Our Science Communications Story: Maximizing Science's Reach By Connecting Researchers to Funders and Communities; Leveraging Science for Social Justice

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I've always been a science nerd, but I became an actual scientist fairly late in life, after many years in community practice, as a midwife and an activist. By my second day of graduate school, I was disturbed but fascinated by the lack of communication between researchers, practitioners, activists and communities. This research to practice gap struck me as especially sad, because, in my experience, scientists, activists, change makers and communities are natural allies, though they may not yet be aware of the mutual benefits of collaboration.  

 

As a practitioner, I was thirsty for knowledge. When I was a midwife in El Paso back in the day, I would sneak into the University of Texas Medical School library, hoping that my short white coat from Goodwill was convincing, and read journal articles on microfiche. Though I was often asked to provide my UTexas ID badge or leave before I made it through the methods section of the study I was reading, I began to understand that science was a powerful tool in advocating effectively for my clients. In addition to growing my knowledge of physiology, research helped me understand my world, connect the poverty and racism of the US/Mexico border to our history, and  then connect our history to the health outcomes I saw daily in the clinic. Reading science made me a better provider, but also a better activist. 

 

Yet over a decade later, while working as a research coordinator at a safety net hospital in New England, I often heard my colleagues express frustration at the difficulty they encountered in generating community interest in their research. Likewise, as an activist, I can tell stories for days about attempting to be heard around issues that would dramatically affect me and my community, only to be actively kept away from the table. Having worked with and in frontline communities, I know what it's like to be the object of research, to be studied but not considered, or heard. 

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My job, put simply, is to bridge these divides.

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As a social scientist, I know that the research to practice gap is real, and striking, but not intractable. Bridging the research to practice gap is about building alliances, between funders and researchers, between researchers and practitioners, and between communities and researchers. And to build such alliances, we need to become fluent in multiple languages, and communicate across the research to practice gap.

 

That's where RGR Communications comes in. I have always loved to write, but telling your research's story is more than just finding the right words. Its about connecting you to the right audiences, and then making sure that your story speaks to the audience's priorities. Its about helping you understand your audience, and learn from multiple stakeholders.  I work in both traditional and new formats, thus maximizing reach. My job is to help your research find its voice, and its community through compelling, stakeholder engaged knowledge translation.

 

RGR Communications is flexible, and able to provide support at any stage of the research process.  I have a stellar grant writing track record, and view proposal development as an important means of enabling science (your science) to make an impact on the world. I have successfully secured foundation, state and federal funding for a variety of projects, and I would be pleased to help you identify funders and write and submit a proposal. I can also provide writing and research ethics consultation support for IRB applications, having done research with very vulnerable populations related to sensitive subjects. I excel at stakeholder engagement and innovative knowledge translation, to ensure that you bridge the research to practice gap. Jump it, in fact, and land on the other side, with maximized impact.

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