After giving some invited lectures at a few universities across the U.S., I am thinking about how researchers can elevate the visibility of their work and their policy impact and influence. Here are some of my preliminary thoughts about how to enhance research visibility and influence, consisting of three strategies/elements: Innovation, Relevance, Accessibility. None of these strategies/elements are especially new; what I am proposing is that these must all be considered and practiced simultaneously to raise research visibility and influence.
I consider Innovation to emanate from partnerships among/between disciplines and sectors. Partnerships and collaboration can be challenging and take longer than the usual research approach as new points of view and varying goals requires "active listening," supporting a process of iterative ideation, and sometimes moving forward with ideas that you not have initiated. But given authentic effort to work together, such partnerships can generate new solutions to long-standing challenges. One example is Project 19th a partnership between Cambria Solutions/kappy innovation lab (now part of Ernst & Young) and USC Price in Sacramento. The partnership emanated from existing relationships and a number of brainstorming sessions that settled on gender parity in US elected politics as the focus. Gender parity is a long standing challenge in governing and business. Ideation for Project 19th was genuinely iterative, but unconventional, as there was no clear path and work sometimes ended in irrelevant rabbit holes. My takeaways from this work is that ideation may emerge from unexpected sources (developing the "pitch deck") as well as from more traditional brainstorming sessions. Maintaining an open mind to new ideas at any part of the process and remaining committed to the relationship (and not particular ideas) are essential.
To raise visibility and enhance impact, the work must be Relevant at the time at which decision makers and community leaders are engaging with the issue. In an earlier post, I talked about my colleague John Chin (Hunter College) and our collaborative research on massage parlor workers in large U.S. cities. John and I had developed with our community research team, and in consultation with advocacy and service organizations, a technical report on one set of results from our NIH-funded research study on Asian immigrant female workers in massage parlors in Los Angeles County and New York City. The work became tragically relevant with the March 2021 shootings in Atlanta at massage parlors, where 8 people were killed. Since then, the media focus on violence directed at Asian women (and others) has largely abated. My takeaway from this work are that the temporal window of relevance centers on specific events/legislation and can be short (and intense when trying to respond to media requests); I am so grateful for my collaborative partner, John Chin, who had a clear strategy for responding to requests for information including responding quickly to requests.
Finally, raising visibility and enhancing impact necessarily requires attention to the Accessibility of the work, which for me amplifies diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and "meeting people where they are." Accessibility should include a deliberate strategic vision about the research that uses an inclusionary process for identifying commonalities across communities and decision makers, intersections across disciplines and topics, and potential collective endeavors. Relatedly, understanding the intellectual, policy, community, business, and nonprofit "ecosystem" will help clarify and specify communication and engagement approaches to raise visibility. And finally, accessibility integrates pipelines and support for including students, faculty, staff, community members, and decision makers in the research enterprise.
I welcome your comments and suggestions about how you amplify the impact of your research and practice!
Hi Lois, thank you for sharing your thoughts. Your high level summary of key insights and and takeaways on Guaranteed Income programs as a poverty eradication tool are very helpful.
Reading your previous post on how to expand the impact of research to influence policy and improve people's lives really resonates with my work with nonprofits and government agencies. Timing is crucial, willingness to listen and staff of local government agencies have so much day to day work they are often unaware of program innovations or approaches coming from other agencies let alone what research is showing to be most effective when that relevant time comes where changes can be made. Often, they are aware of program limitations to Diversity,…