How to use Kudos to advertise your work. Accelerating Research Impact Join a global community of researchers using Kudos to communicate work more effectively and accelerate its positive impact in the world.

1. How to build an engaged
audience for your research
Course tutor:
Charlie Rapple
Co-founder, Kudos
www.growkudos.com
Welcome! Webinar will begin at 11:00 UK!

2. Topics:
What do we mean by engagement?
Why is engagement important?
What can you do to engage audiences with your work?
How can you evaluate engagement?
By the end of this short course you will be able to:
Understand the role of engagement in research impact
Apply a broader and more strategic approach to engagement
to your next project
Choose appropriate engagement activities for different target
audiences
Measure engagement meaningfully
Introduction
and course
overview
Course tutor:
Charlie Rapple
Co-founder, Kudos
www.growkudos.com

3. What do we mean by
engagement?

4. What do we mean by
engagement?
Research engagement is the
interaction between researchers
and research end-users outside of academia,
for the mutually beneficial transfer of knowledge, technologies,
methods or resources.
Australian Catholic University
https://www.acu.edu.au/research/why-research-with-acu/
engagement-and-impact

5. What do we mean by
engagement?

6. Societal challenges
Greater good
Consultation
Collaboration
Relationships
Transparency
Trust

7. Why is research engagement important?

8. RESEARCH MOBILIZATION
DISCOVER CONNECT UNDERSTAND APPLY ADVOCATE
target audiences
REACH INTERACT CHANGE AMPLIFY IMPACT
a model for accelerating research impact, by
Why is research engagement important?

9. Why is research engagement important?
Have a strategy and a plan!
Because research impact is
maximized if you:
Involve
research
end-users in
the design and
methodology
Solicit
feedback from
research end-
users during
the project
Ensure
end-users
understand and
accept your
findings and
recommendations

10. Why is research engagement important?
L I C E N C E TO R E S E A R C H
Research
participants /
volunteers
Donors, taxpayers
and other funders
Governments and
policy makers
Beneficiaries /
people whose
behaviour you
hope to influence

11. Why is research engagement important?
“Researchers
are like
mosquitoes;
they suck
your blood
and leave.”
Alaskan Native saying
quoted in Cochran et al.
"Indigenous Ways of Knowing: Implications
for Participatory
Research and Community".
American Journal of Public Health.
98 (1): 22–27.
doi:10.2105/AJPH.2006.093641
Don’t be a mosquito!

12. How does engagement help drive impact?
Have a strategy and a plan!
• It helps strengthen and broaden your understanding of the
problem you are trying to solve, ensuring your research is as
responsive as possible to society’s needs
• It helps ensure that you capture a high level of good quality
data because processes reflect the culture and capacity of
participants
• It helps you ensure that your research is relevant to and
inclusive of the full diversity of your stakeholder
communities, rather than unconsciously biased
Involve
research
end-users in
the design and
methodology

13. How does engagement help drive impact?
Have a strategy and a plan!
Involve
research
end-users in
the design and
methodology
Our advice is: before you think of the research, think about the
long term impact – who needs to get involved – and get their
input on framing your research question. You’re more likely to
have impact if the audiences you’ll impact are engaged at the
start.
University administrator / policymaker
Teleinterviewed for “Swimming Upstream” study
DOI: 10.26303/6f16-8e76
https://link.growkudos.com/1k090ap6hog

14. How does engagement help drive impact?
Have a strategy and a plan!
• Your anticipated research end-users can tell you whether
the research is evolving towards findings that they would
find credible, or recommendations they would find useful
– and help you adjust the design if necessary
• It helps maintain and strengthen your relationship with
your participants / end users by increasing transparency
over a potentially long period between project initiation
and completion
• It maximizes the likelihood of your work leading to
effective solutions that will be widely accepted
Solicit
feedback from
research end-
users during
the project

15. How does engagement help drive impact?
Have a strategy and a plan!
Solicit
feedback from
research end-
users during
the project
A lot of researchers have an ambition to work with marginalised
communities but they don’t already have a relationship with
those communities. You need to make sure that the process is
set up in a way that tries to shift that power hierarchy as much
as possible.
Knowledge exchange professional
Teleinterviewed for “Swimming Upstream” study
DOI: 10.26303/6f16-8e76
https://link.growkudos.com/1k090ap6hog

16. How does engagement help drive impact?
Have a strategy and a plan!
• It helps give end-users a sense of ownership that will
maximize the likelihood of them implementing your
findings
• It helps create advocates who can help scale the reach
and impact of your work
• It gives the strategic context in which to communicate
your work in more accessible ways – using formats,
channels and language beyond traditional academic
dissemination
Ensure
end-users
understand and
accept your
findings and
recommendations

17. How does engagement help drive impact?
Have a strategy and a plan!
We’re in the post-truth era: it’s difficult to open doors and have a
conversation with certain communities. It’s needs deeper
engagement – you can’t just rock up on your science bus and
expect them to listen! You need to make sure you’re relevant in
the first place, because why would they bother to speak to you
otherwise?
Research funder
Teleinterviewed for “Swimming Upstream” study
DOI: 10.26303/6f16-8e76
https://link.growkudos.com/1k090ap6hog
Ensure
end-users
understand and
accept your
findings and
recommendations

18. How should you plan your engagement?

19. What should be included
in your engagement
strategy and plan?
W H O Which audiences do you want to engage?
W H Y What do you hope to achieve by engaging with them?
W H E N When will engagement take place?
W H I C H
Which members of your team (or other colleagues /
support staff) will take on which engagement tasks?
W H AT What channels / activities will you use to engage audiences?
H O W How will you evaluate engagement?
H O W
M U C H
How will you fund / resource engagement?

20. TARGET
AUDIENCES
FOR
RESEARCH
ACADEMICS
STAKEHOLDERS AND
BENEFICIARIES
ADVOCATES
AMPLIFIERS
THE PUBLIC

21. TARGET
AUDIENCES
FOR
RESEARCH
ACADEMICS
STAKEHOLDERS AND
BENEFICIARIES
ADVOCATES
AMPLIFIERS
THE PUBLIC
Industry
Clinicians
Professionals
Practitioners
Educators
Local communities
e.g. residents, patients
Funders

22. TARGET
AUDIENCES
FOR
RESEARCH
ACADEMICS
STAKEHOLDERS AND
BENEFICIARIES
ADVOCATES
AMPLIFIERS
THE PUBLIC
Industry
Clinicians
Professionals
Practitioners
Educators
Local communities
e.g. residents, patients
Funders
Research participants
Community organizations
Service providers
Policy makers

23. TARGET
AUDIENCES
FOR
RESEARCH
ACADEMICS
STAKEHOLDERS AND
BENEFICIARIES
ADVOCATES
AMPLIFIERS
THE PUBLIC
Industry
Clinicians
Professionals
Practitioners
Educators
Local communities
e.g. residents, patients
Funders
Research participants
Community organizations
Service providers
Policy makers
Policy makers
Media
Press office
Influencers

24. TARGET
AUDIENCES
FOR
RESEARCH
ACADEMICS
STAKEHOLDERS AND
BENEFICIARIES
ADVOCATES
AMPLIFIERS
THE PUBLIC
Industry
Clinicians
Professionals
Practitioners
Educators
Local communities
e.g. residents, patients
Funders
Research participants
Community organizations
Service providers
Policy makers
Policy makers
Media
Press office
Influencers
Citizen scientists
Schoolchildren
Local communities

25. TARGET
AUDIENCES
FOR
RESEARCH
ACADEMICS
STAKEHOLDERS AND
BENEFICIARIES
ADVOCATES
AMPLIFIERS
THE PUBLIC
Industry
Clinicians
Professionals
Practitioners
Educators
Local communities
e.g. residents, patients
Funders
Research participants
Community organizations
Service providers
Policy makers
Policy makers
Media
Press office
Influencers
Citizen scientists
Schoolchildren
Local communities
Potential collaborators
Open peer review

26. Different engagement
activities for different
audiences
Stakeholders Advocates Amplifiers Public
Other
academics
Email updates Online consultation
Science fairs / museum talks / visits to schools
Academic
conferences
Public debates
Targeted briefings (relevant recommendations, in appropriate language, format, channel) for
each audience
Project websites Blogging
Social media,
podcasts
Academic
network
Collaboration / co-production Infographics, visual summaries Journals, books
Stakeholder workshops
Consultancy, partnerships Press releases Radio, TV
Training and materials Print media

27. Laying out your plan ⇒ http://bit.ly/Kudos-Pro

28. Custom
briefings for
target audiences
including press,
industry, educators
and funders

29. How should you measure your engagement?

30. Engagement activity / channel How to measure engagement
Email, blogs, social media
Include a trackable link to more information; count how many of the
recipients / participants / readers click through
Online consultation
Talks / visits / debates / workshops
Count attendees. Create a simple handout with a trackable link to more
information and count how many people click
Academic conferences
Find out the approximate number of delegates. Include trackable links in
posters and slides. Take business cards with trackable links to information
about your project.
Targeted briefings
Include trackable links to briefings for the appropriate audience when
sending emails, giving talks or providing information in handouts /
business cards
Project websites
Graphics, audio, video
Count views and (unique) visitors. Track at both project level but also the
level of individual outputs hosted / linked to on the site to gauge which
create most engagement

31. How to evaluate
your success
Kudos Pro: http://bit.ly/Kudos-Pro

32. Kudos Pro
• Target broad audiences and increase the impact potential of your
research through better engagement
• Showcase your work, create and action an engagement plan, and
track reach and results – all in one place.
• Report quickly and easily to funders and institutions, providing
evidence of your engagement and impact.
⇒ http://bit.ly/Kudos-Pro
Questions?
Course tutor:
Charlie Rapple
Co-founder, Kudos
www.growkudos.com