Beyond Publication: Making the Most of Your Research Outreach Assets
Your paper is published. Your outreach assets are ready. Perhaps you have shared a research highlight on LinkedIn or used your graphical abstract in a presentation. What comes next?
These materials can continue supporting your research beyond their first use. A potential collaborator may have missed your announcement. An educator might find your video useful in class. An industry contact may recognise a connection between your findings and a challenge they face.
Outreaching assets make research easier to discover and understand. Reusing them thoughtfully can help you reach new audiences and create further opportunities for engagement.
Start with an audience and a question
Before sharing an asset again, consider who you want to reach and why the research may matter to them.
Imagine a study on urban flooding. Academic peers may want to understand its contribution to existing knowledge. Local authorities may be interested in its relevance to planning. Engineering firms may see a technical question worth exploring. Residents may want to understand what the findings mean for their community.
The research stays the same. Your introduction, emphasis and choice of channel can change to suit the audience.
You may only need to add a short explanation, select a relevant section or introduce the material with a different question.
Five ways to reuse your outreach assets
The table below offers starting points. Audiences overlap, so choose an asset according to what will help the recipient understand your work.
| Existing asset | Who it could help reach | Practical ways to reuse it |
|---|---|---|
| Research highlights | Academic peers, interdisciplinary researchers, students and educators | Include a highlight in a lecture, share it with a research network or use it to introduce your work to a potential collaborator. Add a sentence explaining the connection to their interests. |
| Graphical abstracts | Researchers, conference attendees and professional networks | Use the visual in a conference presentation, networking post or introductory email. Pair it with a brief explanation of the central message and a link to the paper. |
| Video abstracts | Students, educators, interdisciplinary audiences and the wider public | Show the video at a seminar, use it to support classroom discussion or share it with a relevant organisation. Introduce it with a question that gives viewers a reason to watch. |
| Press releases | Journalists, institutional communications teams and relevant external stakeholders | Revisit the release with your communications team when a relevant media opportunity arises. Draw on its plain-language explanation when introducing the research to other stakeholders. |
| Research snippets | Professional networks, relevant online communities and prospective collaborators | Share individual findings, questions or insights on separate occasions. Connect each snippet to a relevant discussion and invite a response. |
Give an existing asset a fresh introduction
Reusing an asset does not always require editing it. Often, a relevant introduction makes the difference.
For the urban flooding study, the same graphical abstract could support several conversations:
With a researcher: Introduce the method and explain how it connects to their work.
With a local authority: Highlight the question the study explores and its potential relevance to planning.
With students: Ask them to consider the research problem before explaining the findings.
Likewise, a video abstract first shared at publication could later introduce a seminar or support a teaching session. A research highlight could provide the opening for a personalised email months after the paper appeared.
Look for a useful reason to share. A conference, discussion, teaching topic or new professional connection can provide a natural opportunity to bring existing materials to another audience.
Make a quick check before sharing
An existing asset can often be shared as it is, with a short introduction tailored to the audience. Before sending or posting it, check that links work and the information remains current.
If you shorten or adapt the material, retain the context and essential limitations. Keep visuals readable, include captions or alternative text where appropriate, and retain required credits. For a new use or modification, check the relevant reuse permissions.
These small checks help the asset remain useful and easy to understand wherever you share it.
Put one asset to work in the next 30 minutes
Choose one asset this week, introduce it to a relevant audience and start a new conversation.
