You’ve done the hard work—secured funding, done the data collection, and the publication writing.
Now, how do you ensure your research reaches the right people and drives change?
The truth: Publishing alone isn’t enough.
Around 2.5 million scientific research articles are published every year (Bornmann et al, 2011). Out of those, it’s estimated that only 20-30% are cited at least once within the first two years of publication (Waltman et al., 2023).
Whilst this will vary across fields, these estimates are concerning. Researchers are missing out on audiences who want to read their work. There are world-changing ideas that never end up in the hands of those who need them most.
To truly make an impact, your research needs to be seen, understood, and remembered.
The solution: Visual storytelling. By making your research visible, memorable, and emotional through powerful pictures, you can inspire action among key stakeholders.
But first, a mindset shift: dissemination isn’t a one-off at the end of your project.
It’s a continuous process—engage stakeholders early, co-create outputs, and build multiple touchpoints that resonate to maximise your research reach.
Pro tip: Budget for dissemination from the start. At Nifty, we’ve helped researchers embed innovative communication strategies into bids, ensuring you have the resources from the get-go to communicate effectively.
5 Creative Strategies to Boost Your Research Visibility
1. Make research understandable through infographics:
A one-page visual summary distils complex findings into key messages—perfect for decision-makers and media.
Want to see how? Check out our video on how to use AI tools to create your own.
Or check out our services if you’d prefer the experts to do it - our infographics have been featured on Sky TV and have even been debated in Parliament!
2. Make research explorable through Interactive Infographics:
Go beyond static visuals. With clickable elements and gamified interfaces, these allow audiences to explore your research in-depth, ideal for local policy or public engagement. Take a look at the example below, which we created for the NIHR KNOW-PH project to make public health research more applicable to local authority policy-making.
Discover our Info-Fox package here to commission your own!
3. Make research scalable and memorable through animation:
In a fast-scrolling world, animated videos grab attention and get 120% more citations (Zong et al., 2019). Make your research come alive on social media, websites, or presentations.
See below for an example of how we turned a complex topic like deep poverty (those living well below the breadline) into an engaging animation for lay publics and policy makers to understand. (Check out the Deep Poverty project here).
Need a hand?
You could use a great free tool like Biteable to create your own.
Or get in touch and we'll walk you through the whole process :).
4. Make research actionable through policy briefs, toolkits and training:
Help decision-makers implement your insights with policy briefs, toolkits, and training. We’ve created tailored resources—from social housing guides to e-learning modules—that turn research into real-world change.
Here's a great example from Sheffield Hallam University - we supported the research team to create a guide for landlords to improve social housing tenancy sustainability!
5. Leave a research legacy through live scribing of events:
Capture real-time insights during stakeholder meetings, workshops and conferences with live illustration. These shareable visuals create a lasting impact and foster ongoing engagement. Explore our gallery for more!.
More Than Publications
And that’s not all! From interactive exhibitions to scrollytelling and gamified experiences, we craft a diverse range of dissemination tools to extend your reach.
Have a look at some of these:
- Online exhibition explaining the gendered environments of sports injury risk.
Ready to elevate your research impact?
Get in touch—we’d love to be your trusted partner in turning research into meaningful change.
