NHS top managers, knowledge exchange and leadership: the early development of academic health science networks

The project will explore the engagement of very senior managers (CEO, or senior level managers at Board level, or designated senior ASHN leaders; both general managers and clinical managerial hybrids) in knowledge exchange activities of regional Academic Health Science Networks and the national AHSN Forum. We will study a group of senior managers who appear as highly engaged with these activities, exploring their motivations, biography and influence mechanisms. We will focus on their knowledge mobilization activity as a core tracer issue. We will track how these top managers use 'knowledge about knowledge mobilization' within their core professional networks and how they act as knowledge leaders. We will plot these networks using Social Network Analysis (SNA) techniques and through semi-structured interviewing. We will finally generate comparative cases plotting the early development of five AHSNs and their knowledge mobilization strategies in real time. We here respond to a call for more understanding of NHS based knowledge linkage and exchange efforts by NIHR HS and DR. The proposal adds to the currently small scale literature on NHS knowledge leadership.