Nick Hillier | The Academy of Medical Sciences

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Welcome to Research Unraveled.

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The podcast is dedicated

to the somewhat niche but hugely impactful

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world of research, communications

that specialism within a specialism.

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In particular,

we're exploring the idea of complexity

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which lies at the heart of this field.

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and hearing from communications experts

about how they navigate

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and overcome or unravel that complexity.

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Research

unraveled is brought to you by me, Peter

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Barker,

owner of RNA Co Communications, an agency

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where we specialize in working

with research based organizations.

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This month, I am joined by Nick Hillier,

the director of communications

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and engagement at the UK's

illustrious Academy of Medical Sciences.

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Our conversation is a proper

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deep dive into our topic.

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I know that deep dive is a phrase

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that's perhaps a little bit overused

now in a podcast context.

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So much so that, Google's own

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AI podcast creator on notebook,

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where you have two artificial hosts

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discussing whatever topic it is

that you feed into it.

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They always seem

to start their conversations by referring

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to a deep dive

that they're going to go into.

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So I've actually mixed it

from my own introduction.

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I'm rather embarrassed

to be using such cliched phrase,

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but this actually is a deep dive,

so it's justified.

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There's an in-depth chat

and it's a fascinating one.

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We're going to be talking about

how to broaden participation

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in research and in the way that

research is communicated.

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Nick will

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be talking about the work that he

and the Academy and others are doing

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to diversify the voices

that we hear talking about research

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so that we're not always

just hearing the same old voices.

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And the push for people

with lived experience

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to be given greater recognition

as experts in their own right.

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As I say, it's an in-depth chat.

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So I will wrap up this intro

as swiftly as possible.

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But I did want to mention one thing

before we jump into the conversation,

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and that is that we have just released

the latest Research Comms Snapshot survey.

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I will talk about it

a bit more at the end of the podcast,

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but the short story is

this is a survey for people who work

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as professional communicators at research

institutes, research universities.

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the idea is that from

its findings will develop

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a picture of the state of the research

comms sector at this moment in time.

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We did one last year.

It was incredibly illuminating.

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We created a report off the back of it,

and we want this to be an annual event

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so that we can track the changes,

the shifts, the patterns.

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The opportunities,

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challenges, hopes and fears

of those working in the sector over time.

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if you're interested

in sharing your experiences,

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we would be hugely grateful.

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The more people who respond,

the more valuable the insights.

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So please do consider taking a few minutes

to answer the questions.

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You can click on the link in the episode

description that will take you to a page

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explaining more about the survey

and a link to the survey itself.

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All right.

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Back though, to this month's

guest interview with Nick Hillier.

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Enjoy.

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There you have it.

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That was a thoroughly interesting

conversation from my point of view.

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I really enjoyed speaking with Nick.

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This is a subject that I think

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is top of mind

for so many people who work in the sector,

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but it's not always entirely clear

how one goes about

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broadening that participation,

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bringing in diverse voices,

something that we all know that matters.

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But how do you do it?

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That's the question.

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And so I really appreciate Nick

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sharing his insights

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that he's accumulated

over a number of years

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doing this kind of work

and sharing the strategy that the academy,

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the Academy of Medical Sciences,

is, is taking to further that mission.

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As I said at the start of this podcast,

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I also want to talk about the survey

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that we've just published. So.

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Please going to take a look at that.

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It should only take a few minutes

to fill out.

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this annual report, this snapshot survey

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could become a really valuable tool

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for the research comms community

to better understand

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the shared challenges and opportunities

that the sector faces,

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especially at this time right

now, where, you know, let's be honest,

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there are challenges

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that we as a community face

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and here in the UK where

I'm speaking from,

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talking about the financial crisis

that universities face

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So now more than ever,

I think we need to come together to,

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represent our interests

and understanding ourselves better

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and the community better

is a great way of helping us to do that.

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So yeah,

I think it will be a valuable tool.

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And at the moment

it is focused on the UK.

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I would also like to do

one for my network in the US,

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and perhaps that's something

we'll look into doing later this year.

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But for now, I think specific

we want to hear from people in the UK

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because it's kind of easier

to draw conclusions, from

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this particular research comms community.

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Going to take a look.

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As I say, it should take a few minutes.

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Would really appreciate your input,

your insights.

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People were incredibly generous

with their thoughts and their experiences

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last time around.

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So I hope we get the same kind of

contribution again.

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This time.

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Thank you so much.

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Next time you will hear from me,

I'll be back with Bianca for research.

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Unraveled. Extra. Until then. Bye.