3. Recommendations from different guides of the Union European on

communicating EU funded research

Aurélie PANCERACIHEAM Bari

Contents1. Communicating research - general aspects 2. Networking technologies: Euro-Mediterranean Agora 3. Recommendations from different guides of the Union

European on communicating EU funded research 4. The role of the NCPs in supporting research

communication 5. Practical exercises to assess your field activities and

brainstorm on your next activities6. How to think of your "communication strategy"?

3. Recommendations from different guides of the Union European on

communicating EU funded research

http://ec.europa.eu/research/science-society/science-communication/index_en.htm

What is formally

required?

What is formally

required?

What is formally

required?

What is a good communication?

4. The role of the NCPs in supporting research communication

Aurélie PANCERACHIEAM Bari

Prepare the activity

Communicating research: The role of the NCPs

Scientific community

…

Prepare the activity

Communicating research: The role of the NCPs

• Main characteristics of NCP’s systems:– State’s responsability – Coordination of the system:

centralized/decentralized– EC Guidance on minimum standards

NCP system => INVESTMENT to provide an efficient service to the research communities and SMEs

Communicating research: The role of the NCPs

• Main characteristics of NCP’s systems in the Mediterranean countries:– Nomination process?

• by direct designation• Criteria (different from focal points)

– Voluntary basis decentralized system– EC support (through BILAT, INCONET, ERA-WIDE,

etc) in countries having S&T Agreement

Communicating research: The role of the NCPs

Main challenge: how to be efficient with the available

means you have?

Goals and objectives of the NCPs (core functions)

• Build on your past experience• Be pragmatic according to your available means• Use collective intelligence to manage time

4. Practical exercice: communicating on H2020

• To who?• What?• What for?• How?• When?• Where?

Goals/objective: Inform and raise awareness

– -> how to raise interest? Performance versus inclusion; time management

• For what? • Who? • How? • What? • When?

– Indicators?:• Number of visits/revisits on the website;• Number of questions by email/phone received;• Number of talents identified• Number of persons sensibilized

Goal: Assist and advise– « Support » provide services!!– For what? – Who? – How? – What? – When?– Indicators:

– Number of persons trained;– number of applications to H2020; – number of successful applications;

Winning a bid is just at the tip!- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - • Grant writing • Grant budgeting

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - • Pitching to become a partner in consortia• Selecting best-fit financial instruments (FP7? Interreg? LLP? COST?

Others?) and a suitable call (KBBE, ENV, OCEANS etc)

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -• Policy Context, Networking with best-in-class peers, participating in

Technology Platforms, sitting on expert panels, engaging with National Contact Points & EC counterparts, analysing call opportunities

Searching complementary partnersThere is no rule….

• Identification of successful coordinators in Cordis

• Identify and connect with people who can help you (NCP, EEN, etc - http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/get-support_en.html)

• Make you know and be recommended

• Prepare and exchange partner search format

• Register in the relevant databases

• Build on the basis of previous collaborations and/or scientific congress.

¿Quelle est mon idée?• What is the STRATEGY of my organisation?

• To which extent MY research topic fits with H2020?

• What are the FUNDING opportunities?

• Is it a REALISTIC for me?

• What do I have to OFFER to a European project?

How to prepare your pitch?Topic relevance

Direct geographic Relevance (Mediterranean)

Indirect geographic relevance (ENP, Africa, S&T Agreement)

International cooperation connotation (no geographic focus)

Thematic relevance

You are part of a puzzle!!!

To negotiate your participation, you have to be very clear on:

- What you are expecting from this participation in spite of the investment it can represent;- What you have to offer

YOU

Goal: signpost and cooperate

• Make alliance and contribute to make the offer/demand match– For what? – Who? – How? – What? – When?– Indicators:

Communicating research: 3. The role of the NCPsPrepare the activity

6. How to plan your communication strategy?

Aurélie Pancera

A. Ensure good management1. Have resources been allocated (time and money)?•Does your proposal include a work package on communication?•Will there be a separate dissemination and communication strategy and timeline right from the beginning?•Does the communication element of the project involve all consortium partners (and their respective staff, including researchers)?•Is there awareness that communication is a continuous process, not a one-time effort when the project ends?•Are you ready for the unexpected? Have you thought about how to respond effectively to such things as publication in high-ranking journals or a sudden new event related to the project’s theme?

2. Are professional communicators involved?•Have resources been allocated to professional assistance with the drafting of press releases, graphic design, maintenance of the website and other communication tasks? Larger institutions usually have an in-house capacity for this.•Have you considered taking any training in the field of communication or including a communication expert in your team?

A. Ensure good management

3. Is continuity ensured?•Are there any arrangements to ensure that information will not be lost once the project comes to an end?•Does the project provide for any feedback loops back to the European Commission that can help with amplifying the message, for example by notifying an event, or before publishing a press release?

A. Ensure good management

B. Define your goals and objectives1. Are there any goals and objectives?•Have the final and intermediate communication aims of the project been specified, what impact is intended, what reaction or change is expected from the target audience? •For example:

– Receiving feedback or engaging in dialogue– Influencing the attitudes of decision-makers– Having people make a decision or take action– Ensuring that the project outcomes will be taken into

production

2. Are your goals and objectives neither too ambitious nor too weak?•Is there a deadline by which the goals should be achieved, taking into account different stages of the research and possible intermediary outcomes?•Are the objectives specific and measurable, rather than vague? Does the project envisage ways of measuring its communication efforts and impact?

B. Define your goals and objectives

• Example:– Evidence of debates in the media– Evidence of new funders for your area– Evidence of transference of research into practice (patents, prototypes, licenses)– Number and turnover of new products, practices or procedures developed, based on

your research outcomes– Number of articles in the press– Number of people asking for feedback or more information– Number of references in scientific publications– Participation in project events and seminars– Speaker evaluations from conferences– presentations– Survey of end-users– Trends in website visits

B. Define your goals and objectives

C. Pick your audience1. Is your audience well defined?•Is each target audience a relatively homogenous group of people (not: ‘the public at large’ or ‘all stakeholders’)? Can the indicated audiences be further specified?•For example: from ‘the general public’ to ‘female citizens commuting by train to work in one of the EU-10 countries’ or from ‘decision-makers’ to ‘Europarliamentarians involved in the design of the new transport policy 2013’.

2. Does it include all relevant target groups?•Can your audience help you reach your objectives?

– Who has an interest in your research?– Who can contribute to your work?– Who would be interested in learning about the project’s findings?– Who could or will be affected directly by the outcomes of the research?– Who are not directly involved, but could have influence elsewhere?

•Does the project aim to address both a direct audience and intermediaries to reach more people?•What about the possibility of audiences at local, regional, national and European level?•Is the audience external (not restricted to consortium partners)?

C. Pick your audience

D. Choose your message1. Is it news?•Why do we need to know? What will change? What solutions are you offering? What makes the issue urgent? What are the consequences if no action is taken?•Have you tried to stir your audience’s imagination and emotions?•How does your work relate to everyday life? Does it link to any broader societal issue? Rather than focusing only on the provision of factual information, is your project research positioned within a broader socio-economic and policy context, so that it will be easier to explain the results and their relevance to policymakers and citizens?

2. Are you connecting to what your audience wants to know?•See through your audience’s eyes:

– What do they already know about the topic?– What do they think about it?– Do they need information and/or persuasion?– Have you tested your message?

•Are you considering a FAQ on potentially controversial or sensitive issues?

3. Are you connecting to your own communication objectives?

D. Choose your message

E. Use the right medium and means

1. Do they reach the audience?•Are you working at the right level (local, regional, national)?•Are you using dissemination partners and multipliers?•Dissemination partners can help amplify and multiply a message. Rather than aiming to build an audience from scratch, the project should indicate which partners to use and how.

E. Use the right medium and means2. Do they go beyond the obvious?•If input or contributions are needed, are there mechanisms in place to make communication interactive so as to obtain responses?•Are you taking into account the different ways to communicate?

F. Evaluate your efforts• Go back to your goals and objectives. Have they

been reached? What lessons have you learned?

European Commission: Guide tocommunication and media relations

• Establishing target audiences and selecting the appropriate media;• Defining key messages;• Preparing and supplying information to the press;• Building good relationships with journalists;• Evaluating results;• Maximising the exposure of news stories and press articles. • Tapping useful Commission resources

http://ec.europa.eu/research/conferences/2004/cer2004/pdf/rtd_2004_guide_success_communication.pdf

• http://ec.europa.eu/research/science-society/science-communication/index_en.htm

Conclusions?

Though each project is different, the communication plan will generally include the following steps:1. Form a communication and dissemination team who identify potential beneficiaries (audiences) and anticipate their questions2. Create a promotional flyer3. Produce a detailed identity brochure4. Develop an attractive project website

Conclusions?

5. Seek out dialogue with stakeholders 6. Engage the media7. Write policy briefs8. Arrange briefing sessions and dialogue panels9. Organize a final conference10. Produce a final publishable summary report

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