Research knowledge transfer into teaching in the built environment

Purpose – There is no automatic link between research and teaching in higher education institutions. Hence, in order to achieve a productive relationship, these two activities need to be linked through effective mechanisms. The research reported in this paper aims at identifying such strategies that are appropriate to a research-based department, in the built environment discipline.
Design/methodology/approach – The paper identifies key issues related to this challenge through a literature review, and subsequently verifies those issues through an exploratory case study.
Findings – The key finding from the study is that research-based departments are poor at
transferring their research knowledge into teaching especially at undergraduate level. Even though
there are informal strategies in existence, there is a strong need for formalising them. The paper
utilises knowledge transfer and learning literature to fully understand the process.
Originality/value – Drawing from the findings, the study develops a framework to enable the
knowledge transfer from research into teaching. The framework provides useful guidance for
research-based higher education departments in the built environment to transfer research knowledge into teaching in a formal and productive way.