Communicating Research in a Competitive Digital Landscape

Research now competes with every other form of content for attention.

• news
• media
• social content
• video platforms

At the same time:

• video has become a dominant format for understanding information
• platforms like YouTube are key discovery channels
• audiences expect clarity, speed, and accessibility

Research still holds its value.

But how it is accessed and understood has changed.

Research used to compete with research.
Now it competes with everything.

Rising Expectations Around Research Communication

Expectations around research are evolving.

Funders, institutions, and stakeholders increasingly expect research to be:

• accessible to wider audiences
• relevant beyond academia
• visible and usable in real-world contexts

This includes:

• public engagement
• policy influence
• industry collaboration
• measurable impact
• student recruitment and awareness

In many cases, this is no longer optional.

Clear communication is now part of how research is evaluated and funded.

Increasingly, how research is communicated influences funding success, institutional reputation, and external partnerships.

The Real Constraint: Capacity, Not Capability

Most universities already have strong communications teams.

The challenge is scale.

• too many researchers
• too many projects
• not enough time to support all of them

Which means:

• only a proportion of research gets communicated effectively
• output is inconsistent across departments
• valuable work never reaches wider audiences

This is the gap SciTube is designed to fill.

This is not a capability problem.
It’s a structural limitation.

Where the Bottlenecks Sit

For researchers:

• limited time alongside research, teaching, and admin
• difficulty translating complex work clearly
• low confidence communicating beyond academic audiences

For communications teams:

• high volume of researchers needing support
• prioritisation constraints
• pressure to maintain quality and consistency
• limited internal capacity

We sit between both.

A Practical, Scalable Solution

SciTube provides a simple, scalable way to communicate more research, without increasing internal workload.

We act as an external partner to universities, handling the full process from start to finish:

• research translation and scripting
• voiceover and narration
• visual design and illustration
• video and animation production (2D and 3D)
• review and refinement
• optional dissemination support

No internal production required.
No need to manage multiple suppliers.

Just one team delivering consistent, high-quality outputs.

Why Animation Works

Animation is particularly effective for research communication.

It allows complex ideas to be:

• visualised
• structured
• easier to follow

It is especially useful when:

• concepts are abstract or highly technical
• processes cannot be filmed
• audiences are outside the immediate field

Animation does not simplify the science.

It makes it accessible.

Built Specifically for Research

Our work is focused entirely on research communication.

We understand how to:

• extract key messages from complex material
• structure them clearly for non-specialists
• maintain scientific accuracy throughout

Every project is human-led and approved by the researcher.

All work is delivered in-house by our core team.
We do not outsource production or rely on third-party providers.
This ensures consistent quality, clear communication, and full accountability across every project.

We’ve delivered 2,500+ projects across 40+ countries.

Supporting individual researchers, departments, and institution-wide communication programmes in all areas including:

• Arts & Humanities
• Physical Sciences
• Earth & Environment
• STEM Education
• Health & Medicine
• Behavioural Sciences
• Business & Economy
• Biology
• Engineering & Technology

These examples show how complex research can be translated into clear, engaging formats that reach beyond specialist audiences.

Environmental & Behavioural Science

How everyday routines shape environmental outcomes

• Complex social-ecological theory translated into a clear, visual narrative
• Showed how everyday behaviours connect to environmental outcomes
• Made abstract concepts accessible to non-specialist audiences
• 24,000 views and counting

Supporting Visibility from the Start

Alongside production, we’ve built an audience around accessible research content.

Across our platforms and distribution channels, we reach:

• researchers and academics
• students and early-career scientists
• policymakers and industry stakeholders
• science-interested public audiences

Our combined audience exceeds 100,000 science-focused viewers, with content regularly achieving:

• 3,000–5,000+ views per project
• engagement beyond specialist communities
• continued reuse across platforms and contexts

In many cases, these become the most widely engaged-with versions of the research outside the paper itself.

This helps ensure research is not just published, but actually seen and understood.

Flexible and Fully Transferable

All projects include:

• full usage rights
• complete ownership

This allows content to be reused across:

• funding applications
• impact case studies
• teaching
• websites
• outreach
• industry engagement

How Universities Are Using Animation

Animation is now used across:

• research communication
• student recruitment
• public engagement
• policy communication
• industry collaboration
• department promotion
• internal training

A More Practical Alternative to Building In-House

Building this capability internally is possible.

But rarely simple or cost-effective.

A small internal team covering writing, design, animation, and coordination can exceed:

£150,000–£200,000 per year

Even then, output is limited by time and internal demand.

By comparison:

• projects can be delivered individually or at scale
• no hiring, training, or management required
• significantly lower cost per project through institutional packages (up to 45% reduction)

This allows universities to support more researchers, more consistently, without increasing internal headcount.

This shifts research communication from a resource constraint to a scalable capability.

And importantly, without adding complexity to internal teams.

From One-Off Projects to Scalable Support

Many universities want to expand research communication.

But often face:

• fragmented commissioning
• inconsistent output
• unpredictable costs

To address this, we’ve developed a set of institutional packages designed specifically for universities.

These are built to make research communication:

• easier to implement
• more consistent across departments
• and significantly more cost effective at scale

Through these packages, we reduce the cost per project by up to 45%, making this a practical solution for universities of all sizes and structures.

Our Institutional Packages provide:

• a predictable pipeline of content
• reduced cost per project
• consistent quality and style
• simplified commissioning
• minimal internal workload

Moving from ad-hoc commissioning to a structured approach.

Flexible Pricing and Programme Options

We keep our pricing simple and transparent.

Individual projects typically range from £850 to £2,310, depending on format, making it easy for researchers or departments to get started.

However, where this becomes significantly more cost-effective is at institutional level.

Most institutions already have budget allocated to research communication — this approach simply allows that budget to go further.

Through our structured programmes and packages, we’re able to reduce the cost per project by up to 45% compared to individual commissioning.

This means:

• lower cost per output across the institution
• the ability to support more researchers within the same budget
• a more efficient use of existing research communication funding

Rather than multiple researchers commissioning projects individually at full cost, universities can centralise this activity and achieve far greater value at scale.

Our programmes are designed to:

• reduce cost per project
• support multiple researchers consistently
• remove the need for additional internal resource

In practice, this allows universities to expand research communication without increasing overall spend.

Most programmes are tailored based on how research communication is structured within your institution.

Built to Be Transparent and Fair

We’ve also built our model to be straightforward and transparent.

• no outsourcing to low-cost production pipelines
• no hidden subscription models
• no shifting the burden of production onto researchers
• no “platform” model that charges institutions to access or reuse their own content

We do the work ourselves, end-to-end.

Every project is created, managed, and delivered by our team, with full visibility throughout.

The goal is simple:

To make high-quality research communication more accessible, not more complicated.

Because ultimately, this isn’t about tools or platforms.

It’s about making it easier for good research to be clearly understood by the people it’s meant to reach.

Start a Conversation

If you’re exploring ways to make research more accessible and visible, we’re always happy to talk.

We can look at:

• where communication could be strengthened
• which areas may benefit most
• how this fits within your current approach

No pressure. Just a practical conversation about what could work for your institution.