Abstract
The proposed study will help inform future Defra Knowledge Transfer (KT) activity and will increase the capacity of Defra staff to engage in future KT activity. The project will be delivered in 4 parts: 1; increasing Defra staff awareness related to KT and the agri-food sector through a training session, 2; scoping out a plan for future optimisation of KT based on a review of past projects and current best practice, 3; piloting the activities required for this larger project through stakeholder consultation, including interviews of key project stakeholders, 4; feeding the initial insights of the research carried out into the Special Interest Group that will be established for the Sustainable Agriculture and Food Innovation Platform to assist in the planning of appropriate KT for Collaborative R&D in the agri-food sector. The project will deliver immediate benefits in terms of increasing Defra staff knowledge and understanding of KT and the agri-food sector as well as longer term benefits by ensuring that Defra’s future KT strategies for the sector build on lessons learned and best complement other KT activities. Other benefits include building relationships for better future collaborations, as well as more general, wide-reaching positive impacts on the beneficiaries of KT actions. The ultimate aim of this project is to develop a plan for a subsequent larger project to: i) review beneficial impacts of past projects; ii) investigate the ways in which KT activities were directly related to the success or otherwise of the projects, and iii) identify best practice for optimal KT in the future.
United Kingdom