Research Communications Specialist

Department

EPIC - Communications

About the Department

The University of Chicago Institute for Climate and Sustainable Growth (ICSG) is a groundbreaking effort uniting faculty from across the university to advance society’s understanding of our energy and climate future. The Institute combines faculty insights in energy markets and policy, climate systems engineering, and energy technology to produce world-changing ideas while also investing in the next generation of energy and climate thinkers, leaders, and innovators through novel educational programs.

Job Summary

The Research Communications Specialist will play a central role in conceptualizing, translating, and disseminating the Institute’s research through compelling and innovative communication strategies. This includes producing research summaries, data visualizations, videos, and other products across web, email, social media, and print platforms. The role also involves leveraging data analytics to track the effectiveness of communication tactics, testing new strategies, and refining outreach efforts. Successful candidates will bring expertise in translating complex concepts into engaging materials, supporting research initiatives through tailored communication strategies, and using data-driven insights to enhance audience engagement.

The Research Communications Specialist will report to the Senior Director of Communications and External Engagement and work closely with the Communications and Digital Marketing Manager and the Communications Associate. The Research Communications Specialist will join a passionate team at an exciting moment of significant growth and development for the Institute.

Responsibilities

• Translates complex research and data into compelling written and visual stories and interactives tailored to key stakeholders, including policymakers, academics, and the public. This could include producing research summaries, charts/maps/infographics, and videos. The visualizations could come in the form of web pages, social graphics, presentations, interactive reports, etc.
• Collaborates with researchers and policy experts to ensure communication materials like  data visualization and reports accurately reflect key public policy implications and recommendations.
• Helps to manage research news and programming on the Institute’s web, email marketing, and social platforms. This could include adding new research to the website and drafting email and social media campaigns.
• Tracks and analyzes communication performance, using data-driven insights to inform and refine tactics and developing tools like analytics portals to refine strategies and test new approaches for improved engagement.
• Collaborates with research teams to support ongoing projects by developing tailored communications materials to collect data or conduct research. This includes contributing to website development, UI/UX design, and utilizing behavioral insights to optimize outreach strategies for experimental projects such as Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs).
• Develops, plans, and disseminates information designed to keep the public informed of the organization's programs, accomplishments, or point of view.
• Solves moderate to complex problems related to the writing, preparation, and/or delivery of information from or about the unit.
• Performs other related work as needed.

Minimum Qualifications

Education:

Minimum requirements include a college or university degree in related field.

Work Experience:

Minimum requirements include knowledge and skills developed through 5-7 years of work experience in a related job discipline.

Certifications:

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Preferred Qualifications

Education:

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in public policy, communications, public relations, journalism, marketing, graphic design, or a related field.

Experience:

• Five years of experience working in a communications, multimedia journalism, or graphic design role.
• Producing written research summaries, professional data visualizations and videos with a strong design aesthetic.
• Those with some knowledge or interest in climate change, energy and environmental topics encouraged to apply.

Technical Skills or Knowledge:

• Proficiency in Canva, Adobe Cloud (InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop, After Effects, and Premiere), and data visualization tools such as Flourish and Datawrapper.
• Familiarity with front-end web development (HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and Svelte or other development frameworks), and data science programming (R, Python, etc.).
• Knowledge of current trends and best practices in data visualiza