Calling Potential Contributors to “The Bridge: Connecting Science and Practice”

Kimberly Adams, Independent Consultant and Stephanie Zajac, UT MD Anderson Cancer Center

As Talya Bauer stated in her January 2019 President’s Message, the integration of science and practice will be a key focus during her leadership. As a first step, the Science–Practice Opportunities for Translation (SPOT) Task Force was established, and newly appointed team members already have been busy working on new strategies—like the creation of the Scientist–Practitioner Presidential Recognition Award—and strengthening existing ones.

Likewise, Elizabeth McCune, Conference Theme Track Chair, and her team of committee members have been hard at work creating this year’s Theme Track. On Thursday, April 4, join us for the Advancing Science Practice Translations theme track, which is dedicated to integrating science and practice from a variety of perspectives to ensure relevancy to SIOP’s full membership. The five Theme Track sessions are listed under the umbrella title of SIOP Select and are all scheduled for the conference hotel room Potomac D.  Unless otherwise noted, the sessions are 80 minutes long. They include:

• Communicating Results in a Complex World (10:30 am). The idea behind this multidisciplinary session is to “start with the end user in mind.” The high energy session will be filled with applied examples of how to effectively translate and communicate results.
• The Science-Practice Partnership: Action and Education (12 pm). This uniquely formatted session examines “Why we struggle.” Dueling panels debate the issues around science-practice partnerships and the role education plays in science-practice translations. 
• Translating Complexity: From Science to Practice (1:30 pm). This session addresses technical topics in ways that midcareer professionals will find particularly useful, including cutting edge analytic tools such as organizational network analysis, natural language processing, machine learning, and computational modeling.  
• Using Design Thinking to Improve Research Relevance (3:30 pm). The intent of Session 4 is to enable audience members to apply design thinking principles to scientific research to ultimately improve relevance and applicability to organizations. Panelists include design thinking experts and practitioners who have applied design thinking to their work.
• Disruptions Big and Small: The Future of Science-Practice in I-O (5:00-5:50 pm). This session is a call to action to all SIOP members to help close the science practice divide. A panel will discuss issues the field needs to address to close the gap and encourage better translations, including several specific action recommendations to facilitate closing the gap. 

As outlined in Poteet, Zugec, and Wallace (2016), the TIP Editorial Board and Professional Practice Committee established the "The Bridge: Connecting Science and Practice" column to offer SIOP members another conduit for integrating science and practice.

We are currently seeking contributors! If you are interested in submitting to "The Bridge: Connecting Science and Practice" column, please contact either Kimberly Adams (kadams6006@gmail.com) or Stephanie Zajac at (zajac.stephanie@gmail.com).

"The Bridge: Connecting Science and Practice" column features a variety of different types of articles. Possible types of contributions include:

• A question and answer written dialogue between an academic and a practitioner highlighting, for example, what is happening in academia that could be put into practice and what is happening in practice that could be further investigated with more research
• A case study highlighting the effective practice of science. For example, a recent practice-based issue provided by a practitioner, highlighting evidence-based solutions that were utilized, the impact or implications of those solutions, and potential recommendations or requests for more research
• A review of a key topic/area of interest to I-O psychology (e.g., employee engagement), presented from both the practitioner and academic perspectives, highlighting areas where science and practice converge and diverge and pointing to possible areas for further research or practice
• A description of a difficult challenge faced by a practitioner with a request for assistance, followed by a summary of scientific, evidence-based solutions that could be used for the challenge, provided by an academic or researcher
• A summary of the latest, cutting edge research findings, followed by a description of how those findings can be implemented in practice generated by both academics and practitioners
• A list of emerging trends, issues, and challenges being experienced by practitioners (e.g., top five requests of clients), accompanied with specific research questions or agendas that could be pursued to address such trends and issues

You can access previous versions of "The Bridge: Connecting Science and Practice" within previous editions of TIP or through SIOP.org here: http://my.siop.org/Resources/PPC/BridgeArticles

We welcome your contributions and look forward to hearing about the science–practice partnerships you have formed!