The Knowledge Synthesis and Application Unit
ABOUT KSAU
The Knowledge Synthesis and Application Unit (KSAU) specializes in conducting high quality evidence syntheses and advancing scholarship to optimize methods, usability and applicability of evidence to inform healthcare and public health decision-making. The unit is led by Drs. Melissa Brouwers, Julian Little, and David Moher and is located at the School of Epidemiology and Public Health (SEPH) at the University of Ottawa.
In the challenging healthcare and public health environment, there is a proliferation of knowledge syntheses, such as systematic reviews, and other knowledge tools and products such as practice guidelines. However, many of these resources are not optimally designed, conducted, reported, and/or applied to achieve their intended benefits. There is a continued need to investigate tactics to optimize their methodological quality, usability, and applicability and to collaborate with stakeholders to achieve these goals.
The KSAU hosts the Ottawa Evidence Review and Synthesis Centre (ERSC) for the Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care (CTFPHC), and conducts systematic reviews to inform national clinical practice guidelines. For more details about our work with the CTFPHC, click here.
The KSAU works alongside research partners including CoVaRR-Net. For a full list of collaborators, click here.
We use rigorous and high-quality standards to carry out a variety of knowledge syntheses (e.g., systematic reviews, rapid reviews, scoping reviews, living systematic reviews) and conduct research on methodology and innovations, including the improvement of review quality and reporting. For our commonly used resources, click here.