Page 31 - Eclipse - RVC Alumni Magazine - Autumn 2020

VetCompass: Widening dissemination using infographics
Science can describe the animal welfare, but it takes human understanding and belief to improve welfare.
This is the core philosophy of the RVC’s VetCompass Programme and explains VetCompass’s emphasis on creating attractive infographics to accompany many of its peer-reviewed publications over the past decade.
Research alone doesn’t change animal welfare; a limiting factor is often effective dissemination strategies that share this information with relevant stakeholders and opinion-formers. To date, the VetCompass programme at the RVC has amassed anonymised clinical data on more than 15 million companion animals, from 1,800 UK veterinary practices,
and published over 75 peer-reviewed articles. As well as a move to make all its papers freely available as open access, VetCompass aims to summarise and present the key findings from research papers in digestible and eye-catching presentations and share these widely. The infographics are designed in modular formats that allow ‘chunking’, whereby sections can be shared to meet the specific needs of users.
These easily-digestible infographic formats have been widely welcomed across a range of dissemination corridors. Dissemination strategies used to date for these findings and recommendations have included:
1. General and veterinary-specific press releases
2. Radio and other media interviews
3. Social media posts, including Twitter and Facebook
4. Sharing by organisational partners, such as the Kennel Club or the British Veterinary Association
5. Sharing by veterinary clinical practices
The mutual health and wellbeing benefits to both companion animals and to
their carers is well recognised. These benefits to both parties are enhanced when the care provided by the humans
is evidence-based and of a high standard. Given VetCompass’s role as one of the world’s leading resources of health data on companion animals, it is critical that the latest research findings are disseminated to as wide an audience as possible. With this perspective in mind, VetCompass has reframed the typical academic model where scientific research
is mainly shared with just other scientific colleagues. Instead, by presenting cutting-edge science via infographics and by disseminating these widely, VetCompass is empowering owners, breeders and veterinary professionals to apply the latest evidence to improve their animal’s health, and consequently human health.
Each VetCompass infographic summarises the key study findings which are presented using images, graphical data and links to the full study, along with action points or take-home messages for owners and breeders. The format over successive infographs is standardised, with the aim to become instantly recognisable
as VetCompass research and easily read and interpreted. The infographics can be directly accessed by the general public
or can be used as a resource by veterinarians. For prospective pet owners considering a particular breed, or when a vet has just diagnosed an animal with a specific condition, we are now entering an era where veterinarians can direct owners to the relevant VetCompass infographic as an eye-catching, educational and evidence-based resource that will offer reliable information and advice.
VetCompass is producing the science; these infographics aim to share this science in order to change human beliefs and actions towards improved animal welfare.
The infographics are freely available to download from the RVC VetCompass website: www.rvc.ac.uk/vetcompass/ learn-zone/infographics
OTHER RESEARCH NEWS
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