of the collaborative work we’ve so looked forward to!!) Take care everyone … Ryan
Vivien Runnels 12:05 pm on June 22, 2010 Permalink
Hi all
First of all, thanks Holly, for the email reminder to take a look at the blog. If there was some easy automatic means of sending out a reminder via email, I, for one, would really appreciate that. Or, there probably is but I haven’t worked it out yet! Thanks again for your work in putting together the e-means of communicating.
Many, many thanks to the steering committee members who were responsible for getting the draft: KTTC identity mission and vision statements, together. I found it readable and very clear as to who we are and what we do and intend to do. Great work.
I was pleased to see “represents diversity of thought in KT theory…” as part of the vision, and repeated in the principles.
Agreed that we should change Principal Principles (also implies that we have some sub-principles). I think “Principles” alone is fine and we can always add to them as we develop.
A couple of other suggestions:
i) Should properly acknowledge the source of the funding for the Winnipeg meeting (CIHR meetings grant) in our history.
ii) A common academic concern is how issues and ideas tend to go astray. I would like to add a statement or principle about integrity and respect for each other’s ideas and work – for example: We respect and treat our colleagues’ original thoughts, ideas and novel approaches to KT with integrity, and acknowledge them appropriately in our own work
Perhaps if anyone else thinks this is a reasonable proposition, they could work on the phrasing but I hope you understand my intent here.
I think somewhere that we should state that we are voluntarily affiliated, meaning that we engage in this collaboration voluntarily, and no-one is paid to fulfil the association’s roles. (I wouldn’t describe us as a non-profit – yet – perhaps later who knows?)
For those of you who are not aware of it, the Chair on Knowledge Transfer and Innovation at U Laval issues an electronic letter that I have found an incredibly useful and up-to-date resource for KT. Check out E-Watch Bulletin at http://kuuc.chair.ulaval.ca/english/index.php
All the best
Vivien Runnels
U of Ottawa
Holly Witteman 2:25 pm on June 22, 2010 Permalink
Great thoughts and comments, Ryan and Vivien. Thanks!
Vivien, I really like your proposed addition to the principles.
Vivian Chan 7:43 pm on June 25, 2010 Permalink
Vivien, the link you provided is great! I get their bulletins but have never actually went on their website. Thanks for sharing!