Welcome To Public Space.

The wider communication of insight is a vital outcome of research.  The UK research funding councils now require an 'impact plan' as part of a research proposal.  Understandably, they want publicly-funded research to impact on current practice, policy and debate.

Research teams, their funders and all those contributing to a project can be motivated by its relevance, and by the potential to have some lasting impact beyond the confines of academic debate.  Dialogue across institutions and social and professional worlds can help to identify research priorities, develop and refine insights, and realise significance.

However, what is often less clear is how this wider communication can happen in practice, given the institutionalised separation of research, policy and practice, the 'realities' of limited funding periods and institutional priorities in HE, and the real challenges of sustaining collaborations and engaging new audiences.

The wider communication of research involves understanding the research insight, and working out the significance of it within different contexts and debates.  Hence research communication needs to engage with the research thinking, rather than be separated from it.