This report is based on an online conversation exploring the opportunity for cooperation between public relations academia and practice. It took place in a Facebook group during September and October 2015. Proposals fall into two areas. First, there are some quick fixes that could bring about an immediate and significant improvement in collaboration such as cooperation on awards, conferences, industry schemes and media. Second, there are some structural issues that need longer term attention. Critically the conversion for students between teaching and practice and the basis on which academic performance is rewarded and recognised both need to be tackled. I’m developing a panel discussion and workshop around this topic at BledCom in July 2016. The subject of the conference is Engagement, so it is fitting and timely.

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Exploring the opportunity for
a community of practice in public relations
Contents
Section Description Page
1 Project outline 2
2 Executive summary: next steps 3
3 Vision for a community of practice 4
4 Research accessibility 5
5 Conversion from theory to practice 6
6 Opportunity for shared media 7
7 Best practice and potential areas for mutual cooperation 9
8 Reading list/literature review 11
9 Contributors 11
10 Further information 12

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1. Project outline
The response to the conversation about a community of practice, kick started in
September 2015, has been overwhelming. We sought to explore the potential for
mutual cooperation between public relations academics and practitioners.
The plan for a neatly curated conversation quickly broke down as people joined the
Facebook community of practice discussion group and noisily debated the
opportunity for cooperation.
The CIPR Community of Practice discussion is a public Facebook group created by
me on behalf of the CIPR to explore collaboration and cooperation between
practitioners, teachers and academics in public relations.
More than 300 people have shared their views candidly and openly. Thank you to
those that have participated in the discussions.
The conversations have been mainly focussed on the UK-market reflecting the
CIPR’s membership. There is a bigger opportunity in time to make the conversation
truly international.
A close working relationship between academia and practice is a hallmark of any
professional discipline – enhancing real-world practice with research, reflection and
theory.
In public relations this relationship is limited, and without the historical perspective
and insight provided for by academics, practitioners lack rigour and are limited to
trading in simple crafts and tactics.
As a business in the midst of rapid fundamental change, bringing these two
communities closer together will be crucial to us realising our future potential.

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2. Executive summary: next steps
I’ve summarised the main points of the discussion and proposed some practical next
steps. My goal is to work with the various stakeholders outlined over the remainder of
the year to deliver these.
Proposals fall into two areas.
● There are some quick fixes that could bring about an immediate and
significant improvement in collaboration such as cooperation on awards,
conferences, industry schemes and media.
● There are also some structural issues that need longer term attention.
Critically the conversion for students between teaching and practice and the
basis on which academic performance is rewarded and recognised both need
to be tackled.
I’m working with Dr Jon White and Dejan Verčič to develop a panel discussion and
workshop around this topic at BledCom in July 2016. The subject of the conference is
Engagement, so it is fitting and timely.

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3. Vision for a community of practice
The community quickly identified the barriers to close cooperation between academia
and practice.
Many practitioners view universities as a one-way, work-ready graduate production
line and otherwise see the work of university colleagues as having limited relevance
to practice.
Public relations academics may have the opportunity to engage in practice but aren’t
recognised or rewarded for their efforts. There are clear lines of delineation and
limited opportunity for two-way engagement.
Once a student has completed a university degree there is little formal opportunity for
further interchange between practice and universities.
Andrej Drapal elegantly summarised the challenge. He said that academics follow a
path of specialization that is forced by university silos and specialized grant schemes.
Practitioners tend to understand what they do from the point of tools, different publics
and industries.
Drapal set out a very clear vision for collaboration that makes an excellent basis for
the purpose of a community of practice.
“All human social practices like language, business, economy, marketing and last but
not least public relations should be understood as complex entities. One can
understand a part of a complex system only through simultaneous reflection of a
system as whole.”

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4. Research accessibility
Sarah Billings shared an article from The Guardian titled Academics are being
hoodwinked into writing books nobody can buy. It describes how the market for
publishing academic books works.
Academics are writing for their own community, publishing in publications read by a
handful of colleagues, rather than for the broader public relations community. It’s the
antithesis of democratic knowledge sharing.
Under the Research Excellence Framework, universities are allotted grants on a
points based system. Publications benefit from peer review rather than reach and
influence.
Martin McGrath shared a guide to the Research Excellence Framework. He said that
it will continue to be the primary motivation for researchers in the next few years.
Peggy Simcic Brønn said that when an academic writes an accessible book, such as
a textbook, they don’t get work performance recognition. This situation is repeated in
many markets
Several community contributors cited accessibility of research as a barrier to
cooperation between academics and practitioners.
Google Scholar is a good tool to find relevant research, however most academic
journals charge hefty subscriptions or $30 per article. Academics will usually share
their work if contacted directly by email.

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5. Conversion from theory to practice
A common refrain of practitioners is that graduates studying public relations aren’t
ready for the workplace and need a period of conversion. This is consistent with
other disciplines. Employers and practitioners need to have realistic expectations.
Public relations is a practical subject. The value of theory lies in its application to
make the practitioner more effective. Yet practitioners frequently fail to see the
relevance of theory and rarely value critical thinking.
Comments such as this from Jason Mackenzie are typical. Like me he has retro-fitted
formal training on his practice.
“I came to public relations theory late in the day. I had an unsubstantiated suspicion
that it was irrelevant. I think lots of practitioners feel that way. I did the CIPR diploma,
followed by a Masters in public relations.”
“The challenge for us as a community is to show the intersection between the two
and the relevance. We need to break out from our silos,” he said.
Michael White celebrated the ongoing relationship he has with teachers, such as
David Phillips and Richard Bailey. He said he has appreciated the opportunity to
develop a relationship in his role as a practitioner thanks to social forms of media.
There were several debates about the value of job swaps between academia and
practice, such as the scheme hosted by the PRCA. This needs to be sustained and
already happens informally in many areas outside London.

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6. Opportunity for shared media
The CIPR Community of Practice discussion has shown the huge potential for
dialogue between academics and practitioners in public relations.
A lack of shared media and events has frequently been cited as an issue. I’ll leave
the community open for as long as people want to continue to post, share and
discuss content. Beyond that here are some potential opportunities for shared media.
● Behind the Spin - Richard Bailey is the founder and editor of an online
community called Behind the Spin. Its purpose is to help prepare students for
work and link employers to talent. Here's an invitation explaining how
students, practitioners and teachers can contribute.
● Stockholm Accords - Toni Muzi Falconi cited the Stockholm Accords as an
example of an online platform that was developed by the Global Alliance to
illustrate the value of public relations.
● BledCom Symposium – More than 2000 academics and practitioners met in
Bled in the past 22 years (approximately 70% academics and 30%
practitioners). It has published academic books, special issues of research
journals and conference proceedings, and two pragmatic pamphlets.
● PR Conversations – reflects a wide variety of voices beyond its three
principals – Judy Gombita, Markus Pirchner and Heather Yaxley – and
regular contributors, including in-house executives, managers and
practitioners, consultants and independent practitioners, public relations
academics and students and others with information and opinions to share
about public relations.
Besides shining a light on deserving individuals and new experiences, it offers
a platform for robust and informed discussion. A differentiation from other
blogs is looking at public relations from a global-local context.
● The Institute for Public Relations – The US IPR serves academic content and
seeks to make research available to practitioners through blogs, conferences
and publications.
● Public Relations Educators Forum – PREF is an email list hosted by JISC for
people working as public relations educators in the UK higher education
system.
● Wag the Dog FM – Philippe Borremans produces an excellent audio podcast
in which he interviews a European academic or practitioner each week.
● Comm2point0 - this creative network is a mix of awards, training and content
focussed on the public sector. It welcomes both academics and practitioners.

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This notwithstanding there remains a clear need for a better exchange of information
between the two communities.
Donald Steel said that he gives a lecture once a year at the London School of
Economics. He said that he is always stunned by the quality of the post grad
dissertations based on research but has failed to get someone to publish them.
Susan Kinnear proposed a website repository where universities can upload the best
dissertations for practitioners to access. Heather Yaxley suggested organisations and
consultancies could offer bursaries for the best work.
Ann Pilkington said academic work needs to be accessible and called on the CIPR’s
new publication to publish research.
Both Andy Green and Paul Simpson suggested that there is scope for researchers to
write some texts with practitioners in mind and inform debate in the profession.
David Phillips suggested scraping content related to communications management
and public relations from Academia.edu and using tools such as Google Scholar to
source relevant research for practice. He proposed the development of a community
of media to serve this in a practitioner-friendly format.
Johanna Fawkes said that she recently presented a webinar for the PRIA at which 60
practitioners signed up for a presentation discussion on PR and ethics. She
suggested that the CIPR could do the same.
Peggy Simcic Brønn leads a practitioner-supported research center on corporate
communication at the Norwegian Business School. She regularly holds breakfast
meetings and shares work with practitioners.

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7. Best practice and potential areas for mutual cooperation
Several practical opportunities for mutual cooperation have emerged from the group.
● Awards and conferences – Heather Yaxley called on industry award
schemes and conference organisers to invite a balance of academics and
practitioners. It’s an obvious and very clear opportunity for cooperation.
● Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education - The QAA is the body
that assures quality and standards within UK higher education. Karl Hobley is
seeking help from teachers and practitioners to review a benchmark
statement for degrees in communication, media, film and cultural studies.
Please contact Karl for further information.
● Access to papers - Google Scholar is a good tool to find relevant research
however most academic journals charge hefty subscriptions or $30 per
article. Academics will usually share their work if contacted directly by email.
The hashtag #icanhazpdf is used to share copyrighted papers.
● Barcelona Principles - Ann Pilkington cited the development of the recently
published Barcelona Principles 2.0 as an example of how academics and
practitioners can work together for the greater good of the profession. This
provides a good blueprint for future industry initiatives.
● Continuous Professional Development (CPD) - Steve Shepperson-Smith
suggested that reading papers and understanding the theory should be
recognised as part of continuous professional development. CIPR members
can submit bespoke activities for points but standard activities would be
helpful.
● Case study for undergraduate programme - Michael Blowers has been
asked to try and find a suitable case study for 70 UK PR undergraduates to
work on later this year. It requires an idea/brief and some sort of feedback on
the best submissions. Please contact Michael if you can help.
● Networks - Paul Simpson has established the 'PR Fraternity' at the University
of Greenwich to help students network with industry and alumni from their
degree. This maintains a dialogue with graduates who have gone on to
become practitioners across a wide range of sectors. This could be repeated
by other universities.
● Practitioners teaching in universities – Sarah Billings said there are many
examples at a local level of universities welcoming practitioners to lead guest
lectures or workshops. Contact your local university or Higher Education
College if you’d like to offer your services.

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● Open source teaching content - David Phillips shared an example of
teaching material that he has published openly which suggests sharing
information in this way will accelerate professional learning and development.
Vendors such as Facebook and Google are increasingly making learning
tools available for free via the internet.

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8. Reading list/literature review
This list remains a work in progress.
Communication Monitor
An eight-year pan-European 41 country academic project on public relations practice
in Europe
2007 - 2015
The rewards of collaboration
Jon White, CIPR Conversation
12 October 2015
Time to reinvent the wheel for PR education
Dr Mary Welch, Institute for PR
4 September 2015
Academics are being hoodwinked into writing books nobody can buy
The Guardian
4 September 2015
Citations are not enough: Academic promotion panels must take into account a
scholar’s presence in popular media
Asit Biswas and Julian Kirchherr, London School of Economics
9 April 2015
Public relations needs to be rhizomatic – academic, scholarly, professional and
practical
Heather Yaxley
22 June 2014
Worlds apart - the distance between academics and practitioners
Johanna Fawkes
30 September 2014
It’s time for T-shaped communication professionals
Dr Mary Welch, Institute for PR
2 July 2013

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9. Contributors
The CIPR Community of Practice discussion is a public Facebook group created by
the CIPR to explore collaboration and cooperation between practitioners, teachers
and academics in public relations. You can access the community via Facebook.
More than 300 people have shared their views candidly and openly. Thank you to
everyone that has participated in the discussions. You’ll find all of the named
individuals quoted in this report within the community.
I’d like to acknowledge the work of Jason MacKenzie in helping build the Facebook
community and for helping to start and develop many of the contributions. Thank you
Jason.
I’d also like to thank Dr Jon White for his mentoring and support throughout this
project and my term as President and Past President of the CIPR.
10. Further information
For further information please contact me by email at
stephen.waddington@ketchum.com or by phone on 07771 851407.
Stephen Waddington
October 2015