The aim of my independent program of research is to lead and build capacity in knowledge translation (KT) in Australia. KT is the difference between research that shapes decisions, fosters innovation and leads to patient/consumer benefits, and research that sits on a shelf unused. One form of KT is arts-based knowledge translation (ABKT). Here,  many kinds of art forms are used across the research process: to generate, interpret and/or disseminate knowledge. I founded and lead the Arts-based Knowledge Translation (AKT) Lab at the Black Dog Institute. ABKT strategies promote communities of practice, enhance practitioner, policy-maker and public engagement, and draw on tacit and contextual knowledge to extend the impact of research evidence. Research led by my Lab shows that ABKT increases mental health literacy, decreases stigma, enhances public engagement, and leads to positive changes in attitudes, behaviour and practice.

In the past five years alone, my lab has received $2.5M in grant funding, and produced over 132 academic outputs including conventional scholarly writing, auto-ethnography, poetry, performance texts, and visual representations. This work opens ways to explore creative forms of research that reflect richness and complexity, inviting multiple levels of engagement that are cognitive, sensory, emotional and aesthetic. Transcending boundaries between arts and science holds great potential for broadening horizons, not only with regard to new areas and types of research, but also how we come to know, interpret and make sense of the phenomena under investigation. In addition to traditional academic outputs of peer-reviewed research articles, book chapters, books and scientific presentations, the AKT Lab has also gone above and beyond conventional scholarly expectations and disseminated empirical research using art forms and measured the impact of doing so, including contributing to the scholarly literature on the unique methodological, theoretical and ethical challenges. New knowledge generated by my Lab has been cited/recognised in 36 countries, and influenced other fields/disciplines including alcohol/drug, HIV/AIDS, geography, cancer, and disability studies.

My Lab operates across four key, interlinked spheres within the research to action continuum:

Knowledge Creation

Arts-based Research Workshops

• Novel methods including: Collage, found poetry, body mapping, photovoice, digital storytelling
• Pressing social and environmental issues including: LGBTQA+ mental health and wellbeing, climate change and mental health

Knowledge Dissemination

Using research-based installation art to share health knowledge, e.g.:

• Body mapping stigma
• Care for self, others, and planet
• Brilliance in aged care
• Girls who self-harm
• Senior health care leaders

Arts-based Interventions and Mental Health

Arts on Prescription Programs

• With adults w depression
• With young people and families
• With young people and families in disaster-affected communities
• With LGBTQA+ young people

Activity on Prescription Program

• Rally4Ever

Advancing theory, methods and ethics

Theoretical foundations underscore the value of our arts-based approaches in knowledge translation, emphasising the importance of collaborative knowledge construction, embodied learning, storytelling, community engagement, and the recognition of diverse perspectives and ways of knowing.

• Arts-based story completion method
• Virtual body mapping
• Social circus lab films