Facilitating knowledge transfer between researchers and wildfire practitioners about trust: An international case study

The importance of knowledge transfer between researchers, policy makers and practitioners is widely recognized. However, barriers to knowledge transfer can make it difficult for practitioners to apply the results of scientific research. This paper describes a project that addressed barriers to knowledge transfer by involving wildfire management practitioners from three countries in developing a trust planning guide. The guide provides information about trust, factors that influence trust and actions that can be taken to build trust in the context of wildfire management. The researchers synthesized academic research into a draft trust planning guide. Wildfire management practitioners and stakeholders provided feedback about the guide and discussed their own experiences in building trust in a workshop setting. The researchers incorporated valuable feedback from the workshops into the final trust planning guide. Benefits and challenges of this process are discussed, and the authors provide recommendations for researchers and funding agencies to facilitate the uptake of research by end-users.