Communicating Research

One of the main goals of the EPA Research Strategy 2014 – 2020 is to increase communications and awareness of the research funded by the EPA Research Programme. The knowledge generated by EPA Research can help Irish people make better choices about their futures - from the government using our knowledge and data to inform their policy making, to enabling individual citizens to make more sustainable and healthier decisions in their daily lives.

For this reason, we require a Communication Plan to be prepared for all new projects (except projects funded as part of the Green Enterprise Programme) and fellowships funded from the 2014 research call onwards. 

A communications plan is a core document within a project management plan.  It will give the researcher or project team a focus on the messages of the project and will build credibility and visibility for both the organisation undertaking the research and the EPA. For the purposes of EPA-funded research fellowships and projects, all communication plans should contain the following headings:

• Stakeholders
• Key Messages
• Outputs
• Channels
• SMART Goals
• Budget
• Evaluation

Communication Guidelines

The EPA Research Programme have published a number of guidelines and tools to assist you in the preparation and on-going evaluation of your project communications plan. The guidelines will also assist in focussing on the key messages of the project, and in improving communication between policy makers, scientists and other stakeholders. The documents can be accessed via the following links:

• EPA Research Guidelines for Project Communication Plans
• Guidelines for EPA-Funded Project Twitter Accounts
• Research 131 - BRIDGE: Tools for science-policy communication
• Research 132 - BRIDGE: Good Practice Guide for Science-policy Communication
• Research 133 - BRIDGE: A Knowledge Transfer Guide for Researchers
• Research 284a: Research to Policy Impact through Effective Knowledge Transfer
• Research 284b: Knowledge Transfer Guidelines and Recommendations for Irish Funding Agencies
• Communications Plan Template

EPA Research Programme Communication Activities.

Every year, we both run and attend a number of environmental research events, publish a range of research reports, send newsletters and short updates to our subscribers, and are active on social media, particularly Twitter.

The infographic below gives details of key figures for 2019.
Download a copy of the 2019 Communicating Research Info-graphic here.