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Engagement & Impact

Communicating E & I

Develop a communication strategy

  • Early as possible
  • Include strategy with possible budget in the research proposal
  • Identify possible audiences/stakeholders and how to communicate with them.

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Objectives: What do you hope to achieve by disseminating results? Why do you wish to communicate to particular audiences?

Audience: Who is the audience? How do they absorb evidence? What are their needs?

Content: Should be direct, simple and explain the problem the research addresses, the solution generated, the implications of the findings. 

Channels/Tools: Needs to be practical and suit the intended audience. May need multiple tools to reach different audiences.

World Health Organization. (2014). Implementation research toolkit: Workbook. https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/110523/9789241506960_Workbook_eng.pdf?sequence=3&isAllowed=y

Define the audience/stakeholders

This will include people and organisations who have 

  • funded the research
  • participated in the research
  • need to know about the research and its outcomes
  • will be able to use the research

For example: 

  • other researchers
  • government
  • general public
  • practitioners
Stakeholder
(name of organisation, group or individual)		 Who? Why and when interact?
(Short description of why and when, e.g. problem formulation, knowledge production or communication of results)		 Mode of interaction
(What type of interaction could be relevant?)

Contacts 
(List existing contacts with the stakeholder or ways to make contact)
Private sector stakeholders:
e.g. business associations, individual companies, farmers		        
Public sector stakeholders:
e.g. parliament and ministries, agencies, municipalities, regions, EU, UN		        
Civil society stakeholders:
e.g. non-governmental organisations, community based organisations, unions		        
Academic stakeholders and think tanks:
e.g. other research groups or research organisations, knowledge brokers, boundary organisations		        

Table from Slunge et al. 2017, Stakeholder interaction in research processes - a guide for researchers and research groups, p. 27 https://doi.org/10.13140/rg.2.2.28518.22080

Communicating to non-researchers
  • Use appropriate language ​– not discipline specific​
    • Make it clear​
    • Use the active voice​
    • Use visuals​
  • Be explicit about its limitations​
    • The general public might hook onto an unexpected facet to the research​
  • Remember why you did it in the first place – reignite the fire!​
  • Be creative
Fit the medium to the audience:
  • Scholarly journal​
  • Conference paper/poster​
  • Policy brief​
  • Community meeting​
  • Website​
  • Workshop​
  • Event​
  • Technical report​
  • Mass media
Suggestions on how you might communicate your project 
To the public To the government To industry
  • Fact sheets (maybe multilingual)​
  • Workshops​
  • Performances​
  • Posters​
  • Websites, online presentations (eg TED talks, Youtube)​
  • Community events​
  • News articles​
  • Social media​
  • Conversations with community leaders
  • Personal conversations and meetings
  • Policy briefs
  • Evidence briefings
  • Invite politicians to events
  • Contribute to select committees, inquiries, etc
  • Send briefing papers, documents to Parliamentary libraries
  • Professional education conferences
  • Manuals/guidelines
  • Reports, discussion papers
  • Training
  • Professional newsletters, journals
  • Events
  • Presentations

Here are a number of considerations you may want to take into account as part of your E&I communications strategy

  • Who owns the results?​
    • Maybe they don’t want the results disseminated​
  • Who needs to know the research is going to be communicated?​
  • Requirements of the commissioning agency, collaborators – they may have their own ideas about how the research should be disseminated​
  • What’s in the agreement/contract​
  • Requirements of the university regarding communication​
  • What your participants might expect?
  • How much do you/the above groups need to be in control of the research communication?
  • Your aims and goals for your research​?

These last considerations are comparatively small, but quite large when it comes to delivery.

  • What you are comfortable with (eg public speaking, networking, blogging)​?
  • What communication areas you have skills in​?
  • What you can afford?
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