This event is hosted by Drug Policy Alliance.

For many years, research about drugs and alcohol largely lived behind the paywalls of academic journals and conferences, occasionally reaching the public if the findings managed to grab the attention of an editor or reporter. With a recent U.S. directive requiring studies and data that result from federally funded research to be made freely available upon publication, plus the growth of online publishing and social media, data has gone from inaccessible to overwhelming.

As part of a Reynolds Journalism Institute fellowship, Susan Stellin, MPH, created Covering Drugs (www.coveringdrugs.org), a free 140-page reference guide for research and reporting about alcohol and drugs. Organized around key topics and questions people ask, it lists major surveys, reports, data sets, studies, research hubs, and other information useful to journalists as well as people working in research, policy, education, and direct service roles.

This webinar will address how research can reach a wider audience and more effectively inform public understanding, policy, and practice. Panelists will discuss examples of their work sharing data beyond academia, how researchers and journalists can better understand each other’s professional practices, and ways to improve the impact of research and reporting in an era of information overload and mistrust in media and science.