Insight to impact: Connecting academic research with communications practice
When did you last engage with the latest academic communications research to refine your professional PR practice?
Picture a seasoned communications leader at the top of a high-performing team. Drawing on experience and intuition, what sets her apart is a grounding in the latest academic communications research - research that highlights what makes communications teams excel.
Contrast her leadership to a leader with similar experience, but without access to academic research. Both leaders are undoubtedly capable, but the disadvantage that one of them faces is clear.
Proficient communicators know the value of research, familiar as they are with putting insights at the heart of communication. But how often do public relations professionals engage with the latest academic communications research to refine their professional practice?
Closing the gap
Public relations academics and practitioners have observed a gap between the insights of academic communications research and what communicators are doing in practice.
Stephen Waddington, founder of PR company Wadds Inc, said in a 2020 article for Influence: “The public relations industry has a thriving research community but there’s limited exchange between theory and practice. It would be unthinkable in another professional discipline such as engineering, law, management or medicine.”
The Public Relations Education Report 2024 identifies one reason for the gap. In a survey of practitioners, it found just 31 per cent thought research was “easy to find” suggesting real or perceived barriers in the way of accessing the research.
Could the gap be down to practitioners not valuing academic research? The report found that 87 per cent were “interested in learning about how academic research can be applied to practice”. A majority valued academic research “because it is grounded in robust methods” and “objective as it is not influenced by commercial interests”.
Academics have highlighted the value of what is up for grabs if only practitioners can get to it: “great research is being done that could help practitioners in tackling some of the thorny communication challenges that they encounter every day. But the findings are largely inaccessible as the articles often sit behind paywalls and rarely get discussed in practitioner forums" said Dr Kevin Ruck at the launch of the Public Relations Education Report.
Applying knowledge to practice
If much of the research is behind a paywall, how can practitioners apply this knowledge to practice?
The good news is that there is quite a lot of freely accessible academic research if you know where to look and how to overcome some of the barriers.
One of the challenges of engaging with the research is that there’s a lot of it and it can be difficult to navigate, particularly if you are new to the field.
For a practitioner beginning their journey, a PR qualification will put you at a distinct advantage. A qualification helps you navigate the terrain by introducing flagship theories, the leading academics, and provides reading lists of books grounded in communications theory and research. This knowledge of public relations theory helps to frame and make sense of the latest developments.
It remains the case that books are a great way to build up this subject- knowledge quickly because books synthesize the research of lots of sources in an accessible format. Academics and authors to look out for include Jim Macnamara on measurement and listening, Timothy Coombs on crisis communications, and Anne Gregory on communications leadership.
As for accessing the latest academic research, not all of it lies behind a paywall. The communications leader described at the beginning of the article is probably familiar with the freely accessible research of the European Communications Monitor, described as “the longest-running academic study exploring the field of corporate communications.”
By surveying tens of thousands of practitioners across Europe, the open-access reports highlight “insights into current challenges, upcoming trends, and dimensions of excellence in communication management.”
Stephen Waddington, a PR practitioner and PhD researcher, and one of those who has identified the gap between academia and practice, publishes a weekly article that contains “in-depth analysis of cutting-edge research translated into practical applications” via the Wadds Inc newsletter on Substack.
The Corporate Communications Review, a new kid on the block, aims to do similar, and is the product of a large network of academics and practitioners working together. The is a fantastic new and free resource, with the first edition of the magazine published in May 2025.
The Internal Communication Research Hub (Europe) recently created a LinkedIn group that describes itself as a “place for academics and practitioners to share research and experiences that help to generate evidence-based, effective, and ethical internal communication practice.”
Open access
While it’s true that much of the latest research sits behind expensive paywalls, it’s worth noting that journals often carry a subset of articles or editions that are open access. Why not take a look at the following journals?
- Corporate Communications: An International Journal
- Journal of Communication Management
- Journal of Public Relations Research
- Public Relations Review
- Public Relations Inquiry
- International Journal of Strategic Communication
Accessing more of the articles in the journals might not always involve paying a fee. Academic libraries pay for access to the journals, and being able to read a journal could be as simple as registering as a reader at a university library near you.
If your research is for commercial purposes, you should check what licensing restriction is in operation by speaking with the librarian. If you work for a charity, non-profit or public sector organisation, conducting research in this way is usually permitted.
Following PR academics on LinkedIn in a great way to find out about new communications research. So too is following comms leaders in your sector. For example, by following university sector communications professionals, the author of this article came across a piece of research about communicating with students.
Commissioning the services of research-led PR consultants, especially those with a relationship with the academy, could be an option if you have a budget and you’re short on time. Such practitioners will be able to demonstrate the impact they’ve had on organisations, which can help if you’re struggling to secure buy-in your organisation for a more research- led approach.
As you become more experienced at identifying and applying academic research, consider how you could help your sector, or the wider comms profession, close the theory-practice gap by writing a research-led article to share your knowledge with your peers.
The solutions are within the grasp of our profession if we, as practitioners, grow our appreciation of academic research and if more of us pick up the tools to turn insights into impact.
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Ian Chamberlain is a communications leader with a career spanning higher education, charities and local government. He is currently head of communications at SOAS University of London and a CIPR corporate affiliate member.
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Further reading
The importance of data in effective internal communication strategies
How Barcelona 4.0 puts strategy at the heart of PR measurement