What does making research knowledge public mean to you? We asked Juan Pablo Alperin and Hannah McGregor—winners of a new award for public scholarship—to share their thoughts.

Alice Fleerackers

::: {.wp-block-image}
<figure class="aligncenter">
<img
src="https://www.scholcommlab.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Hannah-McGregor-by-Christopher-M-Turbulence-1024x681.jpg"
class="wp-image-1657" loading="lazy" decoding="async"
srcset="https://www.scholcommlab.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Hannah-McGregor-by-Christopher-M-Turbulence-1024x681.jpg 1024w, https://www.scholcommlab.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Hannah-McGregor-by-Christopher-M-Turbulence-300x200.jpg 300w, https://www.scholcommlab.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Hannah-McGregor-by-Christopher-M-Turbulence-768x511.jpg 768w"
sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" width="1024" height="681"
alt="An image of Hannah McGregor in downtown Vancouver. She is beaming." />
<figcaption>Hannah McGregor is a winner of the Research Excellence Award
for Making Research Knowledge Public. Photo by Christopher M
Turbulence.</figcaption>
</figure>
:::

"Sometimes people need to be told that your work is for them, or invited
in some way," says Hannah McGregor, an assistant professor in Simon
Fraser University's Publishing Department and the host and producer of
the podcast *[Secret Feminist
Agenda](https://secretfeministagenda.com/){rel="noreferrer noopener"
aria-label=" (opens in a new tab)" target="_blank"}*. "There are lots of
ways to invite people into your work, but I think one of the best is to
think about the kind of language and media that you use."

The podcast, which she describes as "a weekly discussion of the
insidious, nefarious, insurgent, and mundane ways we enact our feminism
in our daily lives," is just one of the many ways McGregor invites the
public to engage with her work. She's also active on social media, a
co-editor of a [new book exploring the state of Canadian
Literature](https://bookhugpress.ca/shop/books/refuse-canlit-in-ruins-edited-by-hannah-mcgregor-julie-rak-erin-wunker/){target="_blank"
rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label=" (opens in a new tab)"}, and the
organizer of Publishing Unbound, a workshop that brought together
authors, activists, scholars, and publishing professionals to discuss
inclusivity and accountability in Canadian Literature.  

As of this December, she is also a co-recipient---with ScholCommLab
director Juan Pablo Alperin---of the inaugural [Research Excellence
Award for Making Research Knowledge
Public](https://www.sfu.ca/sca/events---news/news/fcat-2018-research-excellence-awards.html){target="_blank"
rel="noreferrer noopener"}. Adjudicated by a university-wide panel, the
award was jointly presented to the duo in recognition of their
"demonstrated excellence in making research outcomes and insights public
and in engaging new communities with scholarly or artistic work."  
  

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<figure class="aligncenter">
<img
src="https://www.scholcommlab.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Research-Excellence-Award-Juan-2.jpg"
class="wp-image-1659" loading="lazy" decoding="async"
srcset="https://www.scholcommlab.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Research-Excellence-Award-Juan-2.jpg 960w, https://www.scholcommlab.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Research-Excellence-Award-Juan-2-300x200.jpg 300w, https://www.scholcommlab.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Research-Excellence-Award-Juan-2-768x512.jpg 768w"
sizes="(max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px" width="960" height="640"
alt="Juan Pablo Alperin (centre) at the Research Excellence Award ceremony with SFU Publishing Director John Maxwell and FCAT Associate Dean Stuart Poyntz " />
<figcaption>Juan Pablo Alperin (centre) at the Research Excellence Award
ceremony with SFU Publishing Director John Maxwell and FCAT Associate
Dean Stuart Poyntz</figcaption>
</figure>
:::

Like McGregor, Alperin is an assistant professor in the Publishing
Department and a strong believer in the importance of public
scholarship. But while McGregor takes a public-focused approach to
making research knowledge public, Alperin's work is centred within the
academic system itself---dedicated to investigating the ins and outs of
open access publishing, the barriers that prevent academics from
engaging in public scholarship, and more.    

In celebration of the award, we asked Alperin and McGregor to share
their views on making research knowledge public and the challenges that
sometimes stand in the way.  

### **What does "making research knowledge public" look like to you?**  {#what-does-making-research-knowledge-public-look-like-to-you .wp-block-heading}

**Juan Pablo Alperin**: I see open access as a very basic, initial step
toward making research knowledge public. We never know who in society
might care about our work, regardless of how niche an audience we might
have in mind. My own research and other evidence points to the fact that
there *are* members of the public who want to know. Even if faculty
don't want to change anything else about what they do, they can make
sure that their research is at least accessible to anyone who wants to
see it. For me, making research knowledge public is about enabling and
supporting an ecosystem in which that becomes the norm.  

**Hannah McGregor:** I think open access should be the default and
baseline, particularly for journals. But access goes beyond just
paywalls; it also has to do with language and discoverability.
Journals---open access or not---still circulate within particular
systems of discoverability that are available mostly to people who know
how universities work.  

The side of things that I have been working on is what my colleague Jon
Bath calls *public-first scholarship.* I've been thinking about what it
means to do your work in the public from the get-go, rather than doing
it within the university and then making it public later. I'm making
podcasts, because podcasts are not a university medium. They are a
medium that has their own logic, a logic that is inherently open and
inherently public-facing. I want the audience for my work to not be
precluded by people who have access to scholarship.  

### **What are the top challenges when it comes to public scholarship?**  {#what-are-the-top-challenges-when-it-comes-to-public-scholarship .wp-block-heading}

**JPA:** What I see as the biggest challenge is getting academics to
think and care about non-academic audiences---to start believing that
making research available matters. Everyone *cares* in a very abstract
way, but not everyone thinks about non-academic audiences as important
constituents who they have a duty to share their work with. We need to
shift that perspective so that faculty see public scholarship as a
primary objective of their work, and not way down the list of things
they have to do. We need to make it a priority.

> "We need to shift that perspective so that faculty see public
> scholarship as a primary objective of their work, and not way down the
> list of things they have to do. We need to make it a priority."
>
> Juan Pablo Alperin

**HM:** For me, it's the finitude of our time and energies. I've been
working on my podcast for a year and a half. I *love* making it, but I
also can do almost nothing else while I'm working on it. Many, many
scholars doing this kind of work have been facing this challenge for
ages: you end up having to do twice the work. You have to do all of the
traditionally recognized scholarship in order to secure a job and then
secure promotion and tenure. But at the same time, you want to do this
other work---the work that, in my view, really matters.  

The podcast is great and brings me a lot of public interest in my work.
But can I get tenure for a podcast? Maybe not.  

### **If you could change one thing...**  {#if-you-could-change-one-thing .wp-block-heading}

**HM:** I'd like to see some pretty significant transformations in how,
at the departmental level, research is valued. I think non-traditional
scholarly options need to be taken seriously as the primary output of
scholars. Based in part on conversations that I've had with other
academics and in [part on research that came out of this
lab](https://www.scholcommlab.ca/research/rpt-project/){rel="noreferrer noopener"
aria-label=" (opens in a new tab)" target="_blank"} on public
scholarship and the degree to which it's represented in tenure and
promotion documents, we know that the vast majority of university
departments do not care about public scholarship. They care about
published journal articles in peer-reviewed journals. People have finite
energy, and if one thing is going to get you a job and the other is
going to get you a thumbs up, but ultimately no financial security, what
thing are you going to choose?

> "Non-traditional scholarly options need to be taken seriously as the
> primary output of scholars... People have finite energy, and if one
> thing is going to get you a job and the other is going to get you a
> thumbs up, but ultimately no financial security, what thing are you
> going to choose?"
>
> Hannah McGregor

### **What do you think researchers could do better?**  {#what-do-you-think-researchers-could-do-better .wp-block-heading}

**JPA:** There's a lot more that could be done around sharing,
disseminating, and talking about our work in a wide range of venues. We
need to look for broader audiences for our research---be that by posting
on social media, doing outreach to media, or creating infographics and
other simplified forms of communicating our results.  

We need to widen our conception of who our audience is. An audience
could be anyone, so just put your research out there in slightly
different forms and different ways---as many as come to mind and as you
have time and resources for.

*For more information about the Research Excellence Awards, visit **[FCAT's website](https://www.sfu.ca/fcat/get-involved/fcat-excellence-awards/research-awards.html){target="_blank"
rel="noreferrer noopener"}***.


“Sometimes people need to be told that your work is for them, or invited in some way,” says Hannah McGregor, an assistant professor in Simon Fraser University’s Publishing Department and the host and producer of the podcast
<em>
 Secret Feminist Agenda
</em>
. “There are lots of ways to invite people into your work, but I think one of the best is to think about the kind of language and media that you use.”  The podcast, which she describes as “a

Messaggi di Rogue Scholar

Making Research Knowledge Public Award | Interview with recipients Hannah McGregor and Juan Pablo Alperin