Returns of research funding are maximised in media visibility for excellent institutes

Entradas, Marta ORCID: 0000-0001-7146-9912 and Santos, João M. (2021) Returns of research funding are maximised in media visibility for excellent institutes. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 8 (1). ISSN 2662-9992

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Abstract

This paper investigates public communication activity across research institutes with varying levels of excellence in research, and how competitive funding affects this activity. With competing funding trends requiring plans for public engagement in the funded research, a question arising is whether institutes capturing higher amounts of funding return the most value for public communication. Using international data from N = 1550 institutes in six countries, we first compare public communication activity among excellent and less-than-excellent institutes. We then investigate the relationship between competitive funding and public communication across levels of excellence. We find that the returns of funding are maximised in media interactions in excellent institutes when compared to the less excellent, but not in public events. This suggests that returns of research funding may not result in the expected outcomes for increased ‘public engagement in science’ if institutions are guided by instrumental goals.

Item Type:	Article
Official URL:	https://www.nature.com/palcomms/
Additional Information:	© 2021 The Authors
Divisions:	Psychological and Behavioural Science
Subjects:	Q Science > Q Science (General)
Date Deposited:	06 Oct 2021 10:33
Last Modified:	12 Dec 2024 02:41
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/112192

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