Two must-have skills for research dissemination: my experience
During my PhD, I sent questionnaires to people in a specific leadership role. One response stood out, not because it was a completed survey, but because it was a single line: “You, researchers, are a bunch of (…).”
The message was nothing along the lines, “You, researchers, are a bunch of people who can’t do anything without saying ‘let me just check the data’ first.” Nor was it anything like, “You, researchers, are a bunch of curiosity-fuelled adventurers charting the unknown.”. Nothing of those sorts. It carried a bluntly negative image of the role of researcher in society.
That incident planted a question in my mind: how can researchers communicate the benefits of their work to the people it’s meant to serve? The question stayed with me, unanswered, for a few years until I was preparing to defend my doctoral thesis. While working on the introduction section of my thesis, I received a surprise email from a consulting company inviting me to present my findings. I was flattered and nervous in equal measure.
Someone was interested in hearing about the results of four years of work. But what on earth could I present that would be useful to professionals who were already dealing with the very topics I had been researching? I did my best to prepare the slide deck. When the presentation ended, I received applause and far more questions than I had anticipated. I walked out of their offices that day with a smile in my heart. I had experienced a sense of meaning that had absorbed that one bitter line from the stranger’s email I had received years earlier.
The stretch
I defended my PhD thesis in 2008. In the years that followed, I became increasingly interested in making the benefits of research known beyond academia. Simultaneously, I’ve noticed a broader societal push for research dissemination was gaining momentum, driven by EU policies, research funders, and university strategies. For instance, Horizon Europe now requires funding beneficiaries to plan and implement the dissemination of their project results as a legal obligation.
Today, research dissemination can take different forms: publishing academic papers, academic conference presentations, social media posts, blog articles, public talks, books, etc. Outside the activities that are shared within academic circles, the social media outreach and the direct interactions with the non-academic audiences share a common nominator: the researcher’s ability to talk about their research topics in a simple and engaging way.
I tried my hand at several of these. I wrote blog posts to spread awareness of my research. I delivered talks and workshops with the intention of showing audiences how my kind of research could benefit their lives. Of all these, I found the face-to-face events the most challenging.
Here’s what I discovered: research dissemination is a bit of a stretch for an individual whose mind is wrapped in science philosophies, theoretical frameworks, and concepts. Translating research results into takeaway learning points for a non-academic audience demands two skills that the research process itself doesn’t necessarily cultivate, at least not to the same extent: empathetic thinking and creative thinking.
Empathetic thinking
As a researcher, your primary concern is the ethics of conducting rigorous research, and rightly so. Your starting point for any presentation should be communicating what you found, not what you think your audience wants to hear. Within that ethical boundary, however, there is room for empathy. Four questions are worth considering:
- What does my audience expect from this presentation? This helps you frame and state the aim clearly.
- What does my audience already know? This helps you identify the language they are likely familiar with. As much as possible, start with your listeners’ vocabulary. It builds an immediate bridge.
- How can I make my audience feel psychologically safe? People are more open to taking in new information when they feel safe. This is how the human mind works. So, plan moments throughout the presentation when the audience can relax, connect with the people around them, and perhaps smile.
- How can I stimulate my audience’s curiosity? Consider the worst-case scenario: someone in the audience is thinking, “My boss told me to be here, but I already know everything there is to know about this topic.” Challenge yourself to design your material with that attitude in mind. Turn the sceptics into learners. Present with an edge. Which brings us to the second skill that might be a bit of a stretch: bringing some creativity into the design and content of the presentation.
Creative thinking
Visuals matter. Your creativity in designing slides can ease the absorption of information. Yet, creative thinking in dissemination goes well beyond aesthetics. It means designing the learning experience itself.
I learned this the hard way. After one of my first workshops for a non-academic audience, I received a comment: “I don’t like her slides.” That stung, but it taught me something useful. I now try to create a pleasant visual experience, keeping the balance between images and words on each slide.
My favourite part, though, is using creative thinking to invent exercises that engage participants and help them connect with the topics on a personal level. And as it happens, creative thinking is one of the very topics I research. To define it, I often start with a photo, like this one, for instance:
(photo source: Pixabay)
Next, I ask the participants to tell what they think when they look at it. What do you think? That’s your creative thinking.
Conclusion
Research dissemination is a legal obligation. To me, it’s also a meaningful experience that requires stepping out of the comfort zone to meet people that have something to learn from my work.
And the learning goes both ways. When I meet new people and introduce myself as a researcher, I notice three types of reactions. Some people move on to another topic as if they didn’t hear. Some others are curious and want to know more. And sometimes, I get the feeling they see me as some sort of an alien living galaxies away from planet Earth.
Now, back to you:“You, researchers, are a bunch of (…)”. How would you complete this sentence?
Oana Velcu-Laitinen, JATKOT research group