This application adds to a larger HRB Research Leader Award about improving care for people with diabetes in Ireland. The goal of the KEDS project is to connect people who do research with people who make decisions about our national health policy so they can learn from each other and work together to improve the health of the population. The project will train health researchers how to talk effectively to policy-makers and how to provide them with the information they need when they need it. This is important because it will help researchers find out what questions the policy-makers need to answer. Sometimes researchers already have some of the answers but don’t know the best way to share this information. There are 3 parts to the ESPRIT-KT KEDS project. First, there will be a training course for researchers including webinars (seminars hosted on the web) and a 2-day face-to-face training. Part of the training will be about how to write a policy brief. Policy briefs are a summary of the most important information that policy-makers use to make policy decisions. After the training, ESPRIT researchers will produce a policy brief about care for people with diabetes. Finally, a policy dialogue will take place where researchers and policy-makers will debate the information available and think about how to use the results of the research to change policy. These three activities will help researchers and policy-makers understand each other better and provide ways for these groups to work together in the future.
