Putting aside time to disseminate research can seem a tough ask in the time-pressured environment of academic life. But, getting it right can really ensure your hard work makes an impact in your research field and beyond, says UNE researcher Dr Marg Rogers.

Presenting at the School of Education Seminar Series last week (Wednesday 17 July), Dr Rogers, a senior lecturer in early childhood education at UNE and a postdoctoral fellow with the Manna Institute, shared some of the tips and tricks she has learnt along the way to becoming a well published academic across multiple sources – from journals to general news.

Dr Rogers is regularly published in industry blogs and news sites such as EduResearch Matters, The Sector, The Spoke, The Conversation, and specialist media including The Women’s Agenda for her work on the Child and Family Resilience Programs, and commentary on many issues around early childhood services and access, pay gaps and workplace conditions, mental health and trauma.  

She is very active and intentional in her social media activity, which has also been vital to her success. Whether working with traditional media or social media, she has learnt there are many tips and tricks to having your work noticed to make a broader impact.

Here are some of her tips for success:

• Be intentional

To make the job of disseminating your research easier, create a standard tick list for places you will publish to once you’ve written a research article. These might include RUNE, Google Scholar, Research Gate Academia, and your UNE staff webpage. Also plan for what you will do once your research is published – such as writing and placing a research-based news article (recommended!) and planning social media posts to ensure your research is noticed.

Writing a research-based news article, such as the style used by The Conversation, is very different in style to a peer-reviewed academic journal, and can take some getting used to. Dr Rogers suggests seeking help from UNE’s Corporate Communications Team to shape your article and help you find the story that will appeal to a general audience.

But the key is to find the ‘news value’ of your story – what makes it timely and important for people to know? Can you link the issue or research to something happening in the news right now? Or a special national day or week? What makes it interesting beyond your immediate academic circles?

You can link your peer-reviewed research into your research-based news article and anything else you’ve written about the same topic.

• Get social

Being engaged on social media can really build your impact, reach and profile as an expert in your field. It is not enough to broadcast your work on social media, but requires researchers to cultivate a network, acknowledge and collaborate with others. For funding grants, also regularly acknowledge your funders and relevant stakeholder groups by tagging them in to your social media posts, such as on LinkedIn. You don’t have to wait for project results to post what you are doing. This keeps the funders updated, and makes it more likely you’ll be successful with future grants.

When at conferences, create a post about your presentation or what you learnt, and tag in the conference, the people you met and other presenters. This is a great way to remember who you met, increase your following, share your research and to be able to reach out for collaboration opportunities later. Share the work of colleagues and give them accolades, and you will find others start to do the same.

Tag liberally, and use hashtags both specific and broad to help your content reach a wider social media audience. When posting about joint work, such as project work and publications, remember to tag UNE, your co-authors and their institutions.

• Use visuals

To help your social media posts about your research stand out, Dr Rogers suggests using infographics to highlight salient research points, which can easily be created in free versions of Canva or Piktochart. Studies show this can boost engagement with your content.

• Publish and re-publish

Dr Rogers likes to focus her efforts on being published in online publications that allow republishing under a Creative Commons licence, such as The Conversation and certain blogs. This means it’s easier for the article to be further disseminated to reach a wider audience.

• Don’t reinvent the wheel

Know a researcher who is a mover and shaker in the media and social media? Dr Rogers says she has learnt a lot by following others on social media who are really good at getting attention on their research, and then ‘mimicking’ what they do. Also utilise the university’s media team to help shape, publish and share your work. 

Fast-tracking impact

Dr Rogers says these techniques have helped lead to opportunities to be involved in policy and practice changes much earlier in her academic career, including working with various state and federal departments and research organisations on solutions to some of the issues she has raised.

She has found being willing to respond to events in the news as they happen, collaborating with other and more senior colleagues who can pitch in with their research, leveraging your institutional credentials, for example as a UNE and Manna Institute researcher, and using social media well all contribute to having your research noticed where and when it matters.

You can learn more by reading her recent news article, catching up on her presentation, or reading her peer reviewed journal article about this topic.