A case study of high-profile local science: “Scotland’s Last Glacier” Martin Kirkbride (School of the Environment)
IMPACT (noun) 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
the striking of one thing against another; forceful contact; collision. an impinging. an influence. an impacting; forcible impinging.
the force exerted by a new idea, concept, technology, or ideology. “There I saw Mount Benawne, with a furr’d mist upon his
snowy instead of a nightcap, for you must understand that the oldest man alive never saw but the snow was on top of divers of those hills, both in Summer, as well as in Winter” Taylor (1618)
Paper published in January 2014
Press release attracted lots of publicity http://www.dundee.ac.uk/geography/events/cairngorms/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-25824673
Websites
Newspapers
BBC Highlands and Islands BBC Science and Technology UK Climbing UK Hillwalking Mountaineering Council for Scotland British Geological Survey Live Science (syndicated to MSN)
The Courier Scotsman Herald Daily Mail Times
+ online newspapers and blogs
TV/radio ITN News Wave 102 FM (interview) BBC Scotland Newsdrive (live interview) & something in Germany
Followed up with popular articles and outreach activities
Reasons why the paper gained a high profile? 1. The specific scientific finding (in its regional context) was interesting to a wide range of interest groups: it challenged a long-standing orthodoxy; 2. If you can get on the BBC web page, many other media organisations feed off this and disseminaton is very rapid; 3. It was widely reported in the outdoor recreation literature (which is vast); 4. The findings attracted controversy from a local expert (“Mr Cairngorms”!) to prolong the interest; 5. The paper was selected as the journal’s “Editor’s Choice”. 6. An Open Access fee was paid to widen readership to the public.