WHO WE ARE
Our Mission
To advance the science and practice of research partnerships, through meaningful involvement of researchers and knowledge users in the sport sector.
Our Goals
 | Beliefs To promote more awareness of and value for intentionally engaging in meaningful research partnerships. |
 | Connection To support more connections between researchers and knowledge users (e.g., sport administrators and decision-makers, practitioners, athletes, etc.) in the sport sector. |
 | Education and Resources To gather, synthesize, and/or generate tools, approaches, frameworks, and educational opportunities to help partners create, maintain, meaningfully engage in, and sustain research partnerships. |
Our Team
Our current leadership is comprised of researchers and knowledge users in the sport sector:
- Majidullah Shaikh, The University of British Columbia – Okanagan
- Heather Gainforth, The University of British Columbia – Okanagan
- Karl Erickson, York University
- Kim Gurtler, Sport Information Resource Centre
- Veronica Allan, Sport Information Resource Centre
We also have been collaborating and connecting with several researchers and knowledge users across the sector. We are looking to expand both our leadership and collaborating partners. In pursuing this expansion, it was important for us to conceptualize the SPC’s domains of work – that is, how we plan to do what we want to do.
What we have done so far
- Developed a growing network of researchers and knowledge users in sport interested in this topic.
- Held multiple events to get researchers and knowledge users in sport to connect with one another, exchange knowledge, and learn about the latest evidence in research partnerships.
- Solicited insights from the sector of what capacity and supports are needed for advancing research partnerships.
- Co-developed a research and action agenda as a call for the SPC and other interested parties in the sector to address our shared mission.
- We held several collaborative meetings with researchers and knowledge users in our network across Canada, and a summary of our meetings can be found here, and all meeting notes here.
THE SPC DOMAINS OF WORK
Over the past year, the SPC has connected with and consulted with members of the community and researchers to learn about successes, challenges, and areas of need for partnership. From these conversations, at conferences, workshops, individual consultations, and collaborative meetings, we identified five different domains of work that members of the sector can engage in, in order to advance support and capacities for research partnerships in sport.
These domains are:
 | Research and Inquiry Our mission is to compile, synthesize, and co-generate understandings of how to support partnerships in the sport sector, to be more meaningful, equitable, strategic, and sustainable. Potential activities: reviewing current literature, conducting multiple case studies of existing partnerships, and asking partners about their needs, opportunities, challenges. |
 | Connection Activities Our mission is to promote connection, mutual understandings, and facilitate knowledge-to-action of research partnership science through community engagement activities. Activities: Communities of practice focused on knowledge exchange, Events focused on partnership match-making, education, and inquiry of sport sector needs. |
 | Education and Resource Development Our mission is to support the capacity-building of people who engage in research partnerships. Potential activities: Creating social learning spaces, developing tools, building a network of networks, developing partnership certification systems, advocating for sport practicums in graduate research programs. |
 | Advocacy and Action Our mission is to advocate for greater capacity and opportunity for meaningful research partnerships in the sport sector. Potential activities: Advocate for funding bodies, large sporting bodies, and connection hubs to support partnered research more meaningfully. Create connections with partnership hubs to support partnership match-making. |
 | SPC Internal Development Our mission is to oversee and support the equitable and meaningful engagement of SPC members in its activities, and support the Collective’s sustainability. Potential activities: Developing a shared vision, governing structure, strategies for involving community members, EDI, and an evaluation framework for SPC activities. |
If you would like to be involved in these initiatives, please fill out this survey to indicate which activities you would like to be involved in and how.
RESOURCES AND PUBLICATIONS
We have offered some resources that you may want to leverage in your own work or share freely within your networks:
- SPC – Research Partnership Checklist
- SPC – Sport Canada Research Initiative Workshop Report
- Indigenous Community Research Partnerships Courses (FREE)
- A ‘RECIPE’ with example principles and strategies for research partnerships
Sport Partnership Collective, Shaikh, M., Gainforth, H., & Erickson, K. (2023). Advancing Youth Sport Research Partnerships : Report from SCAPPS 2022 Session http://doi.org/10.14288/1.0432034
Sport Partnership Collective, Shaikh, M., Allan, V., Gainforth, H., Gurtler, K., & Erickson, K. (2024). Research partnerships in sport workshop : Report from the 2023 Sport Canada Research Initiative (SCRI) Conference [R]. http://dx.doi.org/10.14288/1.0443566
CONTACT INFORMATION
If you have any questions about the Sport Partnership Collective, or would like to be involved in any way, please contact Maji Shaikh, PhD, Co-Leader of the SPC.
