I’m Dr Deborah Talbot, a communications strategist, journalist and research copywriter based just outside Stroud in the Cotswolds, UK.

I’ve been in strategic communications, journalism and copywriting for twelve years, after fourteen years in academia delivering teaching programmes and social science research.

This combination of research and communications expertise shapes the way I work.

I still work with research and data myself. So I can interrogate complex material and researchers can trust me to preserve the integrity of their findings.

But with my comms expertise, I also know how to make those insights meaningful to non-specialists and external stakeholders by locating the story in the data and telling that story to different audiences.

I’ve worked across journalism, research communications and strategic communications, including EU Horizon and UKRI-funded research programmes, third-sector organisations and businesses. I helped these programmes synthesise research findings into audience-focused messaging. I tripled LinkedIn followers in eight months on two programmes, and my email outreach campaigns drew audiences of over 150 for specialist science events.

My work has included communications strategies, reports, whitepapers, policy briefings, articles, data stories, campaigns, events and stakeholder engagement. Whitepapers I wrote on the skills gap were even sent to a future prime minister.

I hold a PhD and professional communications credentials. My journalism has appeared in publications including The Guardian, Forbes, Monocle and Inside Housing.

I’m particularly interested in work where the subject is complex, accuracy matters and the audience cannot be taken for granted.

My job isn’t to make serious ideas simplistic. It’s to make them clear, relevant and worth engaging with.