(Re) constructing an academic context for creative research dissemination practices: a qualitatively driven, multiple method study.

In social and behavioural sciences, the standard formats used for research dissemination are written articles, handbooks, and research reports. Although the academic community increasingly acknowledges the importance of public outreach, traditional dissemination approaches face difficulties to engage with an audience beyond academia. There is a scarcity of knowledge on how the modes of research dissemination shape the conditions for public outreach. In addition, (student) researchers are hardly exposed to creative dissemination formats in their academic curriculum. This project will address this gap in research and focus on the uptake, engagement, and process impact of creative dissemination practices that rely on artistically and design inspired creations. The aim of our qualitatively driven, multiple method study is threefold. First, we will learn from the past following a Sociology Knowledge Approach to Discourse, and understand how historical, social, and academic trends have shaped the renewed interest in creative research dissemination. Second, we focus on the present, and measure the prevalence of and current experiences with creative dissemination practices in European universities via a survey and an in-depth qualitative multiple case study. Third, we critically explore future potentialities of creative dissemination by learning from a process evaluation of an artful pedagogical concept. The contribution of the project is a greater understanding of how creative academic modes of expression are linked to academic traditions and discipline specific characteristics, and how they are currently experienced and used at a European level. Finally, we present avenues for future work based on a deeper understanding how researchers in social and behavioural sciences experience the learning process of translating research into a creative materialization.

Keywords:creative research dissemination, arts-based methods, artful pedagogy, design

Disciplines:Applied sociology, Policy and administration, Social psychology, Social stratification, Social theory and sociological methods, Sociology of life course, family and health, Other sociology and anthropology