Reaching non-academic audiences through the media: How to plan for success 

Communicating research results to non-academic audiences can feel daunting. We spoke to the team behind Audit-50 to learn what key aspects should be planned in advance in order to reach broader audiences.

Using the media to reach beyond usual academic audiences is something researchers can design and plan for from the early stages of a project. We look to fund researchers whose work is making a meaningful difference to older people, or has the potential to do so in the future. So many of our award holders are exploring ways to share their findings with the ultimate beneficiaries of their work, be that policy-makers, healthcare professionals or the older people themselves.   

But what if you’ve never done this before? 

We’ve gathered advice from AUDIT-50, a DMT-funded project that has caught the media’s attention as well as that of national stakeholders. Led by Dr Josh Stott, Professor of ageing and clinical psychology at UCL, AUDIT-50 is investigating the healthcare experiences and needs of autistic older adults. We spoke to Josh and Dr Liz O’Nions, a previous postdoctoral fellow on his team. 

By planning from the outset how they were going to reach non-academic audiences, Josh and Liz were able to not only raise awareness of AUDIT-50, but have since fostered further efforts into tackling health inequalities among autistic older people.   

Here are their top things to plan early if you want to get into the headlines. 

  1. Answer ‘why is this research important?’ 

As well as the technical details, take time to consider the ‘so what?’ of your research. This is what funders, policymakers and the ultimate beneficiaries of the research are after. Having a concise answer to this question will help you to clearly link your research to broader interests and issues.  

“You have to be able to really clearly articulate why this research is important. What are we trying to change?” explains Josh. “And that should be a question at the beginning of your research anyway. If you think about that for the funder, then you’ll be in a better position to articulate it to other audiences, including the media, and from that press interest might follow” he adds. 

  1. Align your research question with current public discourse 

The team behind AUDIT-50 spotted that autism, neurodiversity and accessibility to healthcare were gathering public interest. They purposefully brought these topics together when thinking about project objectives. 

“You can’t predict whether something will be a press finding. But you can predict what funders might like, and those are addressing gaps in understanding or unmet needs” says Josh. “It was timely to link ageing with what was already in the news around inequities and inequalities in access to healthcare. Do older people with autism or neurodiversity have a good experience of healthcare?” 

  1. Ensure your results are relatable to your audience

The methodology AUDIT-50 chose was an important news hook. By deliberately deciding to use national healthcare datasets, the team ensured the results would answer important questions from a nationwide perspective – making the results more usable by the press and other stakeholders. 

  1. Identify interested partners and involve them early 

The project team sought out audiences and partners with a vested interest in the research questions. For example, the National Autistic Society (NAS) was invited to get involved early on. Josh and his team defined upfront what each partner’s role was. In the case of NAS, the Society helped the project reach broader audiences and ensured people with lived experience were properly represented within the research. 

Involving partners might have a financial cost. Here at the DMT, we welcome applications that include costs for working well with others such as running training, hosting meetings, and meaningfully involving people with lived experience and relevant community-lead organisations. 

“It’s essential to involve partners from the beginning,” says Josh. “The sooner they’re plugged into the project, the sooner they will start advocating and opening doors to others who are interested,” he adds.  

  1. Work collaboratively with your institution’s press office

Accept that you might not be the best person to write a press release. Josh and his team worked with UCL’s press office early and collaboratively, seeking advice and learning how to coordinate press release embargoes with a paper publication. Because timing is everything, they reached out around the time it looked as though the project’s first article would be accepted. 

“It was really positive working with our press office, who are very experienced and drafted the press releases for us,” shares Liz. “They helped us communicate the statistics with care so our findings couldn’t be misrepresented – something that’s happened with similar results in the past.”     

They also involved NAS, getting them to identify different angles of the research results that would be interesting to the public and professional stakeholders. 

  1. Test your language and messages 

To work out the best way to communicate their results, AUDIT-50 collaborated with their Experts with Experience Group, facilitated by NAS. This helped them to keep on top of the neurodiversity community’s preferences around language and to help frame the research findings from their point of view. People with autism experience a lot of inequities and discrimination that impacts their health and wellbeing, so messaging had to be clear that society needs to be more inclusive and address unmet support needs when walking about the findings.  

Through this practice, the team was better prepared by the time it came to drafting press releases. By not leaving this to the last minute, they felt confident that their use of language wouldn’t inadvertently reinforce negative stereotypes, such as talking about “support needs” of people with autism rather than “their difficulties”.  

“Presenting to our Experts by Experience made all the difference,” explains Liz. “It takes time to figure out how you can best explain things. And the questions that come back to you inform your narrative and help shape how you write the findings,” she adds. 

Learn more about the media 

Working with the media doesn’t have to be daunting, but it does need early planning and time.

If you’re an early career researcher and want to hear more practical tips around engaging with the press and media, sign up for our online media training workshop. You can also join the DMT Academy for more training and support on how to run impactful ageing-related research.

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