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The Challenge

South Korea’s Dongguk University wanted to improve its reach and exploring alternative formats for communicating the impact of its research activity.

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The Solution

Impact Science worked with Dongguk University to create graphical press releases and a strong distribution strategy.

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The Impact

The university received coverage on prominent science websites and social media, including leading European forums.

Background

It’s not new for universities to be competitive about their reputation in the academic community. But in the case of any research-intensive institution, communicating what sets them apart is essential for survival. Universities need to express their research capabilities outside of the classroom to attract funding and further development opportunities.

Additionally, organizations like QS and Times Higher Education publish yearly university rankings that project the academic quality and research output of universities across the globe.

Institutions may facilitate high-quality research programs and publish their findings in high IF journals, but failure to communicate the technical findings to the general public may leave them stranded and unheard.

In order to bridge the gap between scientists and the public, university research departments are exploring alternative formats for science communication. South Korea’s Dongguk University understood the need to explore ways in which it could communicate its research impact and reached out to Impact Science.

Strategy & Approach

Impact Science created graphical press releases, which combine the catchy news-style appeal of a scientific press release along with an engaging infographic that summarizes key findings in a visual, easy-to-comprehend format.

Impact Science also created a distribution strategy for the university’s news content. With the aim to increase its visibility as an institution, Dongguk University hosted the graphical press releases on its university newsroom and several other third-party platforms.

Online footprint of Dongguk’s press releases

Infographics were produced to capture the key takeaways of the research while strengthening the content of the press release

Profs. Hyunsik Im and Hyungsang Kim from the Dept of Physics and Semiconductor Science at Dongguk University

Conclusion

News coverage on prominent science websites and social media helped increase the reach of Dongguk University’s research content. Four hours after sharing the articles on LinkedIn, the university received engagement from top institutes such as Harvard and MIT. Also, the graphical press release was picked up, translated, and published on leading European forums.

Not only did Dongguk University position itself as a future-facing institution, it was able to disseminate its work beyond geographies and language through the research communication and distribution strategy.