Strengthening Impact through RSA Steering Group Communications

Posted on: 15 March 2026 by Dr Iaroslav Michurin in Researchers

Iaroslav Michurin is an Associate IP and Project Manager in the Enterprise Team.
Iaroslav specialises in biocatalysis and industrial biotechnology. After his PhD at the University of Manchester's Institute of Biotechnology, where he focused on structural biology, he joined the University of Liverpool to develop biocatalytic routes for industrial intermediates and speciality chemicals. For nearly three years, he served as Deputy Co-Chair of the University of Liverpool’s Research Staff Association, during which time he organised three annual research staff conferences, two Images of Research competitions, the RSA Buddy Scheme, a Charity Walk, and contributed to other initiatives supporting researcher development. He started his role in the Enterprise Team in February 2026.

Strengthening Impact through RSA Steering Group Communications

In August 2025, Dr Iaroslav Michurin shared his views on the value that the RSA Steering Committee brings to researcher communication practices in a talk titled Reaching the “Hard to Reach”. The talk was co-delivered with Dr Andrew Holmes and Dr Sibel Cal Kayitmazbatir as part of the Vitae International Researcher Development Conference 2025.

Introduction

Researcher-led communication is essential for the effective and inclusive engagement of the research community because it offers empathetic, purposeful, insightful, and participatory messaging. Notably, communication refers to strategy and intent, while communications relate to the channels of distribution.

These elements form the EPIC framework (Empathy, Purpose, Insight and Conversation). This framework guides the RSA Steering Committee’s approach to communications, ensuring that each message is concise, relevant, and outcome oriented.

By applying EPIC, the Committee supports centralised yet community-led engagement, transforming one-way communications into meaningful conversations.

Empathy

When researchers are involved in researcher-focused communications, they are better able to “step into the shoes” of their peers and understand their perspectives. They recognise professional pressures, are aware of multiple and sometimes competing research priorities, and appreciate the broader challenges of academic life faced by their colleagues. This empathy motivates the RSA Steering Committee to design communications that address genuine needs and promote development opportunities aligned with the demanding nature of modern research.

Purpose

Empathy underpins the second principle: the purpose of communication. The RSA Steering Committee can determine why a particular communication is important and what the intended audience should get from it. A researcher’s voice helps to define clear objectives and prioritise information, ensuring the messages remain relevant to the researcher community while minimising information overload. This approach helps to chip away less relevant content, leaving only focused messages that serve their intended purpose.

Insight

The third benefit of incorporating a researcher’s voice is the provision of insights. The RSA Steering Committee has access to contextual knowledge of the University’s researcher development initiatives and can draw additional background intelligence when required. This enables the Committee to craft communications that highlight the significance of opportunities and convey key messages clearly and compellingly.

Conversation

Finally, the communications originating from the RSA Steering Committee are more efficient because they can reach the entire researcher community through centralised channels, such as mailing lists, internal news articles, or poster board announcements. In addition, the Committee actively encourages timely feedback through dedicated channels, fostering shared understanding and collaborative decision-making.

EPIC in Theory and EPIC in Practice

The EPIC framework is not theoretical but is embedded in the RSA Steering Committee’s practices, and the weekly e-bulletin provides a practical illustration of it.

Empathy informs the structure of the e-bulletin. New items in the bulletin are placed at the top of their sections and clearly highlighted, making the e-bulletin easy to scan-read. Key details such as dates, times and deadlines are positioned underneath each title allowing the reader to make a quick and informed decision whether to engage with the opportunity or not. This reduces the number of non-attendance bookings and supports more intentional participation.

Empathy is also applied to the RSA Steering Committee itself. E-bulletin preparation requires careful and time-intensive review, formatting and verification. To ensure shared responsibility, the RSA Steering Committee operates a rota system, so each member writes an e-bulletin once every two months. This ensures a distributed workload and maintains the e-bulletin's quality and consistency.

Purpose leads content selection and organisation. Firstly, every new promotional message is condensed to keep the e-bulletin succinct. Secondly, expired opportunities are quickly removed to free up space for new opportunities. Finally, the e-bulletin is circulated only to active researchers, as individuals who leave the University or research positions are removed from the mailing list to keep the distribution relevant. This ensures that each opportunity serves a clear objective and the overall bulletin remains outcome-oriented and concise.

Insight strengthens the credibility of communications. The RSA Steering Committee has a strong presence across the University and often receives early notifications of new opportunities from different departments and offices. Access to this contextual and background knowledge enables the Committee to highlight the most significant elements of every opportunity, learn about ticket availability and verify information before circulation.

Conversation embraces an ongoing dialogue with the researcher community. Each e-bulletin contains an email address to provide feedback, and the RSA Steering Committee iteratively reviews the formatting of the e-bulletin to refine its readability, usefulness and impact. This ensures that the e-bulletin remains responsive to the ever-evolving needs of researchers.

Together, these practical applications demonstrate how EPIC moves from principle to practice.

Conclusions

Effective researcher communication is not achieved simply by increasing the volume of information; it is achieved by improving its clarity, relevance, and quality. The RSA achieves this by directly involving Steering Committee members, who are active researchers themselves, in shaping communication practices and applying the EPIC framework to every message. In doing so, the Committee maintains this balance while actively enriching research culture across the University. By embedding Empathy, Purpose, Insight, and Conversation into its communications, the RSA ensures that each initiative, message, and opportunity contributes meaningfully to a more informed, connected, and collaborative research environment. This approach not only strengthens trust and engagement within the community but also cultivates a culture that is intentionally shaped, supported, and sustained for researchers by researchers.

Key Takeaways

• The EPIC framework (Empathy, Purpose, Insights and Conversation) improves communications in organisations.
• The RSA Steering Committee uses the EPIC framework when communicating with the University of Liverpool’s researchers.
• You can use the EPIC framework in your personal and professional communications.