A creative playbook for research translation

To launch her book Rewriting the Rules: Gender-Responsive Lawmaking for the Twenty-First Century (University of California Press, 2026) in a way that would resonate with the diverse audiences she wanted to influence, Ramona created a public exhibition featuring eight artworks.

“I wanted people to encounter my research study of the impacts of gendered biases in law making in ways that were emotional, memorable and accessible,” she explained.

Ramona’s book asks a compelling question: “What would law look like if we wrote women’s lives into legislation?” 

“This question became the anchor for everything that followed. Because the book is open access and deeply narrative in style, I saw an opportunity to reach beyond academic audiences and bring its messages to the public through art," Ramona said.

In creating an exhibition, Ramona’s aim was to translate the ideas conveyed in the book into an engaging experience for people who would not ordinarily encounter academic research.

Ramona advised those thinking about ways to translate research into outputs that are meaningful to non-academic audiences to identify their central research idea and then consider what the best format would be to help people connect with it. 

“If your work is rich in stories, case studies or lived experience, creative formats can really make those strengths visible in new ways,” Ramona said, adding that the exhibition she created was a deliberate extension of her research project.

She encourages researchers to think about translation at the proposal stage rather than as an add-on at the end of a project when time and money are already stretched.

“You can build in a lot of the resources early on in a grant application,” she said, noting that researchers need to budget for public-facing outputs and articulate the value they will create. 

Design for engagement

Across film, ceramics, illustration, children’s art and an immersive digital experience, the exhibition Rewriting the Rules was designed for engagement right from the start.

 “The exhibition arose after chatting with colleagues over coffee here at UTS and imagining what it would be like if we launched the book with artwork around us.”

That conversation, sparked from a connection between UTS and Monir Rowshan, then the Cultural Planning and Community Engagement Coordinator at Blacktown City Council, eventually became a three-week exhibition in the foyer of Building 2 at UTS Central that coincided with International Women’s Day. 

Partner for new skills 

Ramona said that approaching an art exhibition required bringing new capabilities and new collaborators to the table. 

To realise her vision, she spent eighteen months building a team, raising funds and finding artists who would be interested in engaging with a specific chapter of her book and developing work about the themes explored in her research. 

“If you want to embark on this kind of creative project, you cannot do it alone, especially when you are working outside your usual disciplinary or methodological comfort zone. You need to bring in qualified people who understand curation, installation, copyright, licensing, audience engagement and production,” Ramona said.

Ramona identified her exhibition as a non-traditional research output from the outset.

It is important that creative translation can be rigorous and strategically framed to expand public impact while still being recognised within traditional research.

“That meant making sure there was a professional digital catalogue of artworks, ensuring the work could be archived and positioning the exhibition for critical review. It is important that creative translation can be rigorous and strategically framed to expand public impact while still being recognised within traditional research,” she said.

Define your audience

Ramona planned early to ensure that a wide range of audiences would see the exhibition. She chose to hold it in the building foyer so that people could come in from the street, encounter the works on their commute, or simply glimpse them while passing by. 

Her launch guest list included colleagues and supporters, politicians, parliamentarians, journalists and research leaders. 

“Research translation works best when you are intentional about who you wish to see, hear or experience the work. Rather than asking how to communicate to everyone, consider whose attention could shift what happens next,” Ramona explained.

“Which communities, policymakers, practitioners, partners or publics would benefit from having access to your ideas? Consider these questions and then build the format, venue and invitation strategy around the answers.”

Research translation works best when you are intentional about who you wish to see, hear or experience the work.

Taking this kind of approach can transform a creative project into a high-impact research output. 

Ramona said that creative research translation is about finding forms that help important ideas move further and land more deeply.

For researchers interested in trying something similar, Ramona’s advice is to:

• clarify your core message: what do you want the public to feel and remember?
• identify creative partners: build the right team and let the idea grow through partnership
• build translation costs into funding plans: plan for translation early and resource it properly
• think strategically about the people you most want to engage: who do you want in the room?

“If you do these things, you are not just disseminating research. You are creating the conditions for your research to spark conversation, connection and change.”

What’s next?

• Learn about the Rewriting the Rules artworks. Browse the catalogue.
• Download Rewriting the Rules: Gender-Responsive Lawmaking for the Twenty-First Century for free from the University of California Press.
• Learn more about Ramona Vijeyarasa’s research.