Research & Engagement Programs

Within the College’s seven engagement and research centers, many of the funded projects focus on the development and evaluation of theory-based interventions aimed at preventing the onset or reducing the frequency of risk-related behavior, community-based participatory research, and risk and crisis communication research.

Projects include partnerships with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the National Science Foundation, and the National Center for Food Protection and Defense, which is sponsored by the Department of Homeland Security and the Environmental Protection Agency.

Dissemination and Implementation Science Consortium 
The Dissemination and Implementation Science Lab conducts evidence-based research that accelerates the uptake of research findings into actionable practice. The Lab partners with trans-disciplinary teams of scientists and practitioners to develop and test models of dissemination and implementation applicable across diverse practice settings. Visit site > 

Division of Risk Sciences
The Division of Risk Sciences is a community-based research and education center designed to cultivate stakeholders in support of risk management processes. Community-based research of this type serves by engaging key community leaders to enhance risk and crisis assessment, management, and communication research and practice. Visit site>
 

Health Communication Research Collaborative
The Health Communication Research Collaborative (HCRC) joins faculty and  students to promote inquiry into the field of health communication. Our general purpose is to spark internal and external communication about current health communication research, make graduate students aware of research opportunities, and provide a formal support network across the University for health communication scholarship, education, and service. By involving students in projects, faculty serve as mentors to the next generation of health communication scholars. In turn, students provide fresh perspectives into faculty community-based research and service. Visit site>
 

Information and Communication Technology Collaborative (ICT Co-Lab)
The Information and Communication Technology Collaborative is a dynamic cross-disciplinary center to develop partnerships with industry, commercial, non-profit, and governmental organizations to advance ICT excellence and development. The collaborative seeks to objectively observe, analyze, and report policy, trends, and markets in information and communications technologies. Visit site>

Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues
The Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues is a multi-disciplinary, multi-institutional, multi-state effort, based at the University of Kentucky. Its mission is to help non-metropolitan journalists define the public agenda for their communities, grasp the local impact of regional and national issues, and interpret rural issues for national media. Visit site>

McConnell Center for the Study of Children's Literature
The McConnell Center serves as an examination and research library of recent and award-winning children’s and young adult literature. A resource for UK students, public librarians, school librarians, teachers, parents, and authors and illustrators of children’s literature, the Center consists of three separate collections: the traveling collection, the permanent collection, and the collection belonging to the Center for Applied Information Technology. Visit site>

The Scripps Howard First Amendment Center
The First Amendment Center promotes better understanding of the freedoms protected by the First Amendment. The Center’s functions are to stimulate innovative research on a variety of First Amendment issues and to organize workshops, seminars, and other activities to inform the general public, the press, and high school and college students about the scope and importance of the First Amendment.