Supporting knowledge translation through collaborative translational research initiatives: ‘Bridging’ versus ‘blurring’ boundary-spanning approaches in the UK CLAHRC initiative

Recent policy initiatives in the UK and internationally have sought to promote knowledge translation between the ‘producers’ and ‘users’ of research. Within this paper we explore how boundary-spanning interventions used within such initiatives can support knowledge translation between diverse groups. Using qualitative data from a 3-year research study conducted from January 2010 to December 2012 of two case-sites drawn from the CLAHRC initiative in the UK, we distinguish two different approaches to supporting knowledge translation; a ‘bridging’ approach that involves designated roles, discrete events and activities to span the boundaries between communities, and a ‘blurring’ approach that de-emphasises the boundaries between groups, enabling a more continuous process of knowledge translation as part of day-to-day work-practices. In this paper, we identify and differentiate these boundary-spanning approaches and describe how they emerged from the context defined by the wider CLAHRC networks. This highlights the need to develop a more contextualised analysis of the boundary-spanning that underpins knowledge translation processes, relating this to the distinctive features of a particular case.