Proceedings from the Third Annual Conference of the Norwegian Network for Implementation Research (NIMP) The State of Implementation Research in Norway

Abstract

The third annual conference of the Norwegian Network for Implementation Research (NIMP) was held on November 28th, 2022, in Oslo, Norway. This event drew 98 participants from diverse sectors and disciplines such as health care, welfare, education, and government, with increased interest from non-research practitioners and policymakers (32% of attendees) compared to prior NIMP conferences. The conference featured a keynote presentation from Professor Per Nilsen, two plenary presentations, eleven parallel session presentations, and five poster presentations. The majority of presentations focused on applied implementation research (72%). However, 28% were from non-research implementation practice and policy work, indicating an increased awareness and use of implementation science outside of academia. The presentations were focused on implementation determinants and strategies, the use of theories, models, and frameworks, and research-to-practice partnerships. The conference saw limited rigorous evaluation of implementation, and more robust evaluation methods with strong measures of implementation outcomes may be needed to enhance implementation evidence in Norway. To sustain engagement in the conference, NIMP should continue integrating implementation research and practice, and consider interactive cross-professional sessions to foster knowledge exchange and collaboration. The conference’s increasing influence reflects the growing awareness and relevance of implementation science in Norway, and the conference may facilitate beneficial feedback loops between implementation research and practice to advance the science and practice of implementation in Norway.