This page contains the materials shared during a practical, hands-on workshop exploring how to make research more accessible to non academic audiences and how research assessment reform can support these efforts. Participants had the opportunity to hear from a range of experts on how to write for non expert readers, with practical advice and guidance.

Driving progress towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals needs engagement and input from across all parts of society. Research and education helps us to understand, explore, and engage on key issues and to explore ways to address challenges we are facing across the globe. However, the outputs of research can be hard to understand and utilise for those who are not academic or expert. The broader reform of research assessment offers us an opportunity to incentivise communication modes and formats that drive greater public engagement, with plain language summaries and practitioner abstracts two formats that are helping more readers to engage with research to find answers to the world’s most pressing problems.

The Higher Education Sustainability Initiative SDG Publishers Compact Fellows, the Open Climate Campaign, and OpenPharma co-convened a practical workshop offering advice and guidance on when and how to write for non academic audiences, including identifying your key audiences and their needs.