Power, Hailey2025-09-172025-09-172025-09-172025-09-15https://hdl.handle.net/10012/22467Academic knowledge production is shaped by colonialism and other systems of power and oppression embedded in Western academia, and is often inaccessible for non-academic audiences. This inaccessibility exacerbates the gap between academic research and community-based advocacy and activism. The disconnect between academic research and frontline work is particularly evident in the gender-based violence (GBV) services sector. While the challenges associated with mobilizing GBV research are well documented in existing literature, little attention has been given to how advocates working in the GBV sector perceive and use GBV research, and what changes they think could make academic research more accessible. To address this gap, this multi-method qualitative study examines how advocates in community GBV organizations perceive and utilize research on GBV. The study draws on insights from semi-structured interviews with 12 advocates in community GBV organizations in Southwestern and Eastern Ontario and an analysis of online content shared by six community GBV organizations across the province. Using theoretical insights from institutional ethnography and decolonial critiques of academic knowledge, this study investigates the barriers advocates experience accessing and using academic research on GBV and how these barriers can be overcome. This study reveals the complex relationship that advocates have with Western academic knowledge on GBV and provides insight into how academics can disseminate more accessible research to target audiences outside of academia. Drawing on the insights from advocates, this study offers recommendations for academics to produce more accessible forms of knowledge. This study also provides an example of an alternative form of knowledge dissemination through two infographics that highlight the barriers advocates face accessing and using academic research on GBV and how academics can mitigate these barriers.enMaster Thesis