4.2 Communication, advocacy and engagement Gabriele Bammer

2 Overview Introduction to: -Communication -Advocacy -Engagement More on framing

3 Recognising diverse levels and forms of research impact… 1. How

4 Informing change… 1.Communication 2.Advocacy 3.Engagement Choosing and using them effectively requires knowing something about how policy is made

Q3 How? 5 Dialogue-based Model-, product-, vision-based Common metrics -based Reduction Banishment Acceptance Exploitation Surrender Denial Communication Advocacy Engagement Fresh thinking Importance of critique ie not uncritical handmaide ns By whom and when?

Communication Aimed at providing information Key issue is providing -what policy makers/practitioners need -when they need it -in a useable form 6

7 Communication lessons from advertising And we discovered that the last thing an advertisement should do was actually encourage rational thought. It was not just that rational, deliberative thought was not an effective driver of purchase. We discovered something far worse. Encouraging consumers to think actually reduced the chance of getting them to buy. …images work so differently from words. Pictures circumvent consumers’ critical thought. Visuals are registered before you have had time to analyse them, so they become truth in your head, even when they are not.

Advocacy Aims at exerting pressure for a particular kind of change Framing is critical -own and opposing interests -politicisation (Research may be co-opted) 8

Engagemen t Aimed at joint problem-solving to achieve change Mechanisms: -Commissioned research vs researcher seeking engagement -Insider confidant relationships -Advisory committees Consider: -Power differences between partners -Partisan vs non-partisan 9

Engagement - practicalities Time consuming Turnover Level of who is engaged Not understanding differences eg need for responsiveness Research ability to bring in politically unpalatable stakeholders or issues 10

Framing: Clear, concise, accurate communication, with a twist of values… Eg illicit drug users as dirty junkies cool non-conformists sons and daughters who have lost their way 11

12 George Lakoff on framing Frames are mental structures that shape the way we see the world. As a result they shape the goals we seek, the plans we make, the way we act, and what counts as a good or bad outcome of our actions

13 Our framing Feasibility research into the controlled availability of opioids Objective and dispassionate Look fairly at benefits and risks (But once we had made a recommendation, we were no longer seen as neutral)

14 Our framing Feasibility research into the controlled availability of opioids Media Framing Free heroin trial

15 Supporter framing “Failure of prohibition” “Time for new approaches” Opponent Framing “Surrender in the war on drugs” “Government as drug pedlar” “Deserving and undeserving citizens”

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17 Exercise How do you use communication, advocacy and engagement in your case study? What are the primary frames that you use?