The Office of Grant and Research (OGR) of the Kwame Nkrumah University and Technology (KNUST) has organised a Research Communication Workshop for all researchers in KNUST on Thursday, 31st March 2022 at Regional Water and Environmental Sanitation Centre Kumasi (RWESCK) Auditorium.
The Director of OGR, Professor Phillip Antwi-Agyei in his opening remarks stated that as staff of the University, they are expected to teach, research, and engage in community outreach. He stressed that research plays a central role and thus advocated that their teaching and community engagements should be informed by their research findings.
Professor Antwi-Agyei added that the Workshop would teach participants ways to package their research findings and outcomes to reach its intended audience.
Giving an overview of the Workshop, Mr. Emmanuel Kwasi Debrah, Journalist at the Multimedia Group, introduced participants to ‘Newsgathering sources, the difference between News and Public Relations.’ He noted that in writing a good news-worthy research story, there is the need to identify the key players involved, how important the story is in the field, the intended audience, the novelty/discovery, its uniqueness, and the future impact it would have on people’s lives.
Mr. Debrah indicated that a good research news story format requires writing clearly for the intended audience to understand. ‘People use your research findings and recommendations to influence and shape their lifestyle, therefore, it is important to explain difficult concepts and terminologies when communicating your research,’ he said.
He disclosed that creating a good research content that engages the public on the social media space involves using animations, good images, videos, or soundbites to disseminate their findings and recommendations. He further encouraged the researchers to take advantage of the social media platforms such as Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn to interact with their audience and share opinions or solutions to research problems identified.
Participants were divided into four groups to have a practical session on writing a good research news.