| Communicating with MPs |
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Simon's article in 'The House Magazine' on issues in research communication appeared on 12th October. Read the article (as submitted) (pdf)... The article was invited for publication in The House Magazine special supplement on ‘Sharing Information’. The brief was to outline why research dissemination is the vital researcher-led component of communication between research, policy, practice and public debate This was an opportunity to engage MPs on issues in communicating research, from a research perspective. I argue that if the new ‘impact plans' are going to help researchers to make a ‘demonstrable contribution’ to society and the economy (as the UK Funding Councils intend) then this wider interaction needs to be supported and recognised as part of the intellectual activity of research. I am grateful to the following who generously commented on earlier drafts of the article: Professor Celia Roberts (Applied Linguistics, Kings College London), Professor Richard Edwards (The Stirling Institute of Education), Professor Mary Hamilton (Dept of Educational Research, Lancaster University), Dr Karin Tusting (Lancaster Literacy Research Centre), Professor Andrew Dobson, Dr Sherilyn MacGregor and Dr Roger Worthington (Research Institute for Law, Politics and Justice, University of Keele). (As always, any errors or misunderstandings are mine.) Postscript... the publication of the article once again illustrates why media information is so often inaccurate. An editor chose to change the title to something exactly contrary to what the article was about, change the introductory text, remove the policy links, and then add an enlarged quote from the text which had also been changed to suggest the opposite of what the article originally said. It's a reminder of why some care and attention to detail (as well as an understanding of research evidence and claims) are vital when communicating ideas and research. Will MPs get to hear about the issues? Let's hope a few find this page and download the (as-submitted) unexpurgated version (pdf)... |
