Not everyone needs to hear the same thing – and saying the right thing to the wrong audience is as ineffective as saying nothing at all. This section helps you identify who your key stakeholders are, prioritise where to focus your effort, and choose the channels most likely to reach them.
Who are your stakeholders?
A successful communication strategy starts with knowing your audience. In ELIXIR, your stakeholders are diverse and will vary depending on whether you’re communicating at Node level, project level, or consortium level. They might include:
- Researchers and life scientists: interested in tools, services, training and collaboration opportunities.
- Policymakers and national ministries: interested in societal impact, value for public investment and strategic priorities.
- Funders: interested in results, sustainability and return on investment.
- The ELIXIR consortium: other Nodes, Platforms, Communities and the Hub, who need to know what you’re doing to avoid duplication and enable collaboration.
- Industry partners: interested in applied outputs, partnerships and talent.
- The general public: interested in accessible explanations of why this work matters.
Each Node will also have a different priority matrix for each of these stakeholders. Not all of these will be relevant to every project or output. The priority matrix below helps you decide where to focus.
The priority matrix
A priority matrix helps you rank your stakeholders so you know where to direct your communication effort – especially when time and resources are limited. It maps two dimensions: how interested a stakeholder group is in your work, and how much influence they have over your Node’s success.
How to build yours
- List all stakeholder groups relevant to your current project or output
- For each group, ask: how interested are they likely to be? (low / medium / high)
- Then ask: how much influence do they have over your work — through funding, policy, or uptake? (low / medium / high)
- Plot them on the matrix — your top priority groups are high interest + high influence
Use this to decide who gets a tailored message, who gets a standard update, and who simply needs to be aware
Example – a Node launching a new training programme
| Stakeholder | Interest | Influence | Priority |
|---|---|---|---|
| Researchers in target field | High | Medium | High |
| National funder | Medium | High | High |
| ELIXIR Training Platform | High | High | High |
| General public | Low | Low | Low |
| Industry partners | Medium | Low | Medium |
The persona builder
Once you know your priority stakeholders, the next step is understanding them well enough to communicate effectively. A persona is a brief profile of a stakeholder type – not a real individual, but a representative picture of what they care about, what they already know, and what would make them pay attention.
How to build a persona
- Give the persona a role title, not a name (e.g. “National Funder Representative”).
- Describe what they already know about ELIXIR – assume less than you think.
- Identify what they care about most – this is usually not what you care about most.
- Note where they get their information – this tells you which channels to use.
Example persona – National Funder
| Role | Represents national ministry funding ELIXIR membership |
| What they know about ELIXIR | Aware of ELIXIR at a high level; unlikely to know the Node’s specific activities |
| What they care about | Value for national investment, visibility of impact, alignment with national research priorities |
| Where they get information | Annual reports, board meeting slides, briefing documents, LinkedIn |
| What would catch their attention | “ELIXIR-[country]’s work this year directly supported [X] researchers in achieving [outcome]” |
Download persona builder template
Exercise
Think of a recent project or result from your Node. Build a priority matrix for that particular case. Now, for each group in the priority matrix, write one sentence that would catch their attention.
Choosing the right channel
Not all communication channels are equal. The best channel depends on your audience, your message, and the resources you have available. Use the persona you’ve just built to guide your channel choice – where does this stakeholder actually go for information?
Channel comparison table:
| Channel | Effort | Impact | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Social media | Low | Medium | Quick updates, events, opportunities, and personal touch |
| Newsleetter/email | Low | Medium | Targetted updates, events, opportunities |
| Policy brief | High | High | Policymakers, funders |
| Newsletter | Medium | Medium | A mix of internal and external stakeholders |
| Scientific paper | High | High (long-term) | Reaching other researchers |
| Website | Medium | High | All audiences (as long as the content is well structured) |
| Direct email | Low | Medium | Targeted, personal outreach to specific individuals |
Exercise: putting it together
Think of a current or upcoming output from your Node – a new service, a project result, a training opportunity.
- Use the Priority Matrix template to rank your stakeholders for this specific output
- Build a persona for your top priority stakeholder
- Using the channel table above, identify the two channels most likely to reach them
- Write one sentence tailored to that persona that would make them want to know more
There is no single correct answer, but there is always a better and a worse one. This exercise is to simply build the habit of asking “who is this for?” before you communicate anything.
Further resources
→ Module 4: ELIXIR-specific communication ecosystem — for the specific channels available to you across the consortium → Case study: ELIXIR-UK priority matrix 2023–2025 (case study library) Watch the CONVERGE video on communications tips