Edd McCracken is Head of Research Communications at the University of Edinburgh, and leads the team responsible for sharing Edinburgh's world-class research and academic expertise with the world. He is part of the team that won CIPR Scotland's Best In-House PR Team of the Year in 2022 for their work during the Covid-19 pandemic, and is a recipient of a CASE Circle of Excellence Gold Award. Before joining the University in 2011, he was the arts and education correspondent for the Sunday Herald and his freelance work has appeared on the BBC, The Guardian, and Time Out. He has helped launch BookRiot.com, the US-based website for book lovers, and The Ferret, Scotland's first investigative journalism site.
Is it possible for a university to influence the decisions of a government through media coverage and communications? Attributing direct cause and effect between a news story and subsequent policy is difficult, but Edd McCracken from the University of Edinburgh will share some examples of how they have strategically engaged the media with the objective of catching the eye of government. They will talk about the launch of Scotland Beyond Net Zero, a coalition of universities pooling resource to decarbonise the country, and the role communications played in attracting government involvement. They will share insights into how an opinion piece sparked debate in the national parliament and opened public discussion over how higher education should be funded in Scotland. Through several examples, the session will equip attendees with external communications strategies with which to engage decision makers, as well as tips of how and when to use them.