Blog post by Tim Yates, Research Communications Business Partner (Institutes).
We (Research Communications) want to talk about your research. We want to help you find ways to showcase your innovations and raise your profile and reputation. We want to equip researchers to communicate well and help you connect with the right audiences and networks to influence change.
Importantly it’s not just a question of what to say, but to whom you are saying it to.
Who are you talking to? What’s your message? What do you want them to do with this new information?
The output of your research should be far more than academic publication and some press coverage (if the results are of broader interest to the public). These are, of course, vital channels to publicise your work and this is often the point at which researchers engage the support of their communications teams. But it’s not simply about a publication.
We aim to engage the audiences that you need to reach at any stage where there is an interesting story to tell. You have to broaden your audience reach in order to deliver outcomes from your research.
Is there a government green paper coming out that you want to a provide comment for? You can apply your expertise to topical debates in the news agenda. Are there conferences or trade expos that we can help get you on to the speaker programme? Do you want to host an event to showcase your research, but are unsure about how to reach the intended audience?
There are promotional tools to help get the message out: case studies, videos, blogs, social media, hosted events, trade events, press releases, comment pieces and many others.
This is where the Research Communications and Engagement Team can help. We offer various forms of support, from training sessions on social media and understanding your audiences, to strategic communications planning and event delivery.
But we can only work to promote research we know about. We need to hear from you. Please talk to us about your research. We want to understand your communications objectives. We have a broad range of skills and experience including communications strategy, events planning and digital strategy. If you would simply like to understand more about the support we can offer, please get in touch.