Academics must recognise that they are diplomats as well as scholars and think more carefully about how to portray the value of their research, according to the vice-chancellor of a UK university.

David Richardson, head of the University of East Anglia, said that scholars should use their academic networks around the world as ¡°diplomatic networks to bring soft power to bear on politicians¡±.

Speaking at the Economic Policy Group¡¯s Education Innovation Conference 2017 in London, Professor Richardson said: ¡°Academics need to embrace¡­the recognition that in addition to being academics and pursuing their research and research questions, they are actually also diplomats.¡±

He added that academics cannot assume that their research results present ¡°self-evident¡± solutions to problems, because their findings ¡°will not be self-evident to others and you will get pushback¡±.

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Professor Richardson?said that his university ¡°really suffered badly¡± from this assumption, citing the 2010 ¡°°ä±ô¾±³¾²¹³Ù±ð²µ²¹³Ù±ð¡± affair, when the hacking of thousands of emails and documents from the institution¡¯s Climatic Research Unit were used to claim that its scientists had manipulated results and withheld evidence from critics to shore up the case for man-made global warming.

¡°We hadn¡¯t necessarily appreciated that what we thought was good work to be doing globally, some people were aggressively against [it],¡± he said.

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¡°It¡¯s not just enough to do research. You¡¯ve got to think about how you¡¯re going to portray that and get people to recognise the worth of it as [otherwise] they push back.¡±

His comments were in response to a question asking how academics could stay engaged with governments in a ¡°post-truth¡± world, following a panel discussion on the best management approaches for the ¡°fluid and ambiguous environment of global education¡±.

During the discussion, Professor Richardson?added that universities must acknowledge that they are working in a ¡°post-truth¡± environment.

¡°People are less ready to believe academics, and yet we can¡¯t become islands where we think of ourselves as elite figures. We¡¯ve got to get across our importance to society,¡± he said.

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ellie.bothwell@tesglobal.com?