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Thursday 28th March 2024

Strategic Plan

At the time the RERAD Strategy was written, there were a number of concerns about the extent and overall effectiveness of communication between the scientific community and other stakeholder groups, including policy teams in Scottish Government and related agencies. The RERAD Strategy therefore specifies that the research teams should transfer and exchange knowledge with a much wider set of stakeholder and audience groups than had previously been the norm. This wider KT/E remit provides a number of challenges in terms of building capacities both within the research teams themselves, and between the research teams and the various stakeholder and audience groups.

This KT/E strategy is therefore founded upon the answers to five key questions:

Download KTE Strategy as pdf

 
  • Who are the key audiences for the research?
  • What are the principal purposes of communicating with them (e.g. raise awareness, change attitudes, influence behaviours etc.)?
  • What are the most appropriate routes (communication channels) for achieving these (e.g. media campaigns, popular articles, stakeholder consultative groups etc.)?
  • Who has prime responsibility for facilitating these activities?
  • How can the effectiveness of these activities or outputs be measured?

This strategic plan identifies the main audience and stakeholder groups in relation to this programme of research. These are: policy, public, commercial, scientists and programme specific stakeholders. The Table below provides the overall strategic planning framework for KT/E activities relative to these key groups. The table addresses the five key questions set out earlier and identifies: the principal purposes of the KT/E activities; the main communication routes and the people with prime responsibilities for facilitating these; the main types of activities and outputs, and the measures used to measure and assess the effectiveness of these activities.

Goals

The KT/E strategy has five overall goals:

  1. To develop more effective engagement with all the key stakeholder and audience groups for this research programme.
  2. To improve the quality of scientific communications and related outputs provided to these groups.
  3. To increase the overall level of impact of the research findings in relation to these groups.
  4. To achieve increases in both the use and impacts of research findings in policy support.
  5. To improve the capacity of the research teams to evaluate and learn from KT/E activities.

Environment – Land Use and Rural Stewardship Research Programme KT/E Strategy 2006 – 11 : Audiences, Outputs and Measures of Effectiveness

Audiences Principal Purposes of Communication Routes and Responsibilities Types of Activity/Output Measures of Outcomes/ Effectiveness
Policy Increased use of research evidence in the policy development and evaluation cycle. Delivery through commissioned research programme outputs including direct briefings. (Programme 3 Co-ordinator) Numbers of staff involved in stakeholder groups and attending programme events; policy briefings; articles in relevant in-house magazines and web resources. Direct feedback from RERAD and SEARS organisations policy staff showing increased interaction and value (surveys and face to face interviews) and evidence of use of research evidence in policy development and evaluation cycle.
Public Improved awareness of research findings and use in educational materials and programmes. Engage through media, themed public events programme, schools programme, and with partnerships with Learning and Teaching Scotland and British Association for the Advancement of Science. Creation of Public Participation Centres especially
the John Hope Gateway at Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. (Communications Officers)
Increased numbers of media cuttings and appearances (radio, TV etc.).
Increased numbers of educational resource material.
Increased profile for research programme in general media (press cutting log); numbers of events held and exit surveys; number of resources and the take up in schools/university settings.
Commercial
Consolidation of existing commercial client base and increased new
business in terms of both numbers of clients and new areas of activity.
Delivery through SAC extension network and MRP
commercial consultancies. (Business Development staff)
Feedback showing increased interaction and value (log of contacts and contracts/money won). Return business and new business attracted.
Scientific Increased impact of scientific publications. Delivery and engagement embedded within Work Packages. (Work Package Co-ordinators) Numbers of peer-reviewed papers in international scientific journals. Citation indices.
Programme Specific Stakeholders Increased awareness of, direct engagement with, and use of the results from the research programme. Delivery though involvement in stakeholder consultative groups and through SAC extension network Articles in related popular press and relevant trade/in-house magazines. (Work Package Co-ordinators) Numbers of staff involved in stakeholder groups and attending programme events; policy briefings; articles in relevant in-house magazines and web resources. Feedback showing increased interaction and value (via questionnaire survey and log of media profile).