Session: K4 - Roundtable: Pracademia: Connecting Theory and Practice in Public Policy

Date: May 31, 2016 | Time: 01:30pm to 03:00pm | Location: Science Theatres 63

Chair/Président: Jared Wesley (University of Alberta)

Participants & Authors/Auteurs:

Jared Wesley (University of Alberta)

Geoff Salomons (University of Alberta)

Owuraku Kusi-Ampofo (University of Alberta)

Elisabeth Richardson (University of Alberta)

Shingirai Mandizadza (University of Alberta)

Neetu Sharma (University of Alberta)

"This panel will feature papers from four (4) teams of academics and research assistants affiliated with the Cafe Pracademique initiative, presenting the results of this groundbreaking approach to the design, delivery, and study of public policy in Canada. The knowledge mobilization necessary to meet today’s most pressing public policy challenges must involve far more than research dissemination. Many citizens and public policy professionals do not (or cannot) access the research found in academic journals, and many do not see value in attending traditional, panel-style conferences. By the same token, academics derive relatively less value and societal impact from releasing their research results through these conventional channels. All three communities require a new “pracademic” approach to knowledge mobilization, one that capitalizes upon the value practitioners, academics, and citizens bring to the process of policy innovation.

The Café Pracademique (CaféPrac) initiative closes these gaps by uniting a host of Canadian and international thought leaders with over four hundred (400) participants in a series of four (4) day-long community-based forums designed to co-create and mobilize the knowledge necessary to solve a series of key public policy puzzles, ranging from public sector leadership and environmental sustainability, to access to digital public services by persons with disabilities and indigenous affairs. Presenters will reveal the results of these four pracademic exercises, revealing the knowledge generated and lessons learned."