Researchers at Leeds Metropolitan University have won a major EU research bid to evaluate and develop European communicators’ professional skills and competences.

The European Communication Professional Skills and Innovation Programme (ECOPSI) has been led by Professor Ralph Tench at Leeds Business School, Leeds Metropolitan University.  A key aim and outcome of this project is to build a European theory of communication management and a framework to support the professionalisation and ethical development of the practice.

The context for this bid is a communication sector in Europe which has grown and developed significantly in the last 20 years.  This expansion has been influenced by political, economic and cultural shifts which have seen profit and non-profit organisations equally recognise the role and significance of communication in achieving organisational goals. These include managing reputation and image as key assets of organisations. 

Specifically the ECOPSI programme aims to map and evaluate the current and future communication management skills of practitioners across Europe and to fill a competency, skills and knowledge gap in the field of professional communication management by providing open source information resources for communication practitioner skills diagnosis and development.

This will be achieved through a collaborative qualitative and quantitative research programme across Europe working with partners in Holland, Germany, Spain, Slovenia and Turkey to reach out to all regions of the European landscape.

Commenting on the success of the bid, Professor Tench said:  “This is an excellent opportunity to build understanding about the communication industry across Europe but also to support and influence the practices long term development.  To reflect this one of the key practical outputs of the programmes is to develop an on line, open source directory that collects and disseminates best practice resources for enhancing professional communicators’ skills and knowledge across Europe.”

<< Back to News