Effective science communication and communication plans: A case study

Abstract

Effectively communicating scientific advances to society and the media forms part of the responsibility of researchers, especially in publicly funded projects. Communication as an activity that multiplies the impact of these projects is required as a contractual obligation. In this research, we have conducted a case study to find out what the real communication plans of projects funded by the European Framework Program Horizon 2020 are like. In this way, we have obtained elements that help research teams to design better communication plans. As an analysis method, a multiple case study was performed and a systematic protocol was applied to characterize the communication plans and to present the detected patterns. In our conclusions, we have presented the elements that constitute a communication plan with the potential to reach a wide audience, considering the plan to be a social responsibility inasmuch as it allows knowledge to be socialized. In addition, being a contractual obligation, a communication plan offers opportunities for both professionals and scholars in the social communication area of expertise.