Designing for the future of healthcare
Learning about the importance of design with Marianella Chamorro-Koc
Researchers face a complex array of obstacles when it comes to achieving their goals. These can be both external, such as a misconception of the value of their work by those outside of their field. And internal, such as a lack of appropriate resources from their institution. On this second point, it is not to say that a researcher’s institution does not support the researcher’s work. But universities are driven by their own priorities and strategic plans. Professionals from marketing and communication teams think and operate at this institution level, and much of the work they do takes a top down approach. Their remit is to improve the institution’s reputation, and in turn elevate the positions of the university’s academics.
When research centres do endeavour to create their own video content, and they take the approach of a typical marketing project, it can be very expensive and ROI can be difficult to determine. Some of the reasons why these research engagement projects might be ineffective are a lack of purpose; poor creative execution; created content not aligning with audiences’ interest, etc. Whatever the reason, the result is poor return on investment and a general lack of accountability as to whether the project was even worth it. So it isn’t something research centres do much of, especially since many centres, institutes and hubs don't even have much of a budget allocated for creative content1.
So a priority for me, and the work that I do, is innovating the way in which creative research engagement content (such as videos and podcasts) are created and shared so they achieve a researchers goals; make a positive contribution to their institution’s marketing and reputation objectives, through a bottom up approach; and achieve positive return on investment. In doing this, creative research engagement content should not be seen as an expensive luxury. A nice to have, or a waste of time. Through intimate collaboration with researchers, co-authoring creative research translation, creative research engagement content should engage audiences, raise researchers’ profiles, attract funding, and ultimately contribute to the achieving of social impact and the aim and objectives of the researcher’s centre or group.
This is something which is really important for many researchers, including Professor Marianella Chamorro-Koc.
When working on large industry project Chamorro-Koc became acutely aware of a prevailing misconception, at least among scientists, as to what design research actually is. There is a disconnect between the contribution of design researchers like Chamorro-Koc and the perception of design’s contribution to solving healthcare challenges. According to Chamorro-Koc, “Design is seen as a soft field, with not such rigorous approach to research. Which is not true.” This is a problem that Chamorro-Koc is intent on solving, to ensure she can continue to attract industry and government funding for her research. Chamorro-Koc believes that effective research translation is critical to address this challenge, “disseminating the research we do in design for health is important because, otherwise, you know, my work is misunderstood. I won't achieve the impact that I want to achieve”. When attempting to connect with industry, government and community stakeholders:
“To create narratives that appeal to all these different audiences is of critical importance.”
To do this, Chamorro-Koc must translate her design research “in a way that shows value” to the scientists and healthcare practitioners she needs to work with, as well as the end users of the products she helps to design.
“The human is at the centre of what I do,” Chamorro-Koc states. So, she believes, her research must to be translated in a way in which people can actually do something with it. So, she sees research translation as “the manifestation of that science into something tangible”. To “materialise that abstract concept into something that industry might understand.” By translating and sharing her research in this way, Chamorro-Koc’s network can begin to understand the critical role of design in tackling the most pressing healthcare challenges and leading healthcare innovation.
“I try to offer knowledge.”
The ever-increasing pressure to publish in academic journals is one of the biggest roadblocks many researchers, who would like to share their work creatively, fail to bypass. But, for researchers like Chamorro-Koc, prospective industry partners for funded research projects don’t even read peer reviewed journal articles. What is, perhaps, in opposition to the conventional trajectory of academic success, when Chamorro-Koc stopped publishing journal articles and, instead, focused her energy on non-traditional research outputs and engaging audiences on social media she was able to expand the impact of her work. More effective than publishing in prestigious journals, Chamorro-Koc’s focus is making prototypes to demonstrate the rigour of her design research. And what she has to offer partners.
LinkedIn is Chamorro-Kok’s preferred platform to share her work with prospective research partners. And her strategy is simple, but effective. With each of her posts she translates her research for audiences, including scientists, manufacturers, technologists, who do not understand design language. “My few posts are actually producing much more impact than what I expected.” She continues, “When I changed from journals to NTROs and into social media, I noticed that there was a spike in the views of my profile.” She also saw more traffic to her website, and this trend continues. And, as to the value of having a public profile, otherwise “how do people outside in the world know who you are and, you know, that you can work with them”. The first step towards industry partnered research is being known. So, having a public profile is critical if this is the path a researcher intends to pursue.
Thinking in terms of tangible value and return on investment, Chamorro-Koc believes that her LinkedIn posts support her grant success. “In the last three years, I achieved two very big grants”.
“I'm 99.9% certain that the people reviewing my grants also were looking at my LinkedIn profile.”
She has even received messages from prospective industry partners, disappointed that they were not the collaborator on these successful grants, questioning how they can work with Chamorro-Koc and be successful in a future grant application. “So it means that people are reading the post that I am uploading and, to me, that's already an impact.”
Chamorro-Koc acknowledges one of her own biggest challenges, “how to craft a narrative”. In her view, this is a valuable creative skill that should not be overlooked. “It’s not my area, so, of course, I need help there”. Academic researchers, no matter how successful in their own fields, cannot be expected to be skilled creatives storytellers too. Unless their field actually is storytelling.
As far as support, to craft Chamorro-Koc’s research narrative and share it creatively through social media, her institution’s marketing resources “are connected very much to the priority areas, and design is not a priority area of our university”. She continues, “The reality is that resources are very limited”. Because of this, marketing services are not readily available to support Chamorro-Koc in the creative translation of her work or the production of high quality engagement content. It is important to consider, again, the question of return on investment. Chamorro-Koc states that her social media presence, and primarily her activity on LinkedIn, is fundamental in raising her profile to attract and be successful in research funding. And Chamorro-Koc’s research attracts hundreds of thousands of dollars in industry and government partnered research2.
Prospective partners and funders want to know if a person is real. Social media is the easiest way to get to know the face behind the name. And, at least when it comes to industry partnerships, these funded research projects typically start with a personal relationship between a researcher and an industry stakeholder3. So it is the researcher who is finding the partner and bringing that partner to their institution. It could also be assumed that if a researcher is to leave their institution they will, very likely, take their industry partners with them. All the more reason, why researchers should be better supported in achieving their engagement objectives.
So, is it madness that Chamorro-Koc’s institution does not provide the support she needs to engage broader audiences? And Chamorro-Koc’s vision for her research engagement is actually very modest, in the form of thirty second videos and a limited podcast series4.
Chamorro-Koc does not aspire to be a big name influencer. Her objectives are to have a voice, to promote the role of design in med-tech; and, to make it easy for people to find her. So the purpose of Chamorro-Koc’s creative content is to enrich her engagement with prospective industry and government research partners.
“You really have to have a purpose and a mission. So I do have the clear mission. I want to put design at the centre, or as an important player, in healthcare innovation.”5
Chamorro-Koc believes that the best way to make this happen is through conversation and collaboration. The role of short videos shared on LinkedIn, a platform on which she is already active, serve to ensure Chamorro-Koc is visible. The intention of genuinely creative video content, as opposed to standard corporate university videos, that effectively translate Chamorro-Koc’s research for industry audiences, is to grab attention. To ensure Chamorro-Koc is visible, and noticed. To get conversations started. Then, a podcast is an effective way to actually have meaningful conversations which, ultimately, might lead to collaboration.
A provocation Chamorro-Koc and I discussed was the opportunity to use the limited series podcast format as a catalyst for an industry partnered research project. A researcher identifies a problem within an industry associated with their research discipline. So, in Chamorro-Koc’s case, a healthcare challenge for which there is a demand for the solution. This might mean that the status quo is inefficient and costs too much money; currently implemented technology is not well received or adopted by end users, etc. Stakeholders from industry, government, and the community are invited to participate and feature as guests on the podcast. The researcher has the opportunity to discuss the challenge and, collectively across the limited series’ episodes, devise a research project in response. In this way, the interviews are both method and output: using the podcast to gather preliminary research data, which then functions as a dissemination and promotional resource which provides value to both the researcher and the podcast participants. Both in terms of raising their profiles and encouraging engagement in their own work and organisations. From this, so long as the partnership and proposed research project has been qualified for its suitability and is achievable, there is the potential that this podcast could be the foundation upon which valuable relationships are built.
Another way I like to think about the potential of creative research engagement content is to explore how it can contribute to realising and achieving research impact. Instead of just promoting it. Typically, institutions are very good at promoting research impact that has taken place. This aligns well with universities’ marketing and communication resources. That is, after all, marketing’s job: promoting the good stuff a university does. A skills gap is in creative translation for impact. Where creative practitioners can fuse elements of marketing with knowledge translation, and engagement strategies with impact narratives, research dissemination and creative execution. In doing this, making the types of creative research content academics might actually want to create, this content will also have a far better chance of achieving their objectives and will result in a return on investment. Both for the researcher, and their institution.
Check this out if you’re interested in making better research videos.
At least if we’re talking about an institution’s own funded research centre. Funding for an Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence, for example, will be very different.
While I am not privy for Chamorro-Koc’s funding agreements with industry partners, due to their obvious confidentiality, reviewing her public staff profile we see that she was a Chief Investigator on at least one CAT 1 funded ARC Linkage project worth close to $250,000. This is some indication of the value of Chamorro-Kocs research funding.
A bit of a tangent, but Chamorro-Koc provides a nice summary for how these industry research projects can come about “suddenly there’s one real need that connects exactly with industry and that’s how we create a connection with a partner and that's how something happens.” So, a problem is identified and a researcher like Chamorro-Koc proposes a solution.
One issue that is raised, often, is that there just isn’t enough support for everybody. So, since an institution’s social media team cannot support all academics in content creation they do not support any. But, surely, business cases could be made and awarded with support. But this raises another issue. I’ve heard, from some faculties, that there can be a ten week turnaround as to whether their business case for research marketing support is successful. Let alone the work actually being produced. These are just a couple of the pretty entrenched barriers research teams face.
As to why the contribution of design is critical for med-tech and healthcare innovation: “At the moment, a lot of things that are for commercial use, you know, or for in-hospital or out-hospital experiences, are things that have only been tested in labs. And so, therefore, people use it for a moment, spend the money, create landfill, but they don't really benefit the health of anyone.” Here Chamorro-Koc suggests that when a product is designed in a lab, in isolation of the human element, the resulting product might not be suitable for human consumers. And this is why designers and their qualitative, human-centred research methods are critical in driving innovation and creating the future of healthcare.