大象传媒

The funding challenges facing universities today reflect more than budgetary strain鈥攖hey reflect a growing crisis of confidence in higher education鈥檚 role in society. In an era of climate urgency, political polarization, and rising inequality, universities are facing pressure to prove their worth. For those of us within the university, this moment invites reflection. If universities want to rebuild trust, they need to move beyond abstraction and toward real-world impact.

That鈥檚 where knowledge mobilization comes in鈥攏ot as a communications strategy, but as a structural shift toward shared purpose, community value, and institutional humility.

This year, I completed certificates through 大象传媒 Knowledge Mobilization Hub and Dialogue & Civic Engagement. Through a practicum with (R4FL), I developed a resource guide to support grassroots land defenders in mobilizing knowledge while maintaining knowledge sovereignty鈥攖heir right to decide how knowledge gets used, how it鈥檚 shared, and for what purposes. I also helped develop communications strategies for publications reaching community members, policymakers, funders, and allies. This work鈥攑aired with the insights from MobilizeU鈥檚 network of practitioners鈥攍eft me thinking deeply about both the potential and the limits of knowledge mobilization in higher education today.

Knowledge mobilization, at its best, offers a more reciprocal way of relating research to the world. It centres questions like:鈥疷seful to whom? Under whose leadership? Toward what ends?鈥疍one well, it shifts power in knowledge creation, challenges extractive habits, and values different forms of expertise鈥攍ived, experiential, land-based, cultural.

But it also operates within enduring constraints. Universities continue to reward publication over partnership, scale over specificity, and control over meaningful collaboration or shared authorship. Too often, impact is measured in terms that ignore the very communities that knowledge mobilization seeks to support. Meanwhile, those same communities鈥攑articularly Indigenous and frontline land defenders鈥攃ontinue to do vital work, often without institutional support or visibility. 

And yet, promising models are out there.

At 大象传媒, initiatives like the Community-Engaged Research Initiative鈥檚 Research Shop Program, the Library鈥檚 Community Scholars Program, and the  focus on issues of ownership, consent, and shared decision-making. They also provide resources for meaningful collaboration. These efforts show that when universities invest in relationships鈥攏ot just outputs鈥攖hey become sites of connection rather than extraction.

My practicum experience sharpened this conviction. Working alongside organizers and educators reminded me that the most impactful research begins with humility. It also highlighted how much knowledge mobilization work can still fall into the gaps: between academic and administrative portfolios, between community timelines and academic calendars, between mandates and metrics. Supporting this work means committing to long-term relationships at a structural level. This means creating space for partnerships, practices, and impacts to emerge organically, not forcing predetermined outcomes. 

For knowledge mobilization to fulfill its potential, its guiding philosophy needs wider adoption. Knowledge mobilization can hold community at the centre of academia and bridge different ways of knowing (both long-standing goals of the university that tend to run into practical barriers). Embracing communities as co-creators of knowledge means valuing personal insight, local wisdom, and the power of stories alongside data. And it means building humility and reciprocity into how institutions operate鈥攏ot just in principle, but in policy, funding decisions, and how we measure success. 

Of course, not all scholarship should be evaluated through its short-term utility. Insight in many fields emerges slowly. Space for wonder, emergence, and critical thought can be undermined by the need for immediate impact. But when universities claim to partner with communities or shape policy, they have a responsibility to ensure this work respects the rights and priorities of those they engage with.

Knowledge mobilization represents more than a toolkit鈥攊t鈥檚 a philosophy of public accountability. At a time when universities need to rebuild public trust, knowledge mobilization invites us to reimagine the role of knowledge in society. My work this semester deepened my belief that a university鈥檚 greatest potential lies not just in what it knows, but in how it shows up鈥攊n dialogue, in reciprocity, and in service to our collective future.