Exploring the intersections: Researchers and communication professionals’ perspectives on the organizational role of science communication

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Exploring the intersections: Researchers and communication professionals’ perspectives on the organizational role of science communication

Author: Kaisu Koivumäki – University of Oulu, Finland

Co-authors:

  • Clare Wilkinson – The University of West of England, United Kingdom

In contemporary science communication, a wide range of personal, organizational and social drivers influence communications that are taking place, whilst performance-based funding policies including communication and impact activities, are spreading in Europe. However, there are shortages of academic research as to how different organizational and institutional environments shape the drivers of science communication in specific contexts.

This paper reports on research exploring the intersections between researchers and communication professionals’ perspectives on the objectives, funders, and organizational influences on their digital science communication practices. Exploring one context, a large inter-organizational research project in Finland, this paper presents data from semi-structured interviews with 17 researchers and 15 communication professionals.

Researchers and communication professionals identify subtly different sets of normative and deliberative drivers in their science communication practices. Funders appear to be influencing the aims, assumptions and cultures for science communication, at both organizational and individual levels sometimes bypassing the academic structures and organizations. The funders’ expectations may be perceived as somewhat artificial regarding grant applications and monitoring. This may decrease the academic community’s respect for science communication and lead to overhyping and marketization of research, and blur the objectives of communication. Communication professionals embraced the funders’ goals for societal impact, seeing the funders incentives as a helpful tool to compel science communication activities.

The preliminary results suggest that the general effect of changes in the way in which public communication and engagement, is perceived, defined and funded within the academia, may create challenges in generating a shared sense of purpose and identity amongst the numerous and short-term research projects, which can present fragmented images of research to the public, and cause unarticulated differences affecting the intersections amongst researchers and communication professionals.

The author has not yet submitted a copy of the full paper.

Presentation type: Insight talk
Theme: Transformation

Idea(l)s and gaps of researchers’ and in-house communication professionals’ science communication collaboration

Author: Kaisu Koivumäki – University of Oulu, Finland

Co-authors:

  • Timo Koivumäki – University of Oulu, Finland

Increasingly researchers regard communication with the publics as their responsibility whilst the academic community takes on engagement with the digital public sphere. But how are the responsibilities of research communication managed within the research organizations? One may even ask if mediators are needed anymore since researchers may govern and transform their public science-society relations through social media connections they have at their fingertips?

However, the perceived responsibility does not necessarily translate to a ‘duty’ that is integral to researchers’ work. Digital media outreach may be an occupational challenge for the researchers whilst organizational distances between communication professionals and researchers sometimes occur.

This paper presents preliminary findings of an analysis of semi-structured interviews of 15 in-house science communication professionals and 17 researchers from five research organizations in Finland. With the aim to enhance the collaboration, that constitutes organizational science communication, this study focused on understanding how are the complexities in researchers’ and professionals’ collaboration.

Results show that interviewees preferred researchers before communication professionals to communicate science. However, researchers clearly state, that professionals are still needed, but their role needs to change. Professionals were regarded as highly relevant in encouraging and couching the researchers’ online communication efforts, whilst uncertainties around the role of the researchers occurred. Therefore surprisingly, many interviewees were willing to exclude reflexive discussions of science-society relations from communication training, saying that these are duties of others, not researchers.

The findings highlight gaps between science communication conceptualizations and organizational realities, that question the academic institutions’ capabilities to contribute with scientific knowledge to societal discussions online. Developments in digital practice, academia and society call for scholarly integration of functional and socio-cultural perspectives of science public relations research. Practical implications enhance understanding of transformations in science communication practices and professions.

The author has not yet submitted a copy of the full paper.

Presentation type: Individual paper
Theme: Technology

Blog&Tweet turns – changing the culture of science communication

Author: Kaisu Koivumäki – University of Oulu, Finland

Scholars of science communication have argued that scientific community lacks a culture of genuine science communication and public engagement. With widened scope on public relations research it has been suggested that scientists’ participation in science communication via social media should be valued, measured and manageable. This also requires a strategic management approach including strong commitment from the (research) director, the establishment of social media teams, the implementation of guidelines, ongoing training, integration of goals, and measurement.

This paper describes actions put into practice with researchers in a multidisciplinary and interorganisational research project, organized in five research teams, and the researchers’ perceptions on new practice.

The research teams are given monthly Blog&Tweet-turns. On their turn, following a joint schedule, a team has to deliver blogs and tweets about their research integrated with the projects and funders overall communication goals. When the turn is about to change, the measurement i.e. impact numbers (viewers of blogs, reactions on tweets) are shared and praised. The teams are trained by communication professionals with ongoing support. This includes informal discussions that ease the adoption of new roles as researchers engage in science communication online. The PI of the research project shows example and writes science blogs regularly.

According to preliminary findings on semi-structured interviews of 13 communication professionals and 17 researchers, collected in summer 2017, easy access for support and contact with communication professionals is the most important supportive action. Researchers also appreciate the equality of attention for research teams and topics. The systems simplicity makes the participation manageable and division of labour reasonable which furthers commitment to the turn-taking. Clear majority of researchers plan to have contact with communication professionals in future.

It would be interesting to know how could online turn-taking be scaled up e.g. to a faculty’s communication agenda?

The author has not yet submitted a copy of the full paper.

Presentation type: Show, tell and talk
Theme: Science
Area of interest: Investigating science communication practices

Tweet or perish

Author: Kaisu Koivumäki – University of Oulu, Finland

There are varying reasons behind researchers’ motivation to participate in science communication: traditional duty to disseminate knowledge, deliberating engagement goals, and visibility demands from institutions and research funders that are intensifying globally. Mediatization entails the belief that visibility promotes societal support and competitiveness. But what kind of effect these demands have on researchers’ science communication efforts?

This paper presents preliminary findings of an analysis on data collected in summer 2017 with semi-structured interviews of 17 researchers and 13 science communication professionals. Preliminary findings indicate that researchers’ attitudes are changing and researchers feel pressure/duty to participate in science communication. For many interviewees reason for this was the research funders. Typical belief was that funders implicitly value visibility. The belief seemed to gain strength from visibility-hype connected to social media. The common narrative was: “For funding issues it’s very important to have good image of your work and existence in social media”. When faced with a question of this kind of motivation towards science communication being just self-serving, many interviewees stated the competitive structures of academia but also claimed to approve funders’ ultimate goal to foster dialog with science and society.

Preliminary findings incorporate important notion: the researchers share the belief that funders value visibility whether this is known fact or not, and are willing to act accordingly. The findings seem to relate to the blurred concepts of communication, engagement and impact online, and the continual lack of solid, evaluation instrument of (digital) impact as part of research assessments. The parties don’t exactly know the gain.

Further findings will be presented and discussed from the viewpoint of conceptualisations of science communication distributed globally by institutions and funders. Important aspects of discussion addresses the communication practitioners’ encouragement of researchers’ science communication efforts: the beliefs about funders’ understanding of science communication foster motivation and action.

The author has not yet submitted a copy of the full paper.

Presentation type: Individual paper
Theme: Science
Area of interest: Applying science communication research to practice

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