Science Communication for Translating Research on Human–Computer Interaction at Work into Organizational Practice

While research on HCI in the workplace is thriving, some persistent challenges remain. Only a small share of empirical findings reaches political and organizational stakeholders in accessible formats. At the same time, universities are increasingly expected to contribute to society beyond research and teaching. Knowledge transfer and science communication have become formalized institutional responsibilities and key indicators of societal impact.

In the domain of workplace technologies, this gap is particularly consequential. Decisions about the design, implementation, and governance of digital systems are often shaped by vendor narratives, managerial trends, or media discourse rather than by evidence from HCI research. Yet most researchers receive little formal training in communicating their work to non-academic or lay audiences such as practitioners, organizational decision-makers, or policymakers.

Science communication generally refers to all activities that communicate scientific knowledge to audiences outside the academic community. This includes, but is not limited to, public lectures, talks, and science festivals, (social) media engagement, popular science articles or blogs, dialogue with civil society, explaining research results in accessible language, and engaging stakeholders in research processes. Translating empirical findings into strategically targeted, audience-oriented communication requires specific competencies that are rarely part of academic training.

The workshop addresses this translational gap by focusing on science communication as an impact practice. Rather than discussing transfer abstractly, participants will work concretely on how to communicate their own HCI research in ways that are rigorous, relevant, and accessible to stakeholders outside their own academic community.

This workshop combines short inputs, interactive discussions, hands-on exercises, and regular breaks to support you in translating your HCI research into effective science communication.

After the introduction, you will have the first opportunity to introduce your research topic and get to know the other participants. We will then explore the "translational gap" in HCI by analyzing examples of effective and ineffective communication and reflecting on where and why research often fails to reach relevant stakeholders.

Building on this, we will engage with core principles of effective science communication through short inputs, best-practice examples, and interactive discussions. We will identify relevant target audiences and apply the persona method to better understand their perspectives, needs, and motivations. We will also reflect on the purpose of science communication and explore suitable channels and formats.

In the main working phase, you will apply these concepts directly to your own research. Guided by a structured template, you will define your target audience, develop a clear core message, clarify your communication goals, and design an appropriate dissemination strategy—already receiving feedback in the process.

Finally, you will present your result in a short pitch and receive peer and facilitator feedback based on criteria such as clarity, relevance, feasibility, and audience fit. The workshop concludes with a wrap-up focusing on concrete next steps and how to create impact through science communication.

To ensure a productive and hands-on session, we ask all participants to prepare a short paper. You can either select your own research project or ongoing study, or choose an HCI research topic you consider particularly relevant for stakeholders outside your own academic community. This approach also enables junior researchers who may not yet have extensive research projects of their own to participate.

Please submit your short position paper (approx. 1–2 pages) outlining your chosen topic, its core contribution, aimed target audience(s), and experienced or identified challenges in communicating the chosen topic beyond your own scientific community.

We do not plan to publish accepted position papers or concepts developed in the workshop, in order to maintain a protected and experimentation-friendly workshop environment. However, participants are of course free and encouraged to further develop their science communication concepts and publish their research accordingly.

We aim to produce a structured synthesis paper summarizing the workshop insights, e.g., on recurring barriers and suitable science communication strategies specifically for HCI researchers in the work context. If participants are interested, this might also become a collaborative perspective paper on "Impact-Oriented Science Communication in HCI Research".