Identify stakeholders
Once you have explored your research idea, you will most likely have some idea of who you want to reach with your research results. Stakeholders and partners can help you to reach your target audience. In many ways, involving them from the outset can be very beneficial. Stakeholders can provide you with a network, function as gatekeepers, provide you with information about the best way to reach your target audience and how they may be triggered. We recommend involving your partners and stakeholders as early as the design stage of your project, in order to make use of co-design.
Some questions to ask yourself or within your research group to help identify the right stakeholders and partners: Who is interested in our research? Who benefits from the solution we will propose and the insights we are generating through our research? Who do we need and who needs us to do better research, e.g., governments, policy makers, companies, civil society organisations, citizens?
Before you reach out to stakeholders or partners, think about any issues with knowledge security or collaboration with the fossil fuel industry, so that you are well prepared for possible risks.