Are We Done Yet? Reflections on the Sustainability of Knowledge Products

Abstract

While collaborative research approaches help ensure that knowledge products resulting from research will be relevant to stakeholders and increase the likelihood that they will be integrated into practice, there has been limited attention given to the supports essential to maintaining knowledge products. Focussing on one research project whose knowledge products are heavily used, in this paper, we discuss the challenges associated with maintaining the integrity of these knowledge products, particularly tensions associated with: (1) lack of alignment of our needs, timelines and resources as researchers with those of community partners; (2) the ongoing need to support the evolution of knowledge products despite the conclusion of funding and project infrastructure and (3) lack of clarity about decision-making responsibility related to the ongoing evolution of these knowledge products. Out of these challenges, we offer recommendations for negotiating the evolution of knowledge products and sustaining the Knowledge to Action (KTA) cycle. These recommendations focus on documenting responsibilities for knowledge product maintenance and communication, assigning expiry dates to knowledge products, identifying secure, long-term repositories for knowledge products and planning for engagement of research partners with lived experience in the maintenance of research products.