Come and listen to our new podcast, Research Unravelled.

We'll be digging into the complexity that lies at the heart of research communication and hearing from expert practitioners about how they navigate or unravel that complexity.

Research Unravelled is hosted by Peter Barker and brought to you by Orinoco Communications - the creative agency where we specialise in helping research organisations to tell their stories and give their research the reach it deserves.

In addition to his monthly conversations with experts Peter will also be joined by colleague and co-host, Bianca Winter, for bonus episodes where they will respond to listeners' comments and questions and discuss the latest news from the world of research comms.

Research Unravelled

It's the final episode of Research Comms! To mark this momentous moment, Peter takes a trip through six years of archives to explore a topic that has featured prominently throughout the series: Storytelling.

With insights from past guests, including Dame Uta Frith, Kat Arney, Will Storr and Jessica Fox, the podcast unpacks why stories have such a hold on our brains and how we can harness that power to craft compelling narratives about research.

It also digs into the darker side of storytelling - looking at how stories and rumours can help spread misinformation and mistrust. And looks at how certain narratives can shape public attitudes to emerging technologies like AI.

This is the last episode of Research Comms in its current form but we'll be back later this year with a brand new podcast dedicated to the art and science of communicating research. Watch this space!

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Show links:

• The Psychology of Curiosity, George Loewenstein
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• The Ketchup Conundrum, Malcolm Gladwell
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• The Global AI Narratives Project
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• First Create the Media - Kat Arney
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• The Science of Storytelling, Will Storr

Despite the alarming statistic that 1 in 3 people born today will develop dementia in their lifetime, research into the neurodegenerative disease has historically been underfunded compared with other areas of medical research such as cancer.

In this episode of Research Comms, host Peter Barker explores the reasons behind that with Lucy Wilson, Director of Communications and Engagement at the UK Dementia Research Institute (DRI), who offers optimistic insight into how the tide is turning. 

Lucy outlines how the DRI, founded in 2017, was created to address the knowledge gap and boost the dementia research workforce across multiple UK universities. In doing so, the institute has brought together researchers from across diverse disciplines, collectively enabling a better understanding of dementia and the brain. 

This 'hub and spoke' model is not without its comms challenges, and Lucy shares her insights into how her team and their key initiatives help foster a shared sense of the DRI's purpose. 

If you're a listener of the podcast, we'd love to connect! 

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Show links: 

UK Dementia Research Institute

The Montessori Child

Sensemaking is a powerful communications tool that provides a framework for understanding the world in which we live and shaping the stories that we tell. In this episode of Research Comms, Peter is joined by Liz Neeley and Ambika Kamath, the founding members of science communications collective Liminal, to unpack sensemaking and its potential for navigating complicated issues facing society today.

Liz and Ambika share their vision for Liminal as a collective model that brings together professionals across disciplines to transform how research is understood and shared through more impactful and contextualised communication.

🤝 Connect with us

If you're a listener of the podcast we'd love to connect!

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Liminal

Wrigley Storymakers Program

It's no secret that video can be one of the most powerful ways of sharing research with audiences online. But creating a successful strategy that will get your videos seen by the right people isn't always so straightforward.   One research organisation that has achieved huge levels of public engagement with its own video content is the Institute for New Economic Thinking, or INET. This New York based, nonprofit think tank funds economic research that ‘challenges conventional wisdom and advances ideas to better serve society’. And its incredible library of videos that showcase and elevate those ideas have reached millions of people around the world. In this episode of Research Comms, Peter talks to Matthew Kulvicki, INET's Director of Video, about what has made the institute's approach to video such a success.    🤝 Connect with us If you're a listener of the podcast we'd love to connect!

• Orinoco Communications  - What We Do
• Peter on LinkedIn

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• Institute for New Economic Thinking
• INET YouTube Channel

📕 Book of the month

• Sidney Lumey, Making Movies

Over the past few decades, the evidence to show that climate change is happening, that it’s caused by human activities, and that we need to take urgent action to limit its impact, has gathered at an overhelming rate. But research into the best way to communicate that message has lagged behind.

That’s changing, thanks in large part to the work of organisations like the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication   In this episode of Research Comms, Peter chats with YPCCC Project Manager, Eric Fine, about his organisation's work to understand public attitudes to climate change, the ‘spiral of silence’ that can happen when we make assumptions about people's beliefs, the 'SASSY' public opinion survey, the power of segmentation for crafting tailored messages, and how to find optimism at at time when reality can seem so bleak. Connect If you're a listener of the podcast we'd love to connect!

• Orinoco Communications  - What We Do
• Peter on LinkedIn

Take Part

• Orinoco Research Comms survey

Show links

• Yale Program on Climate Change Communication
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• SASSY survey
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• Climate silence: pluralistic ignorance as a barrier to climate change discussion by Nathaniel Geiger and Janet Swim

Generative-AI tools, like ChatGPT, are increasingly embedded in the day-to-day work of research communicators. At the University of Cambridge the senior comms team has published a set of AI guidelines, created in consultation with staff across the university.

In this episode of Research Comms, members of the working group that put the guidelines together - Amy Mollett, Barney Brown and William Kerslake - talk about their feelings towards AI, the good and the bad, why they felt they needed to create guidelines for its use, and how the University of Cambridge is currently using AI tools to communicate research.

Links:

• Research Comms newsletter on substack
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• University of Cambridge Generative-AI Guidelines
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• Research Communications Survey
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• Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro
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• Generative AI is already widespread in the public sector | Alan Turing Institute 

In this episode, host Peter Barker reflects on the unique archive of over fifty Research Comms episodes to bring together insights from those conversations around the theme of trust.  

Whether we’re discussing vaccine hesitancy, climate scepticism, young people’s engagement with science and scientists or the rise of conspiracy theorists, all of these topics are, at their core, issues of trust. Recognising how essential trust is to public engagement, how can the wider research community earn the trust of the public?    

Athena Dinar is Deputy Head of Communications at the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) where she’s spent over two decades conveying the captivating magic of Antarctica and the vital research scientists carry out there. 

In this episode of Research Comms, Athena speaks with us about the shifting narratives surrounding the climate crisis and how digital media has transformed the communications landscape, as well as unpacking BAS’s endeavours to reduce its own carbon footprint while striving towards solutions to preserve the southernmost continent, as well as the wider world.

Professor Mark Reed is a Professor and Research Centre Director at Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC) as well as the founder and Chief Executive of Fast Track Impact, an organisation that provides researchers with evidence-based tools and training to empower them to use their work to change the world for good. 

In this episode of Research Comms, Mark helps us define ‘impact’ in the context of research, explains the strategies, methods and tools he encourages researchers to employ when assessing the impact of their work, and highlights the importance of empathy when it comes to designing research and maximising its benefits for the good of wider society.