Science communications & Engagement

Tender description

The Health Research Board (HRB) is Ireland’s lead public funding agency supporting innovative health research and delivering data and evidence that improves people’s health and patient care. We are committed to putting people first, and ensuring data and evidence are used in policy and practice to overcome health challenges, advance health systems, and benefit society and the economy. The HRB’s mission is to support research that improves people's health, promotes evidence-informed care and creates solutions to societal challenges. An overview of the HRB’s objectives and activities may be found in The HRB Strategy 2021-2025, Health research - making an impact, (https://www.hrb.ie/strategy-2025/). Communications is rapidly changing, with new approaches and techniques emerging constantly. E.g., today, audio-visual and social media content is key to any communications plan, which previously would only have involved more traditional communications methods such as press releases and ezines. In an era of short attention spans, the HRB must communicate the value, relevance, outcomes and impacts of our work in ways that are: 1) Engaging and effective 2) High quality and accessible to health and social care experts and non-experts alike, without losing the essence of the research message 3) Evolve with the pace of change in modern communications and produce new types of content accordingly Historically, the HRB has engaged the services of a science writer to achieve this via written content. This included researcher profiles, research success stories and researcher interviews for our annual publication, Health Research in Action. We now want to expand the remit of our science communication and engagement support to include a combination of written content, audio-visual content, and social media content.