Researchers At KNUST To Make Their Findings More Accessible To Stakeholders

The College of Health Sciences at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) has launched an initiative to push research findings out of the shelves to the public.

Over the years, products of research have been masked with technical languages only accessible to the research community.

The University researchers are however hoping to change the trend through a Knowledge Sharing Dissemination & Communication Project, which will put research findings in simple language.

Key facilitator of the Project, Dr. Kwasi Opoku Amankwa, tells Luv News the initiative will guide policy makers and the public in making informed decisions.

“Usually, research is published in academic journals and its access and comprehension becomes limited to the lay-person. But we have realized that the University has to be of use to the society. We have research findings on almost every aspect of our lives and through this initiative, the public can find solutions to our everyday problems” Dr. Amankwa added.

The project, in the interim, will allow researchers at the KNUST College of Health Sciences to share their findings through communication tools like Newsletters and drama.

Some KNUST researchers who tried the initiative shared their experience with Luv News, saying the project is laudable and must be adopted by other universities.

A KNUST researcher who worked on the PhD topic- (How Communication can be used to prevent Malaria in Pregnancy) said her findings were communicated through a “drama” in the Ejisu-Juaben community where the data were collected. She added the research language was reduced to the understanding of the indigenes and thus achieved the ultimate purpose for which the research was conducted.

The Knowledge Sharing Research Dissemination & Communication Project is a joint initiative between the KNUST and the University of Copenhagen in Denmark.