Strategies for impactful research communications was the focus of our 2015/16 W100 research project. Excellent universities are defined by excellent research, and one of the main skills of those who direct reputation is to make this research accessible, and as widely read as possible.
Qualitative interviews with senior research communicators in 29 universities across 13 countries inform our main report, which is complemented by a review of social media guidelines for staff at 63 universities ranked in the world’s top 100 (THE, QS, ARWU and US News & World Report) in Australia, Canada, Germany, Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, UK and USA to monitor/manage social media usage as well as insights from over 1,500 research articles analysed as part of our Aurora international media benchmarking tool and a series of case studies exploring individual university approaches.
Members can log in below to access the executive summary of the research project or they can visit our news and resources page for the full report.
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The R-Word 2015/16: Research communications at world-class universities - Executive Summary
The qualitative research found that the ‘newsworthiness’ of research stories stems from research that is demonstrating impact, that changes in how we consume media have had a profound effect on how research news is communicated and how resources should be managed to engage the large range of key audiences receiving research communications.
The approach to social media guidelines varies from university to university, however some very clear best practice key themes emerged, including how to ensure brand consistency and upskill non-specialist staff to maximise effectiveness.