Communicating and disseminating EU research

• Charlotte Haentzel • European Commission’s Representation in Sweden

Why communication matters

• Research is not useful if it is not communicated

• Explaining your research in a comprehensible way is increasingly important

• If we do not make our efforts known, they will have no impact

Why communication matters

• Internal communication is equally important!

• Interdisciplinary collaborations between researchers in different fields, different countries and between business and academia require communication and networking skills

Horizon 2020

The biggest EU Research programme ever

•aims to

•Strengthen EU’s position in science •Strengthen industrial leadership in innovation •Address major societal concerns•And realise the ERA

Why research communication is important to the EU

• Strengthen EU’s position in science • Strengthen industrial leadership in innovation • Address major societal concerns• And realise the ERA

• Corporate communications: H2020 is an integral part of Europe 2020 – integrated communication campaign in 2014

Horizon 2020 – communication and dissemination requirements

• - H2020 has a number of new features as regards communication and dissemination

• - Actions should have a comprehensive communication plan to ensure a high visibility of the funded actions and help to maximise the impact of results

• - New open access policy

• - Open Research Data Pilot

What needs to be disseminated?

• Rules for participation:• Each participant that has received Union funding

shall disseminate the results it owns • If possible, include a statement and/or visual

means to identify EU funding

Open Research Data Pilot Action

• To improve and maximise access to and re-use of research data generated by projects

• For 2014-2015 limited to a number of areas

• Participation does not influence evaluation process

Open access

- Under Horizon 2020, each beneficiary must ensure open access to all peer-reviewed scientific publications relating to its results.

- Beneficiaries must, at the very least, ensure that their publications, if any, can be read online, downloaded and printed.

Comprehensive communication plan

• - work in progress!

Why?

• External communication helps:

• Increasing the success rate of your proposal (provided you have a good communication/dissemination plan

• Disseminating research results• Increasing visibility and science awareness• Achieving succesful integration with stakeholders• Networking and marketing the consortium• Bridging the gap between scientists and the public• Making European reserach more attractive

Make your communication strategy a success

• Define your goals and objectives

• Target your audience

• Choose your message

• Select the right medium and means

• Evaluate your efforts

What is good communication?Work and coordinate at European level

Focus on results and background, not just methodology

Work with communcation and media professionals

Use exisiting relays and organisations

Try to make a difference – originality pays!

How to communicate with media

- Have something to say … that is real news… ... and make it sound interesting- Get to the point. Why should anyone care about this?- Think like a journalist: how can they make a story out of this? - Give them all they need. Don’t wait until they call you looking for more

Innovative communication & challenges

- Social media(Twitter, Facebook, forums, podcasts, news feeds, clips, webcasts, weblogs): how best to use them and for which audience?

- Beyond “popularisation”: initiatives should aim at a 2-way communication, not just providing information

- European fragmentation… and Europe has to compete with the US big communication machineries!

External resources

• European Commission/DG RTD• CORDIS• AlphaGalileo• EurekAlert• ECSITE• EUSCEA• EurActiv

How we can help

• - Participant portal and helpdesk• - Guidance and background material on

communication on the web• - Activities and training• - EC Representation• - We can help share your research to a wider

audience!

THANK YOU!