For the second year in a row, an innovative conference that seeks to bridge the gap between research and policymaking in order to advance evidence-based policy solutions is coming to Hartford.
The “Moving Beyond Implications: Research into Policy” (Moving Beyond) conference will be held on Thursday, Dec. 12, at 12 p.m. at the Legislative Office Building in in the capital city.
Connecticut researchers will be able to connect with legislators and other policymakers to discuss pressing issues affecting the state ahead of the General Assembly’s 2025 legislative session.
Kerri Raissian, Scholars Strategy Network Connecticut Chapter (CT SSN) Co-Leader and Director of the UConn Center for Advancing Research, Methods, and Scholarship in Gun Injury Prevention (ARMS), State Rep. Jaime Foster (Ellington, East Windsor, Vernon), and State Rep. Dominique Johnson (Norwalk, Westport) will host this year’s conference.
CT SSN and UConn’s Institute for Collaboration on Health, Intervention, and Policy (InCHIP) are co-sponsoring the event.
“We need more opportunities like this one, that pools Connecticut’s collective expertise and connects its researchers, legislators, and policymakers who care deeply about enacting evidence-based policy that improves the lives of Connecticut residents,” says Raissian, who spearheaded the conference with Rep. Foster.
Researchers can participate in “Moving Beyond” by presenting their policy-relevant research, submitting policy briefs, and attending the conference. Researchers interested in presenting their policy-relevant work to lawmakers, can submit an abstract to CT SSN by Friday, November 1, 2024 at 12PM. Abstracts should be emailed to ctscholarsnetwork@gmail.com and have “Moving Beyond Abstract Submission” as the subject line.
Presenters can focus on findings from a grant project, paper, or another focused initiative. They may also summarize key or novel findings from their research and the work of other researchers.
Presentations should be relevant to Connecticut policymakers and identify a link between research and recent legislation, important needs that policy has not addressed, or ways national trends impact the state.
More information about Moving Beyond, including the program schedule and detailed information for submitting abstracts, is available here.
Meaningful outcomes have emerged just several months after the first Moving Beyond conference.
During the State Bond Commission’s latest meeting on October 22, members approved an $11.5 million grant-in-aid to the UConn Indoor Air Quality Initiative to deploy do-it-yourself air purifiers to every public school classroom across the state.
This was one of the initiatives presented during the first Moving Beyond Conference in January 2024.
“CT Scholars Strategy Network is delighted to see this outcome,” says Raissian. “It represents the positive outcomes that can emerge when researchers and policymakers have conversations about policy problems and evidence-based solutions. We are excited to once again partner with Rep. Foster, Rep. Johnson, and UConn’s InCHIP to both spark new and facilitate ongoing relationships.”
The air purifiers, also called Corsi Rosenthal-Boxes and CR-boxes, cost about $4 per student per academic year and can be construct using supplies available at most hardware stores. Students can make the CR-boxes as an accessible STEM project that also significantly improves classroom air quality. The CR-boxes have been found to remove particles that are similar in size to those that carry respiratory viruses like influenza, RSV, and COVID-19.
More information about the state bonding funds is available here.
