The Implementation Café

The Implementation Café is a resource hub designed to support health researchers, practitioners, and related professionals to understand and apply implementation science approaches in their research planning. By providing tools, knowledge, and a supportive community, the Café aims to enhance the impact of health interventions and contribute to better health outcomes for the community. Our aims are:

    • Build capacity: Increase knowledge and confidence in implementation science among health and research professionals in Western Australia (WA).
    • Share implementation knowledge: Facilitate the exchange of experiences, challenges, and solutions related to implementation science.
    • Enhance network opportunities: Foster a community of practice where researchers and practitioners can collaborate and support each other.

The Implementation Café is built by the community, and open to all who want to present, discuss or connect. If you would like to join the Community of Practice, or put forward an idea to present or co-host, please get in touch by emailing, Implementation.Cafe@ecu.edu.au 

Resource Library and Search

The Implementation Café has put together a resource library containing courses, guides, factsheets, videos and more which can help you find out more about implementation science. The library can be filtered to find the specific topic of implementation science you are interested in.

You can find the library here.

The Implementation Science Symposium

The Implementation Science Symposium will be held on Tuesday, October 6th, and will feature a morning session discussing and presenting exemplar implementation science projects and initiatives from Western Australia. The afternoon will involve an interactive workshop.

Registrations for the Symposium are now open! Please find more information and the registrations for the Symposium sessions here.

Lunch & learn (formerly ‘journal club’) presentations

These sessions are designed to upskill researchers and practitioners with key literature and concepts from implementation science.

You can register for the upcoming sessions below, and find past presentations.

Upcoming Sessions

August 18th, 12pm midday AWST – Co-design and evaluation of a regional and rural translation platform for bronchiolitis

Register directly for the session here

Join the Implementation Café for August’s Lunch & Learn session, Co-design and evaluation of a regional and rural translation platform for bronchiolitis, with guest speaker Dr Louise Shaw, from Murdoch Children’s Research Institute.

Louise is a Senior Research Fellow in Health Services Research at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (MCRI), where she focuses on improving the care of infants with bronchiolitis in regional and rural Australia. Louise’s research spans applied research translation, health services innovation, digital transformation, and workforce development. She has led and contributed to projects on bronchiolitis care, falls prevention, disability inclusion, and digital health systems.

 

September 15th, 12pm midday AWST – The Clinical Yarning Project

Register directly for the session here

Join the Implementation Café for September’s Lunch & Learn session, The Clinical Yarning Project, with guest speaker’s, Dr Deborah Balmer, Ms Kelsie Crowe, A/Professor Ivan Lin, from Western Australian Centre for Rural Health (WACRH).

Archived Lunch & Learn Sessions

Find bite-sized breakdowns of the past sessions below.

Session 1

Session 1.1 Introduction to Implementation - Welcome to the Implementation Cafe

Opening the doors 

  • Meet your hosts and fellow patrons 
  • What’s on the menu today (session overview and structure) 
  • House rules: curiosity, shared learning, and a focus on real‑world practice 

This is your orientation to the Café, a shared space for thinking, questioning, and learning about implementation. 

Session 1.2 Setting the Table

Where Implementation Science came from and what it is 

  • Why implementation science emerged as a field 
  • The long‑standing problem of good evidence staying “off the table” 
  • How implementation science helps bridge the gap between evidence, policy, and practice 
  • What implementation science is and what it is not 

This is the groundwork: understanding the context, history, and purpose of the field so we’re all prepared to engage in the work ahead. 

Session 1.3 The recipe for implementation

Theories, Models, and Frameworks 

  • Core ingredients: theories, models, and frameworks 
  • How different recipes suit different implementation contexts 
  • When to follow a recipe closely and when adaptation is essential 

Here we step into the kitchen to explore how implementation is designed, guided, and adapted in real‑world settings. 

SPEAKERS: Dr Mary Kennedy, Prof Sara Bayes, Dr Lauren Fortington, Dr Annie de Leo 

RESOURCES  

  • Fortington LV, Bekker S, Finch CF. Integrating and maintaining automated external defibrillators and emergency planning in community sport settings: a qualitative case study. Emergency Medicine Journal 2020;37:617-622. doi:10.1136/emermed-2019-208781 https://emj.bmj.com/content/37/10/617.info 
  • Curran GM, Bauer M, Mittman B, Pyne JM, Stetler C. Effectiveness-implementation hybrid designs: combining elements of clinical effectiveness and implementation research to enhance public health impact. Med Care. 2012 Mar;50(3):217-26. doi: 10.1097/MLR.0b013e3182408812. PMID: 22310560; PMCID: PMC3731143. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3731143/ 

Session 2

Session 2.1 Stock the pantry

What we're working with

  • Revisiting The Thing and the key distinctions between effectiveness and implementation research 
  • Implementation strategies are what we do to help people and places do The Thing 
Session 2.2 Review the recipe

Are you ready to implement?

  • A practical decision tool for knowing where your research sits 
  • Four case studies: from a sepsis protocol still needing efficacy testing, to colon cancer screening ready for full implementation 
Session 2.3 Same recipe, different kitchen

Context shapes everything

  • Why the same Thing lands differently in different places 
  • How mixed data sources build a picture of context — and why that picture shapes what comes next 
  • The CARI checklist as a practical tool for gauging whether a setting is ready 
  • Who completes it, when, and what it tells you about next steps 

Speakers 

Dr Mary Kennedy, Prof Sara Bayes, Dr Lauren Fortington 

Resources 

  • Fortington LV, Badenhorst M, Bolling C, et al. Are we levelling the playing field? A qualitative case study of the awareness, uptake and relevance of the IOC consensus statements in two countries. British Journal of Sports Medicine Published Online First: 01 February 2023. doi: 10.1136/bjsports-2022-105984 
  • Proctor EK, Landsverk J, Aarons G, Chambers D, Glisson C, Mittman B. Implementation research in mental health services: an emerging science with conceptual, methodological, and training challenges. Admin Pol Ment Health. 2009;36(1):24–34.