Below are some suggested steps you can take to promote your HES4A grant award. We suggest doing these activities within the first of eight weeks of your award or as soon as possible.
Work with your institution’s communication department. They can help you figure out how to spread the word through their channels (and beyond!).
Here are tips on working with your home institution’s communication department:
Consider walking over to their office on campus to introduce yourself (or setting up a quick virtual intro). Tell them about your participation in HES4A (if you haven’t already) and your work, and suggest this and/or future news about your research be shared via the institution’s communication channels. Naming which one you think might be best might also be helpful.
Share that you are building relationships with the media and ask if they have any relationships with reporters who might be interested. Ask how else they might support your communication efforts that will support the positioning efforts of the institution. Reviewing the pitch? Interview prep?
Develop a news release and social media posts about your HES4A grant award—and coordinate with RWJF in advance of sharing these publicly.
Develop a project description of your research. Work with the HES4A on your description to maintain consistency across projects and compliance with RWJF policies.
As you reach milestones in your research, think about reaching back out to the media contacts you developed to share updates.
Also, send your media contacts resources that are relevant to their reporting that are outside of your specific work as a way to add value to their work and strengthen your relationship.
It’s not too early! Begin by identifying and starting engagement with potential collaborators, key audiences, and future users of your research findings and evidence. Need help? Start by reviewing the Dissemination Strategies for Researchers guide (PDF linked here). Then, check out these additional guides and resources in the Communications Toolbox:
The Communications Intake Form can be found here. If possible, try to complete the form within the first couple of months of your grant award. It’s key to be thinking about your dissemination strategy at the outset so you have a community ready to use your research findings when you hit key milestones or are ready to publish.
Knowing that each scholar will have a different approach to and capacity for communications, the “intake” process helps us determine how best to support and augment your plans/activities. Scholars will be asked to consider how existing platforms and communications vehicles at their home institutions can be leveraged, working with HES4A to create a dissemination strategy that targets key audience groups.
As your research products/reports are near completion, or are about to hit key milestones, contact HES4A so we can review your draft Communications Intake Form with you and update/finalize it together.
Evidence for Action (E4A) has developed a Grantee Idea Bank that provides examples of communication tools to help you disseminate your work to a wide variety of audiences, ranging from other researchers to policymakers to the general public. Take a look and see if any of the suggested tools listed spark ideas for how you might disseminate your research!
As you move through the grant cycle, we ask that you acknowledge your funding in announcements or any other communication regarding your work. If you have a compelling reason for using RWJF’s logo, you can submit a request to the branding department at the Foundation: See RWJF Name and Logo Use Guidelines on the Communications Toolbox for details.
Below is sample language to use when communicating your participation in HES4A—to help ensure accuracy and consistency—in media materials, on websites, in publications (scholarly or otherwise), and other relevant external materials.
[Name] is a scholar in the Health Equity Scholars for Action program, which is supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The program exists to challenge biases and conventions in research and academia to be more equitable by funding and supporting early-career researchers from historically underrepresented backgrounds. The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Foundation or the program.
Support for this <program, conference, research, website, article, etc.> was provided <in part> by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Health Equity Scholars for Action program. The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Foundation or the program.
If you are participating in an event and presenting or sharing research that RWJF did NOT fund or support, consider still sharing your affiliation with the program as long as you:
Clearly express the opinions shared are yours alone (see above for an example).
Make sure the engagement is not lobbying, overly partisan and/or in direct conflict with RWJF positions on key issues. If you’re unsure, check with Sheldon Watts ( swatts@rwjf.org ).
Also, consider sharing your affiliation in your email signature and on social media. Below is some example language.
[Your name]
[Title, organization, other standard signature details from your primary position]
A scholar in the Health Equity Scholars for Action program, supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The program exists to challenge biases and conventions in research and academia to be more equitable by funding and supporting early-career researchers from historically underrepresented backgrounds.
The opinions expressed here are the author’s own and do not represent the opinions of the program or the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Title: Scholar in Health Equity Scholars for Action
Type of employment: (skip if you’d like)
Name of company: Health Equity Scholars for Action, supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Start and end dates: (add if you’d like)
Industry: (choose which option most aligns with your research)
Description: Health Equity Scholars for Action exists to challenge biases and conventions in research and academia to be more equitable by funding and supporting early-career researchers from historically underrepresented backgrounds.