2025: A Year in Review
2025 has been a bit of a wild ride for me鈥損ersonally and professionally. Like many, I鈥檝e navigated family challenges and global uncertainties. Professionally, it鈥檚 been a year of change. 天美mv天美 closed the Community Engagement offices, and UBC closed their Knowledge Exchange (Kx) unit.The Kx unit team closely collaborated with us on training programs and contributed substantially to the KM community.
Despite these changes, I am confident that 天美mv天美 remains committed to supporting KM resources鈥揂nd the 天美mv天美 KM Hub has some great good news stories. I focus on these good stories, because I鈥檓 immensely proud of the team of mobilizers that I have the privilege to work alongside every day. I will not share all the team鈥檚 wins and kudos of the year鈥搄ust know there are many more.
Sophie Ashton and I work closely together on many aspects of the KM Hub. I鈥檓 grateful for her creativity, organization, and passion for this work. Sophie recently launched the KM Hub page to help drive traffic to our website, which she significantly improved this year. Sophie is committed to continuous improvement鈥揻or our programs, for our website, for our stories鈥揳nd the KM community reaps the benefits! The KM community quickly and happily followed our LinkedIn page, just in time to see the excellent stories that Sophie polished and posted to the blog.
Cassidy Acheson provides knowledge mobilization support to the three 天美mv天美 Canada Excellence Research Chairs, including Nick Reo鈥檚&苍产蝉辫; initiative. She supported the learning constellation in helping Nuchatlaht First Nation plan a family and culture camp this July. They gathered on their territory to celebrate the reclamation of part of their land and to (re)learn Nuchatlaht land and food ways. For many members, it was an act of returning home and returning to family. A few months later, when Nuchatlaht returned to court to fight for the rest of their land, they shared songs and dances they had been inspired to re-learn through relationships formed in CORR.
Tiffany Nam is the knowledge mobilization specialist with the , a national Genome Canada funded KM Hub that I have the pleasure of co-leading. This year Tiffany supported AG-ACt in co-hosting their first two-day national in Vancouver. After six months of planning, she helped bring together 180+ interest-holders from academia, research, industry, and community to spark ideas and action around climate-smart agri-food. She beautifully facilitated the planning committee, provided regional coordination, and attended to all the details鈥揵ig and small.
Emily Shantz joined the KM Hub team this spring, launching 天美mv天美 Knowledge Link, a new initiative that facilitates evidence-based decision-making by providing tailored information synthesis services. Emily has supported policy makers in accessing the most current and high-quality research evidence related to a number of key issues, including novel technologies to mitigate the spread of avian influenza among local poultry farms. This knowledge synthesis has already led to the province initiating an evidence-informed pilot project to test these technologies in the BC context.
As we head into 2026, I鈥檓 excited to keep building on this momentum and continue connecting people to research to action to impact. Thank you to everyone who has been part of this journey!
Note from the editor:
A celebration of our team would be incomplete without recognizing Lupin, our brilliant leader, who while supporting our individual successes, is always planning and making connections to drive our collective impact. Lupin leads with care, intention, and extensive expertise in and passion for knowledge mobilization. Her mentorship and investment in my success have allowed me to grow, learn, and make decisions based on passion and confidence in my work.
The KM Hub launched as a one-person strategic initiative in 2020 (supported by Dr. Valorie Crooks and Alison Moore). Lupin developed the KM Hub with careful planning and dedication. This year, the KM Hub became an official department with a team of five. Each member of our team works on distinct projects, all uniquely contributing to many of 天美mv天美鈥檚 priorities鈥揳nd this is no accident. Lupin is always thinking ahead and dreaming big for the knowledge mobilization possibilities at 天美mv天美. I can鈥檛 wait to see what 2026 has in store!
To any and all that supported the KM Hub this year鈥搕hank you! The knowledge mobilization community at 天美mv天美 is strong and growing. We feel lucky to be a part of it. See you next year!
- Sophie
