Research at the academy-societal interface: a response to future-proofing open communication in the communication disciplines in Australia and New Zealand

ABSTRACT

This paper responds to the three articles in this edition of Communication Research and Practice, by Gerard Goggin, Lelia Green, Colleen Mills and Claire Burlat, which together formed the Australia New Zealand Communication Association 40th Anniversary panel contribution to the 2020 International Communication Association Annual Conference. The contributors to that panel were invited to explore ways in which we might future-proof the academy-societal interface, and to consider which principles and practices might nurture meaningful and sustained academic-public knowledge exchange. The panellists’ brought three very different lenses to reflect on and consider what we know about and how we might contribute to an improved academy-society interface in the communication disciplines. In responding to each of these papers I focus on their key messages and extend the scope of each contribution by, respectively, adding what we know about the New Zealand context, reflecting on the ways that individuals can contribute to how academic thought is communicated in society, and asking if for-profit corporations are likely to communicate knowledge in ways that are genuinely designed to enhance environmental sustainability and reduce the consumption of their products.

KEYWORDS:

• Open-Science
• Science- Society Interface
• Public Intellectuals
• Thought Leadership
• Corporate Communication

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

C. Kay Weaver

C. Kay Weaver is Professor and Dean of the School of Graduate Research at the University of Waikato in New Zealand. She researches strategic communication from critical theory perspectives, has co-authored and co-edited several books and published in, among other journals, Public Relations Review, Journal of Public Relations Research, Media Culture & Society, Management Communication Quarterly,  New Media and Society and the Journal of Applied Communication Research.