Image: Panos Pictures
Through our Relay programme, we connect journalists and researchers by helping academics make their work more widely known through the media and encourage journalists to see research as an important resource for their reporting. We produce free-to-use radio and print features based on research findings, in-depth topic guides for journalists, and run workshops to enhance researchers’ understanding of how the media work.
Academic research makes a crucial contribution to development but too often findings are kept within the research community. The media can play a part in communicating this knowledge to a wider audience.
Policies and practices are more likely to benefit society when they are informed by research knowledge. By clearly communicating research to a wide audience – whether this is development practitioners, policymakers, civil society representatives or the general public – it can inform public debate and scrutiny. Ultimately this leads to more relevant and sustainable development efforts.
The mainstream media can play an important role in communicating research to a range of audiences in ways that make it easy for people to understand how the research relates to them, their community and society at large.
However, we know that effective communication of research through the media is not straightforward. It depends on factors such as the capacity of the media and their professionalism as well as environments that allow open, vibrant and critical public debate.
It relies on the willingness of research institutions to recognise the value of communicating research to non-academic audiences, and to engage with the media and other communicators. Research funders are in a position to encourage and support institutions to do this.
Supported by DFID
For more information on DFID funded research and research communication programmes visit Research for Development (R4D) at http://www.research4development.info/