Future of the Armed Forces Research Integrator: Programme Integration and Knowledge Exchange Strategy

在“武装部队的未来”呼吁下资助的四个研究项目之间存在巨大的协同作用和附加值潜力。将研究与相关的学术、政策和从业人员活动结合起来，需要正式规划、实际协调以及与用户和更广泛的利益攸关方社区的持续接触。我们的方法提供了承诺的透明度，强调互动，对话和反馈。我们的方法有四个关键方面：i）务实的整合; ii）科学的整合; iii）政策和从业人员的参与; iv）影响评估。需要务实的整合，以促进分散在英国各地的文职和军事同事团队的日常工作，并将包括：* 作为所有合作伙伴的关键联系点，包括国防部（MOD），英国陆军和ESRC; * 通过定期电话联系，每周电子邮件更新，每月虚拟和每六个月面对面会议，与指定的合作伙伴保持联系;* 制定一个商定的工作计划，其中包括四个研究项目的主要里程碑和事件以及整合战略;* 领导该计划，包括最后确定工作计划，并商定整合者角色的职权范围和标准操作程序;* 提供健全的信息管理，包括一个有关学术和灰色文献的数据库;* 按资助伙伴的要求管理六个月的报告。科学整合将最大限度地发挥四个独立项目的价值，并支持有效的知识交流。这将包括：* 在整个计划的时间轴内，协调正式伦理审批的申请和伦理问题的讨论;* 酌情同步抽样战略和数据收集方法，以确保互补而不是重叠;* 进行和分享范围审查及其出版物; * 制定计划，以分享结果和荟萃分析，并为学术界和其他受众提供跨计划产出;* 组织学术合作研讨会，以确保这种科学的整合。政策和从业人员的参与将提高国防，卫生，就业和家庭政策和实践等领域的关键影响者和决策者对研究计划的认识，并利用最新的KE工具来支持研究的吸收。这将使双方能够相互分享有关研究和政策方面可能需要在方案执行过程中加以考虑的相关发展情况的信息。我们的整合策略将利用利益相关者映射，以确保所有关键关系都是有针对性的。鉴于关系和网络作为研究吸收机制的关键作用，这将为针对特定受众的研究的适当翻译提供信息。这方面的参与将包括：* 一个方案咨询小组，负责审查整体整合和参与战略，并协助为特定受众制定研究成果;* 一个知识产权计划，确定和规划特定的利益攸关方群体，以及他们将如何参与项目;* 背景分析，以了解在何处以及如何从四个项目中实现最佳影响;* 为更广泛的利益相关者提供第一个联络点，以确保他们能够获得各种各样的信息来源和观点;* 确定能力建设活动和战略，以促进长期的学习和发展;* 利用一系列相关工具的传播计划。在计划实施期间，将进行影响评估，以提供形成性反馈和总结性评估。我们将与主要利益相关者群体进行磋商，以告知和整合影响途径，并进行实证评估，以评估研究和KE在该计划中的影响。

There is great potential for synergy and added value across the four research projects funded under the Future of the Armed Forces Call. Integration of the research with related academic, policy and practitioner activities requires formal planning, practical coordination and on-going engagement with users and the wider stakeholder community. Our approach offers transparency of undertakings with an emphasis on interaction, dialogue and feedback. There are four key dimensions of our approach: i) pragmatic integration; ii) scientific integration; iii) policy and practitioner engagement; and iv) impact evaluation. Pragmatic integration is required to facilitate day to day working across a team of civilian and military colleagues dispersed throughout the UK and will include:*acting as key point of contact for all partners, including the Ministry of Defence (MOD), British Army and ESRC; *on-going liaison with nominated partners through regular telephone contact, weekly email updates, monthly virtual and six-monthly face to face meetings;*developing an agreed work plan containing key milestones and events across the four research projects and the integration strategy;*leading the programme including finalizing the workplan and agreeing terms of reference for the integrator role and Standard Operating Procedures;*delivering robust information management including a database of relevant academic and grey literature;*management of six monthly reporting as required by the funding partners. Scientific integration will maximize the value of the four separate projects and support effective knowledge exchange (KE). This will include: *coordination of applications for formal ethical approval and discussion of ethical issues throughout the timeline of the programme;*synchronization, as appropriate, of sampling strategies and data collection methods to ensure complementarity not overlap;*conducting and sharing scoping reviews and publication thereof; *developing plans for sharing results and meta-analyses and delivering across programme outputs for both academic and other audiences;*organising academic collaboration workshops to ensure this scientific integration.Policy and practitioner engagement will raise awareness of the research programme amongst key influencers and decision makers in areas including defence, health, employment and family policy and practice and utilising the most up to date KE tools to support uptake of the research. This will enable reciprocal sharing of information regarding relevant developments in both research and policy that may require consideration over the course of the programme. Our integration strategy will utilise stakeholder mapping to ensure all key relationships are targeted. This will inform appropriate translation of research for specific audiences given the key role of relationships and networks as mechanisms for research uptake. Aspects of this engagement will include:*a programme advisory group to review the overall integration and engagement strategy, and assist with shaping research outputs for specific audiences;*a KE plan identifying and mapping specific stakeholder groups and how they will be engaged with the projects;*contextual analysis to understand where and how the best impact from the four projects can be achieved;*first point of contact for the wider stakeholder community to ensure access to a diverse range of information sources and perspectives;*identification of capacity building activities and strategies for longer term learning and development;*a communication plan utilizing a range of relevant tools.Impact evaluation will be undertaken over the course of the programme to provide formative feedback and summative evaluation. We will consult with key stakeholder groups to inform and integrate pathways to impact and undertake empirical evaluation to assess the impact of research and KE in this programme.