Impact
Communications
The Centre continues to lead the field in digital, social and traditional media communications.
An established presence across multiple platform ensures the valuable, innovative work of the Centre is known to a wide variety of relevant audiences and stakeholders.
In the News
There were 249 recorded media mentions of Exciton Science in 2022, a 30% year-on-year increase.
The Centre’s mature profile and established relationships with journalists has allowed us to pursue a combination of targeted pitching to high-quality individual outlets and the use of widely distributed press releases to secure impactful coverage and fulfil our media and communications objectives.
Infrared technology could enable night solar
In May, the Centre worked with UNSW Sydney to promote research undertaken by Associate Investigator Nicholas Ekins-Daukes and Research Fellow Phoebe Pearce into thermoradiative diodes, technology that could enable heat evaporating from the earth’s surface to be captured as energy.
This story was reported on by over 100 news outlets around the world, includingYahoo, Vice, the Independentand the Express
Results of lockdown project ‘out of this world’
In August, Exciton Science worked with The Age and Sydney Morning Herald’s science journalists to arrange an exclusive interview with University of Melbourne Research Fellow Jamie Laird.
The story focused on a device developed by Jamie during COVID-19 lockdowns for analysing defects in solar cells. It is now being used in conjunction with the University of Sydney, Monash University and Oxford University, including for solar cells with applications in commercial space flight.
A press release to follow up the exclusive story secured coverage in specialist publications, including Electronics Online, The Engineer and Tech Explore.
Radio, print & television
In addition to extensive digital coverage, Exciton Science members were also featured in radio and print media.
Outreach Officer Joshua Ezackial appeared on ABC Melbourne to promote the National Science Quiz, and Liam Hall spoke to Triple R ahead of his Music with Molecules performance at The Capitol.
Chief Operating Officer Kate McGeoch was featured in The Innovation Papers, and Jacek Jasieniak’s work on modelling the photovoltaic potential of the City of Melbourne local government area was the focus of a PV Magazine print feature.
Canadian media company BNN Bloomberg aired a television interview with UNSW’s Mohammed Arifur Rahim, lead author on a paper featuring Exciton Science researchers and which explored the potential for liquid platinum to be used as an industrial catalyst.
Around the world
The Centre’s research output continued to make headlines around the world, with stories appearing in countries including China, India, USA, UK, Italy, Germany, Canada, Spain, Taiwan, Poland and Brazil.
The outlets covering Exciton Science research ranged from specialist technology and science publications to general interest news websites and channels operated by our key stakeholders and partner organisations.
Digital and Social Media
Website
The Exciton Science website received 42,102 visitors in 2022, a 6% year-on-year increase representing the maturity of our established online presence. Over 113,000 page views were recorded throughout the year, with 2.03 pages viewed per visit and an average time on site of 1 minute and 46 seconds.
Reflecting a decision to reduce advertising spend on social media platforms, the percentage of users arriving to the website via direct traffic and search engine referral increased year on year from 27% to 37% for direct traffic and 30% to 36% respectively.
Social Media
Profile visits on the Exciton Science Twitter account increased by 43% year on year to 34,816 in 2022. Average monthly engagement rate (number of engagements divided by number of impressions) also rose from 1.83% in 2021 to 2.98% in 2022.
The Exciton Science continued to perform strongly on all channels, with a mature presence on Facebook (1,159 followers), Twitter (1,896), Instagram (466) and LinkedIn (1,253).
Facebook – 1,1591,253 followers
Instagram – 466 followers
LinkedIn – 1,253 connections
Twitter –1,896 followers
Youtube
