Knowledge Mobilization & Community Engagement Specialist

Staff - Non Union

Job Category
Non Union Technicians and Research Assistants

Job Profile
Non Union Salaried - Research Assistant /Technician 4

Job Title
Knowledge Mobilization & Community Engagement Specialist

Department
Birth Place Lab – Administration | Department of Family Practice | Faculty of Medicine

Compensation Range
$5,068.91 - $5,946.08 CAD Monthly

Posting End Date
April 11, 2024

Note: Applications will be accepted until 11:59 PM on the day prior to the Posting End Date above.

Job End Date

Mar 31, 2025

NOTE: This is a 1-year, 80% FTE position. The salary range indicated represents a full-time position, and will be pro-rated by the FTE, accordingly.

At UBC, we believe that attracting and sustaining a diverse workforce is key to the successful pursuit of excellence in research, innovation, and learning for all faculty, staff and students. Our commitment to employment equity helps achieve inclusion and fairness, brings rich diversity to UBC as a workplace, and creates the necessary conditions for a rewarding career. 

Job Summary
The Knowledge Mobilization & Community Engagement Specialist (KCES) provides expertise and direction for community-driven knowledge mobilization.  The KCES is responsible for outreach, engagement, and administrative activities related to participatory research projects at the Birth Place Lab (BPL), UBC Midwifery. They are responsible for strategic planning, management, and facilitation of knowledge mobilization (KM) events and cocreation of knowledge translation products, with a focus on equity, respect, safety, and access to culturally safe perinatal care for historically marginalized and/or underserved communities. The KCES provides direct support to Professor Saraswathi Vedam (Principal Investigator), and Community Partners as they develop and conduct KM activities related to the program of research at the Birth Place Lab.  The Community Engagement Specialist will collaborate with multi-disciplinary stakeholders to implement patient-responsive and population-specific educational programs, best practice models, and accountability tools that enhance access to safety, quality, and respect in perinatal services.
Organizational Status
The Birth Place Lab (BPL), a research unit within the Midwifery Program in the Faculty of Medicine, facilitates transdisciplinary, community-based participatory action research aimed at improving access to high quality perinatal services, from preconception to early parenting. The BPL supports multi-national, multi-stakeholder teams as they collaborate on quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods provincial, national, and international research projects, and hosts trainees from midwifery, medicine, public health, and other disciplines. The BPL internal team includes the PI, Research Associates, Projects Coordinator, Administration, Equity and Operations Manager, Research Assistants, and several graduate, professional, and undergraduate trainees and scholars.  

The BPL currently holds several grants that support research and knowledge translation on person-centered and respectful care for childbearing families, especially those from historically marginalized populations. These novel research projects are poised to inform health policy, system and service leaders about pragmatic, community-responsive modes of increasing accountability for rights-based, high quality health services for childbearing families. Current research studies are funded by various Tri-Council agencies and foundations, and are institutionally supported through the Division of Midwifery, Department of Family Practice, Faculty of Medicine, the WHRI, and CGSHE. The PI is lead of the Justice and Equity in Perinatal Services (JEPS) Hub and Research Excellence Cluster. The core research team is located in Vancouver, though transdisciplinary research and community partners are spread across North America, Europe, Africa, India, the UK, South America, and Oceania. 
Work Performed

Knowledge Mobilization:

• Develop knowledge translation frameworks for assessing implementation issues, opportunities and strategic alignments in women's health and perinatal health services. 

• Planning and coordination of community-led development of innovative knowledge translation tools; including development of a multi-media dissemination package. 

• Convening regional KM planning meetings/Town Halls/and dissemination events with a multi-stakeholder teams of community members, community partner leads, co-investigators, research and clinicians (including physicians, nurses and midwives, NGOs, and professional associations) to optimize uptake of knowledge products provincially and nationally. 

• Contributing to the design and development of best practice guidelines to decolonize research and KM. 

• Draft and oversee development of funding applications to support knowledge mobilization 

• Collaborate with PI and Research staff to design evaluation of integrated knowledge translation interactions with knowledge users and stakeholders, and any associated health system improvements during the project.  

• Identify health policy, system, service and access gaps, barriers and opportunities 

• Facilitate continuous dialogue engaging health system decision-makers, healthcare providers, researchers and trainees. 

• Prepare and design accessible syntheses, reports, data display tools, lay language summaries for multiple audiences, including service users, clinicians, professional associations, health professional education programs, regulators, policymakers and accrediting bodies. 

• Develop strategies to promote uptake of research findings for health system, policy and service improvement.  

• Other duties as required.

Community Engagement:

Expand capacity for participatory, integrated knowledge translation: 

• Engage key community partners and NGOs that serve racialized, marginalized, underrepresented, and Indigenous childbearing populations across the US and Canada. 

• Identify, recruit, and center the interests of pregnant and childbearing people with identities, circumstances, and backgrounds that are associated with increased risks of mistreatment and disrespect within the health care system. 

• Oversee the coordination, documentation, and communication for ongoing community Steering Council meetings, and knowledge translation activities.

• Provide technical expertise to community members during the interpretation phases of patient-centered research projects.  

• Facilitate training of community partners in research methods, interpretation, and KT tool development. 

• In consultation with community Steering Councils, PI, and Co-Investigators, manage strategic resource allocations to support community engagement. 

• Respond to inquiries and requests from Community Partners, media, and the public 

• Provide oversight, mentorship and direction to BPL undergraduate and graduate trainees and research assistants for community engagement activities. 

• Supervise, provide direction, delegate to, and monitor the community engagement activities of project research staff (contractors, technicians, community leads). 

• Support community partners for co-development of manuscripts, abstracts, policy documents, posters and presentations for academic journals and conferences. 

• Support community partners for co-development of arts-based, digital, innovative data mobilization tools, strategies and products. 

• Work with Communications staff to develop systems to maintain contact lists and effective, community-responsive communications modalities across stakeholder groups. 

• Support optimal workplace culture and environment.

• Other duties as required. 

This position coordinates activities with Senior Research Associates, Administration, Equity and Operations Manager, Projects Coordinator, Community Steering Council Members, as well as Co-Investigators and Community Partners for BPL research and KT projects. The CES interacts and liaises with the Division of Midwifery faculty and staff, UBC health professional academic units, Women's Health Research Institute (WHRI), Centre for Gender and Sexual Health Equity (CGSHE) as well as external researchers, health care professionals and service users, community-based researchers, and policy-makers across CIHR-funded Pan-Canadian Women’s Health Hubs. 

Consequence of Error/Judgement
The Knowledge Mobilization and Community Engagement Specialist makes professional decisions and recommendations on all aspects of their work and is responsible for the quality of community engagement and knowledge translation activities. The KMCES is expected to exercise professional judgment, independence, tact, and initiative when acting on behalf of the BPL and member of the University staff. Failure to maintain standards for confidentiality, professionalism, inclusive action, integrity of the knowledge mobilization products, and/or meeting project deliverables a could jeopardize the reputation of the Principal Investigator and working relationships with community partners and collaborators. Correct, accurate, timely, and appropriate completion of tasks is of utmost importance as mistakes and inappropriate action could result in the loss of grant funding and credibility of the Midwifery Department and Faculty of Medicine.
Supervision Received
The Knowledge Mobilization and Community Engagement Specialist works under the general direction and guidance of Professor Vedam (the Principal Investigator), Equity and Operations Manager, and Research Associates, and independently develops work plans and timetables and exercises judgment and initiative on duties. The KMCES is accountable for the effective and efficient management of KM projects and is expected to regularly update the Principal Investigator, research collaborators, and pertinent members of the Birth Place Lab and Department as needed, on progress. Work will be reviewed against the overall BPL strategic plan and project deliverables and objectives. Budgetary decisions will be made in consultation with the Principal Investigator.
Supervision Given
The Knowledge Mobilization and Community Engagement Specialist is responsible for orientation, ongoing engagement, oversight and liaising with Regional Community Partners, and research assistants from the community and at UBC, including undergraduate and graduate students, providing training, supervision and guidance to community leads and research support staff as needed to ensure that project goals are met in a timely and efficient manner.
Minimum Qualifications
Completion of a university degree in a relevant discipline or technical program and a minimum four years of related experience or an equivalent combination of education and experience. Some positions may require a graduate degree.
- Willingness to respect diverse perspectives, including perspectives in conflict with one’s own

- Demonstrates a commitment to enhancing one’s own awareness, knowledge, and skills related to equity, diversity, and inclusion

Preferred Qualifications

• Graduate degree or equivalent experience in a relevant discipline. (Midwifery, nursing, public health, health services, community planning, social sciences, etc.). 

• Knowledge of qualitative and quantitative research design, methodology. 

• Knowledge of North American and global research on respectful care, anti-oppression, and equity in perinatal health services and research. 

• Knowledge of administrative and regulatory processes for research conducted in a university setting, including ethical requirements.  

• Minimum of three years-experience or the equivalent combination of education and experience. Experience with health services and health equity research in an academic environment. 

• Experience writing and preparing research proposals and developing grant applications for regional and national funding agencies (CIHR), including proposals, budgets, project work plans, and timelines. 

• Experience with community-based participatory research design, including survey studies, qualitative studies, arts-based research, and evaluation of health services. 

• Familiarity with and experience with implementation of anti-racist and anti-oppression methods for community engagement, research and knowledge translation. 

• Knowledge of OCAP principles for respectful and decolonized research methods. 

• Demonstrated competency in academic or technical writing and communication, including multi-media and arts-based research and knowledge dissemination. 

• Ability to effectively use Outlook, PowerPoint, Word, SPSS Excel, NVivo, Mendeley, and Zotero at an intermediate level.  

• Ability to effectively use media platforms and editing software (e.g. YouTube, CANVA, Piktochart, Camtasia, etc.) and familiarity with using social media channels for knowledge dissemination.  

• Ability to analyze problems, identify key information and issues, and effectively resolve problems.  

• Ability to communicate effectively verbally and in writing. 

• Ability to exercise sound judgment, initiative, and diplomacy. 

• Interpersonal, analytical, and organizational skills. Ability to prioritize and work effectively under pressure to meet deadlines.

• Ability to work effectively independently and in a team environment.