The challenges of translating genomic knowledge

Knowledge translation has been described as ‘the exchange, synthesis and ethically‐sound application of research findings within a complex set of interactions among researchers and knowledge users’. While the objectives of knowledge translation have been geared to accelerating the transfer of knowledge from producers to users, this essay argues that translation processes are seldom linear and are much more complex. Using the examples of how scientific institutions and the media communicate with various publics and how publics respond to or make use of genomic and genetic information presented at the workshop, this report suggests that the complexities of translation – who does it, how, using what assumptions, towards what ends, need to be examined and better understood.