Knowledge management

The 2nd Annual UK Knowledge Mobilisation Forum is being held on 13th-14th April 2015 at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. It will provide a space for knowledge producers, knowledge brokers and knowledge users to come together to learn from each other, sharing good (and bad) practice about improving what they do and help maximise the impact of all types of knowledge in practice.

Alison Petch will give a plenary talk about Iriss, exploring ways in which its approach has evolved and how this may or may not relate to theories of knowledge mobilisation.

The web is now firmly established in the workplace and it is vital that the workforce knows how to use it. Social media, such as Twitter and LinkedIn, offer great opportunities for connecting, conversing, collaborating and learning from one another.

A new animation from NES (NHS Education for Scotland) and Iriss was officially launched on 24 July by Malcolm Wright, NES Chief Executive and Alison Petch, Director at Iriss.

Pearltrees is a creative and visual way to save and manage your favourite websites or 'pearls' as they are known. 'Pearls' - websites, files, photos and notes - can be saved and organised into what's known as 'pearltrees'. These 'trees' can be created and organised around subjects of interest. For example, you may have an interest in photography and want to save lots of interesting websites, blogs, photos on the topic. Using Pearltrees it's simple.

The Care Inspectorate, the independent scrutiny and improvement body for care services in Scotland, has launched The Hub, a website that provides access to resources aimed at supporting improvement in social services and social care through the use and sharing of intelligence and research-led practice. A fully accessible website, the content is provided in three categories: knowledge, innovation and improvement.

About a year ago we received an invitation from Varna Business Agency(VBA) in Bulgaria to collaborate in the development and implementation of a programme to introduce innovative methods for exchange of knowledge, skills and approaches to social inclusion. VBA had found us on the web and been impressed by our range of services.

Claire Lightowler, Programme Manager (EIP) at Iriss has co-authored a report entitled, Incentivising knowledge exchange: A comparison of vision, strategies, policy and practice in English and Scottish Higher Education (PDF), which considers the 'incentivisation' and 'institutionalisation' of knowledge exchange activities within the higher education policy in the UK.

In today's information rich world finding your way around can be daunting and you can easily become disoriented or lost. Here is quick guide.