David Phipps, executive director, research & innovation services, has received the 2015 President’s Award for Leadership from the Institute for Knowledge Mobilization. The award was presented May 14 during the official opening ceremony for the fourth annual Canadian Knowledge Mobilization Forum in Montreal. Peter Norman Levesque, president, Institute for Knowledge Mobilization, presented this inaugural award in recognition of Phipps’s extraordinary contribution to the field and practice of knowledge mobilization in Canada and internationally.
Phipps has been twice voted by his peers as the most influential knowledge mobilizer in Canada. Phipps worked to develop capacity to support knowledge mobilization that seeks to maximize the social and economic impacts of university research.
“David has been instrumental to the development of York’s internationally recognized Knowledge Mobilization Unit,” says Robert Haché, York University vice-president research & innovation. “Working with our community and government partners, and with our partner universities in the ResearchImpact network, David has helped to build the tools and supports that help researchers to take their research beyond the academy. This recognition highlights David’s work and the exceptional impact of York research.”
Knowledge mobilization is emerging as a new service that universities are providing to help researchers and students connect to organizations outside the university. York University is leading ResearchImpact-RéseauImpactRecherche, Canada’s knowledge mobilization network, one of only three such networks in the world building institutional capacity for knowledge mobilization.
“Canada is a global leader in knowledge mobilization,” says Levesque. “One of the reasons Canada has maintained this international reputation is because of the leadership, innovation and creativity provided by York University and David Phipps. He is very deserving of this award.”
The Institute for Knowledge Mobilization is a non-profit organization focused on: education, learning and capacity development on issues of knowledge mobilization; collaboration and community engagement; applied research and policy support; and evaluation and monitoring. Their vision is linked to achieving the Universal Declaration of Human Rights Articles 26 and 27.