Making the Most of Your Research - A Toolkit

• What is the goal of your research?
• What problem, gap or issue does your research address?
• How will you know you’ve succeeded? 
• Is the scale of the problem and its effects clear? 
• Who or what is affected? 

Helpful hint:

• Check whether your research passes the “so what” test (who, what, when, where and why)

• Do you have an engagement strategy? 
• Who might be interested in or affected by your research?
• Are there gaps in your understanding of the problem you're trying to address? 
• Who do you need to speak to first?
• Is your plan to reach the widest possible audience or to make contact with specific groups? 
• Is your research visible and/or accessible to these audiences?

Helpful hint:

• Map your stakeholders
• Consider whether you require any training or support to achieve these steps.
• Is there a colleague in your school who has relevant experience?

• Is your research visible? is it reaching the right audiences?
• How do you know if they are engaging with your findings? 
• Would it help to have visibility on social media (Twitter, Linkedin) or to promote awareness through blogs, policy briefs?
• For support building your profile contact the Communications Team.

The Comms Team promote University of Aberdeen research and expertise to the world, from ground-breaking research initiatives to the achievements of our staff and students and are the main point of contact for journalists in regional, national, international and specialist media.

Open research relates to how research is performed and how knowledge is shared based on the principle that publically funded research should be as open as possible. 

Transparency, openness, verification and reproducibility are important features of research and innovation. Open research helps to support and uphold these features across the whole lifecycle of research – improving public value, research integrity, reuse and innovation. This means that research needs to be freely available to be viewed and downloaded by anyone with an internet connection, anywhere in the world, without barriers or requiring payment.

Steps to ensuring open research:

• Where appropriate make your research outputs, underlying research data, methodology and any software or code that you have produced in the process of carrying out your research open access. Find support at Open Research
• Consider ways to make your research open and accessible to those involved in the research process, particularly those without access to pay-to-access journals (e.g. blogs, supporting briefs, briefing notes or newsletters).

Dissemination is not engagement but it is an important form of research communication. Dissemination in academia typically involves one-way sharing of research findings with a niche audience. 

Examples of dissemination include:

• publishing in journals
• sending reports to funders
• attending conferences 
• sending press releases
• giving media interviews
• writing articles 
• posting about your findings on social media
• running public engagement events without evaluation

Dissemination is a good way to share information about your research - it's most effective if you know who your key audiences are and how they can make use of your findings. 

To target audiences through dissemination you must understand each audience’s particular characteristics and refine the most appropriate and relevant messaging to appeal to them. You can do this by creating clear audience profiles. Download and complete our ‘Audience profile worksheet’ to help you understand different audiences and what they care most about.

You can then frame your research findings to communicate effectively with specific audiences. For example, people regard benefits (gains) and risks (losses) subjectively, depending on their own psychological, emotional, moral or political frameworks. An effective dissemination strategy will appeal to an audience in a way in which the benefits (e.g., lives saved by a new policy) outweigh the risks (e.g., economic or opportunity costs).

Now consider messaging channels and timing for engaging with your audience.

Traditional news media

Creating a press release makes you consider the who, what, where, when and why of your research. We’re all fascinated by our own work, but what (about your findings) is new, unusual, surprising, reassuring, or demonstrates change?

An effective press release starts with the story rather than burying it behind context. It can be published on your department’s news feed and sent to traditional and new media. But it must be tailored to each.

Researchers use press releases in many ways including, to share findings dispassionately, to analyse what results might mean or to raise awareness that research has been completed. Be aware of inter/national campaigns or events relevant to your work because timing your release before, during or just after these can help you gain traction.

Your press release should appeal to the media you are targeting – what is newsworthy for a sector-specific journal will differ from what will appeal to a newspaper and its readers.

Our Communications Team can help you put together a press release or prepare for an interview. 

Social media

Social media platforms such as LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and TikTok have wide and varied audiences which use them for amusement, entertainment, to stay informed and to network. They can be powerful platforms or huge timewasters. It can be useful to create a personal profile where stakeholders can learn more about you and contact you directly.

Whether and how you use social media to support your research may depend on how much you already use it, your target audiences and their preferences.

Talk with other researchers and the Communications Team about pros and cons, good practice and any training and support we can offer you.

Engagement is differs from dissemination in that it seeks to share information. By engaging you seek to establish two-way communication and actively make space for the voices of your non-academic/expert audiences.

Engagement is an active process requiring knowledge of a particular audience, their priorities, challenges and/or concerns and a willingness to build relationships with those who have an interest in your research.

Examples of engagement include:

• public engagement with evaluation
• public and patient involvement (PPI)
• outreach events or activities
• widening participation activities
• research partnerships
• briefings with civic or community partners
• roundtable events
• consulting with patient groups

There are several benefits of engagement:

• For researchers - Engaging with audiences outside academia allows you to include more perspectives in the dialogue. You may find it enlightening, challenging, compelling and informative.
• For the research process - Engagement can lead to better quality research and ensure research is relevant, accessible and trusted.
• For students and postdocs - Targeted dissemination and engagement develop your communication skills. Non-academic engagement helps others to understand the research process, our responsibility as researchers and where research can make a difference. It offers you networking and professional development opportunities too.

The key difference between engagement and dissemination is that you are prepared to listen, whether through active listening or evaluation of engagement activities such as workshops or events.

Evaluation is a valuable tool that enables you to learn from your experiences and assess the impact (positive change) of your work. Remember those indicators we talked about earlier? Indicators are key to measuring and evaluating engagement and impact.  

Evaluation is a “process of collecting evidence and reflection that will help you understand the dynamics and effect of your work, and help inform future projects or approaches.” (National Co-ordinating Centre for Public Engagement, NCCPE)

It is best to develop your evaluation plan at the beginning of a project, even if you modify it later. This will help you think through what you are trying to achieve (your impact) and ensure you collect relevant data from your project as you go. These tools will help:

• NCCPE’s Evaluating public engagement website and resources
• AHRC’s Guide to self-evaluation [this pdf needs to be uploaded on Aberdeen server]
• ESRC’s Public engagement toolkit [this pdf needs to be uploaded on Aberdeen server]

Additional tools for specific research areas:

• AHRC’s Partnership working in the Arts and Humanities guide [pdf needs upload on server]
• EPSRC’s translation toolkit [pdf needs uploading on server]

Co-designing research

Co-design in research involves participatory approaches to designing research proposals and the research process itself. This goes beyond consultation to reach equal collaboration between groups or communities affected by or attempting to resolve a particular challenge.

A key tenet of co-design is that users, as ‘experts’ of their own experience, become central to the design process. Co-design intentionally involves users and their input to inform or design solutions.

Co-producing research

Co-production involves including people who are not researchers but who have a stake in the project, in a shared learning process. This can enhance the quality of your research and help it to bring about positive change.

Co-production can include working with participants in a project, patients, carers, service users as well as people from wider society, such as policymakers, community groups, third-sector organisations and businesses.

Co-production can take place throughout a project. It may encompass identifying research questions, design and priority setting, governance, co-delivery of research activities, communication of key findings and involvement in knowledge exchange.

Read the UKRI’s co-production in research pages for more valuable insights.

Co-production may raise ethical considerations since it can blur the lines between researcher and participant(s) or other stakeholders. All partners should consider such issues in advance and establish clear lines of responsibility and accountability.

Organisational culture and differences

It is a good idea for each partner to discuss their motivations and expectations around the project. Consider how you intend to manage any tensions between competing accountabilities at the outset.

Partners in co-production may come from a wide variety of research organisations, industries, charities, think tanks, policymaking bodies, participant groups and sections of the general public, and from a wide range of countries.

Partners may have their own perspectives regarding ethical issues around joint research. Any differences may be due to organisational culture, training, access to research resources and participant populations. Be aware and thoughtful.

It is worth seeking to understand partners’ and public attitudes towards the project and any perceptions about conflicts of interest.

Ongoing monitoring

Partners should agree, plan and implement a process of ethical reflection and monitoring while the research is taking place. Share the responsibility to do this. It will ensure any ethical issues are promptly reported to all organisations involved and appropriate advice is sought from a research ethics committee.

It can be helpful to include activities that encourage reflection and negotiation at key points. Learning events with research and innovation partners can be useful.

Equitable partnerships

Researchers and innovators should be sensitive to actual or perceived differences in income, status or power. They should follow principles of equitable partnerships to address inherent power imbalances when working with partners, particularly public and community partners where imbalances may be more prominent.

Partnerships must be transparent and based on mutual respect. They should hold a clearly articulated understanding of the equitable distribution of resources, responsibilities, efforts and benefits. Partnerships should recognise different inputs, interests and desired outcomes and ensure the ethical sharing and use of data.

Ethics review

Partners should agree a streamlined ethics review process. For example, they may choose to use the research ethics committee of the organisation where the principal investigator is based.

Depending on the type of research, the ethics review should, as a minimum, satisfy the requirements of either of the frameworks below:

• Framework on Research Ethics review guidance (UKRI) 
• Policy Framework for Health and Social Care Research (NHS)

Where research is to be conducted outside the UK or involves international partners, researchers must establish whether an ethics review is required by non-UK ethics committees.

Visit the University’s Research Governance resource page for advice on confidentiality, data protection or ethics.

Knowledge exchange (KE) is the “enabling of two-way exchange between researchers and research users to exchange ideas, research evidence, experiences and skills” (ESRC). KE activities include collaborative or contract research, consultancy services, Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTPs), training, commercialisation of research through start up and spin-out companies.

The University’s Research and Innovation department can support you with specialist advice around knowledge exchange, business development, consultancy, intellectual property opportunities, finance, policy and strategy.

Learning from others

Below are a selection of successful collaborations and knowledge exchange partnerships happening at University of Aberdeen:

Schools of Law and Natural & Computing Sciences: Collaborating with international partners to protect and manage marine genetic resources

School of Psychology: Undertaking KE with farmers to improve safety in the farming industry: Sowing the seeds of safety with non-technical skills

Business School: Engaging with policymakers and charity organisations to address equality gaps in eye care access in Scotland

More examples can be be found here.

Find more details on how to engage with your stakeholders in section 2.1.3 How to engage with stakeholders and beneficiaries

Stakeholders are organisations, groups or individuals who are affected by or can affect a decision, action or issue related to your research.

Beneficiaries are groups or individuals, either at a local, national, or global scale, who are ultimately affected, influenced, or experience an improvement from your research with or without direct contact.

Identify your stakeholders and beneficiaries by considering:

• Whether there are individuals, groups or organisations that might have a common goal or mutual interest. A good practice approach is to map out potential stakeholders to help organise your approach (e.g. download our ‘Audience profile worksheet’ Stakeholder planning worksheet or see Nesta’s ‘target group tool’)
• Whether you can identify specific groups you would like to work with from the broad categories in the stakeholder map.

Helpful hint:

Ask yourself:

• Why would your research be important to each group?
• How will you reach a particular group?
• (How) Do the different groups interact?
• Who else influences the different groups?

It isn't always time-effective or feasible to interact with all identified stakeholders. It helps to assess which stakeholders to interact with first by considering:

• How likely the groups identified are to be affected by the research.
• How accessible each group is to you.
• How aware of your research the different groups are likely to be.
• The capacity they have to use or take action on the basis of your research.
• The impact your research might have on each group (positive/negative).

Make a considered judgement about the value and priority of targeting different stakeholders. Consider the potential risks and impacts of doing so before planning stakeholder and beneficiary engagement activities.

Once you have identified and prioritised the stakeholders you want to engage with, tailor your activities and communication strategies. Select engagement activities which suit your research and each stakeholder's needs.

When planning engagement activities consider:

• What activities are you already conducting?
• Is there an intermediary, such as a knowledge exchange professional, external expert or artist you could work with to make your research more accessible?
• Do you need an engagement strategy to raise awareness of your research to new groups or the public? 
• What is involved in implementing your activity? do you require budget?
• Can you use any events or platforms run by the University?
• Which external engagement events or projects should you participate in to help achieve your impact and create your knowledge network?

Creating and nurturing engagement can take time. You should decide whether you or a member of your team is best placed to oversee these activities.

Potential risks to manage during stakeholder engagement include:

• Stakeholder concerns over confidentiality
• Lack of capacity to engage with the research or implement the findings
• The research may challenge stakeholder views, affecting participation
• Stakeholders and beneficiaries cannot use research communication material
• The researcher and stakeholder want to ask different questions
• Churn: a key contact leaves, affecting the relationship with stakeholder
• The stakeholder agenda is already developed without considering research evidence
• The stakeholder timeframe differs from your project timeframe

Helpful hint:

Remember: work through ‘audience profile > message > channel > timing’ in that order.

It is useful to consider how to manage expectations and when to engage with the groups identified. Early engagement with stakeholders is often beneficial to establish their needs, identify how best to engage them with the research, build flexibility into engagement plans and manage concerns.

Questions to consider:

• Will you engage at the beginning, during or at the end of the project?
• Will stakeholders’ requirements shape the research project?
• Will you keep stakeholders updated throughout the project and if so, how?
• How will you keep in touch after the project is completed?

How much will your engagement and impact plan cost? 

These tools can help you plan the budget for engagement and impact activities:

• 6CostingGuidance.pdf (cam.ac.uk)
• How-do-I-fund-my-public-engagement-activity.pdf (imperial.ac.uk)
• Involvement Cost Calculator – INVOLVE (CRUK costing tool for PPI)

If you need support to plan for public involvement with your research, the Public Engagement with Research Team is available to provide advice for your engagement activities.

You can contact them here.

What is policy engagement? 

The University of Oxford defines policy engagement as:

'an umbrella term describing the many ways that researchers and policymakers connect and explore common interests at various stages in their respective research and policymaking processes. From informal enquiries to formal inquiries, in consultation or sustained collaboration, policy engagement enables researchers and policymakers to improve public policy through making the most of academic evidence, expertise and experience.'

The university is a member of several policy engagement networks including:

• Scottish Policy Research Exchange (SPRE) 

The Scottish Policy and Research Exchange works with research, knowledge mobilisation and policy communities across Scotland to improve how evidence and expertise shapes policy. Join the Brokerage network to access opportunities for relationship building, research-policy engagement, and shared learning. SPRE collates calls for evidence and parliamentary inquiries from all UK parliamentary bodies as well as programmes for government and enquiries for all its members. 

• University Policy Engagement Network (UPEN) 

Universities Policy Engagement Network (UPEN) is a central space for academics, policy actors, and professional services staff across the UK who undertake and support academic-policy engagement. We champion academic policy engagement to strengthen evidence-informed policymaking in the UK.

What do we mean by policy and policymakers? 

“Public policy is whatever governments choose to do or not to do.”

1. Public policy results from the decisions of a government (the duly constituted executive authority of a territory);
2. It is the result of deliberate choice between alternative ways of proceeding;
3. And it results in action (or deliberate inaction).

Policymakers can include:

• Members of Parliament 
• Ministers
• Special advisers
• Civil servants
• Political parties
• Think tanks

The policy landscape in the UK

Parliament and the Government are different. They have different roles and do different things.

What's the difference between the Scottish Parliament and Government? 

What's the difference between the UK Parliament and Government?

How research evidence contributes to policy:

Inclusion in the policy agenda: evidence helps to identify new problems or, through the accumulation of evidence, we are able to capture the magnitude of a problem so that the relevant political players are aware that they are facing an important issue. 

Formulation: following understanding of a situation and the different courses of action are as detailed and complete as possible, policymakers may rely on evidence to make informed decisions about how to design and implement a policy (including the different aspects that define it). This includes knowledge of the instrumental links between an activity and a result as well as an intervention’s expected cost and impact. 

Implementation: operational evidence to improve the efficiency of initiatives. This may include analytical work as well as systematic learning with regard to technical abilities, expert knowledge and practical experience. 

Monitoring and assessment: A process of comprehensive monitoring and assessment is essential to determine the efficiency of the policy implemented and to provide the basis for future decision making. 

Routes to engagement and impact:

There are many different tools to use to gain the attention of policy actors – written policy briefs may be effective but are unlikely to be read unless a relationship has already been established. Careful consideration needs to be given to which method or combination of methods is likely to be effective regarding nature of the message, the current needs of policy actors, and the culture of the organisation you are dealing with.

Policy Briefs Policy briefs are distinctive in their focus on communicating the practical implications of research to a specific audience. Guidance on how to write an effective policy brief here. 

Workshops or seminars to present new research; these may be successful in attracting interested policy officials, provided they are short, held in a convenient nearby location, and preferably have a well-known name as speaker or discussant. It is also of course necessary first to have been able to identify the relevant people to invite and been able to contact them.

Blogs and publication on online platforms with an academic and research orientation such as The Conversation, SPRE or UPEN blogs.

Responding to consultations: providing serious and well-evidenced responses to consultative exercises by government (consultative documents) or parliament (usually in the form of calls for evidence to assist Select Committee inquiries). Good submissions may have an immediate impact on the development of government’s policy thinking on the topic, or in the case of Select Committees result in an invitation to give oral evidence. 

Responding to POSTtnotes contributions to four-page briefings prepared by the POST team at UK Parliament reviewing emerging  areas of research, the challenges they may pose and the solutions potentially required to address them. POSTnotes are one of the many ways in which unversities are helping shape government policy, setting the national and international agenda on topics likely to impact wider society. 

Using Areas of Research Interest (ARIs) database to inform research design, engagement strategy. ARIs give details about the main research questions facing UK government departments. 

Contact with legislators Sometimes it may be easier to make contact with and cultivate relationships with individual backbench members with a specific interest in a topic than with government ministers or officials. In the UK parliament there is a vast number of All-Party Parliamentary Groups (APPGs), some with a focus on a particular country and some subject-focused. These have no formal status in parliamentary proceedings, but amongst their members there will be some who have the potential to be genuine and serious champions of an issue or a particular line of research. 

Media appearances Availability for interviews or comment on current news stories, in the broadcast or print media, can enable researchers to establish visibility and a personal brand, and pave the way for their own original work to be noticed in policy circles. Universities can help to channel media requests to the most appropriate person. However, media work can be time-consuming and (for some) stressful, and leave researchers with little control over how they or their work is presented.

Contact the Impact & Knowledge Exchange Team if you are interested in establishing research collaborations or strategic partnerships with the industry.

The National Co-ordinating Centre for Public Engagement offers excellent guides on how to organise your own public engagement activities. Its guidance and best practice covers many areas such as understanding target audiences, partnership working, funding and how to successfully evaluate your projects.  

The ESRC has also produced a very useful toolkit for social science researchers.  

Contact the Impact Team to discuss getting started with knowledge exchange or public engagement.

The University’s Research and Innovation department can also support you with specialist advice around knowledge exchange, training, commercialisation, business development, consultancy, intellectual property opportunities, finance, policy and strategy.

Talk with the Stakeholder Engagement Team for help to manage your relationships with stakeholders.