Durham University is one of the UK’s oldest and most prestigious universities. In recent years, leaders at Durham have felt that the high quality of research being conducted at the institution has not been reflected in academic reputation. This was felt particularly keenly with regard to the university’s pioneering interdisciplinary work.

Building a social media strategy centred on research offered a clear solution, allowing for the amplification of academic work. One of the key challenges here was to engage academics themselves, getting them to share their work through these channels.

The Brand Education were called in to help. We worked with Durham University to build a joint-up social strategy focused on interdisciplinary research, with clearly defined, measurable outcomes. We also held a social media workshop to help engage and upskill academics in using social media.

Read on to learn more about the challenge, the solution, and the outcomes.

Durham University ranks highly in global university rankings, both in the UK and globally, and plays host to leading academics. Nonetheless, the research-intensive university was not scoring as highly in terms of academic reputation as university leaders felt it should be. Among other challenges, citations scores were below hoped-for levels.

Social media offered a clear channel through which research could be shared with a wider audience, celebrated, and amplified. No specific strategy was in place to raise awareness of research, however. Communicating interdisciplinary research effectively was a particular challenge. While collaborative research was among the university’s key strengths; getting academics involved was a challenge. Many were hesitant to use social media to discuss their research. Safeguarding and ethics were identified as concerns.

The Brand Education was called in by Durham to address these issues.

We delivered a social media strategy focused on championing the university’s strengths in interdisciplinary research. This strategy turns on both thought leadership and broader societal impact. It focuses on joined-up, collaborative efforts by relevant actors.

We also helped to deliver a two-hour social media workshop for academics and university leadership. The goals of this were to upskill and engage academics in how to use social media, empower them to improve personal brand, which would lead to boosting rankings and Durham University’s global profile. The workshop focused on best practice and providing techniques to boost personal and university reputation alike. It also addressed academics’ concerns around safeguarding knowledge, and social media ethics.

We delivered the workshop alongside expert speakers from within and outside the university, offering an internal and external perspective. We took a collaborative approach, ensuring delivery was in-line with Durham University’s initiative to support academics in building a personal brand.

The research social media strategy is ready for immediate implementation. It has been designed with clear, measurable outcomes, allowing success to be gauged or necessary interventions made. Interdepartmental collaboration has been baked in, ensuring an approach that reflects the collaborative nature of the interdisciplinary research being amplified.

The social media workshop was attended by close to 50 Durham University academics, as well as senior leaders, (Pro Vice Chancellor, Director of Advancement, Head of Marketing) and the marketing team.

We hope to see both solutions reflected in improved research reputation for Durham University in the very near future.