European Communication Professionals Skills & Innovation Programme (ECOPSI)

The ECOPSI project aims to map and understand the actions and activities of communicators specifically in this European landscape to build knowledge and understanding of what they do but also what skills and knowledge they need to develop to have a shared meaning and understanding of the practice. Specifically the ECOPSI programme aims: To map and evaluate the current and future communication management skills of practitioners across Europe and 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.

• ECOPSI project awarded Best paper at 2013 European Public Relations Education and Research Association (EUPRERA) Congress. Project recognised for innovative research design that not only advances academic knowledge in Europe, but also provides practical tools for communicators in Europe.
• The ECOPSI team are continuing to spread news on how communication professionals can be stars in their roles at academic and practitioner conferences around Europe. Members of the ECOPSI team have presented at conferences in Spain, Croatia, Slovenia and UK. Interested in hearing more, contact us.

This innovative programme is a partnership of six leading European universities in communication research and education. The partners have developed a research programme to reach out to all regions of the European landscape.

The ECOPSI project director is Professor Ralph Tench from Leeds Beckett University in the UK. 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.

Name	Organisation	Country
Professor Ralph Tench	Leeds Beckett University	UK
Dr Paul Quantock	TFEI	UK
Nora Beilke	EACD	Brussels
Professor Ayla Okay	University of Istanbul	Turkey
Professor Dr Ansgar Zerfass	University of Leipzig	Germany
Dr Piet Verhoeven	University of Amsterdam	Netherlands
Professor Maria Angeles Moreno	Universidad Rey Juan Carlos	Spain
Professor Dejan Vercic	University of Ljubljana	Slovenia

Self-diagnostic tool launched: www.P4ace.eu

www.communicationmonitor.eu
www.euprera.org
www.eacd-online.eu
http://ec.europa.eu/education/index_en.htm

The impact of the programme will be increased awareness of the competence and capability factors of communication professionals in Europe to key stakeholders. The programme will improve the cooperation between European communication practice communities and enhance transparency of the sector as well as the skills employed and required by practitioners through awareness in and availability of life long learning opportunities. The vision is to improve the professionalism of practitioners across Europe as well as their ability to work across borders in a European and wider international community of communication practitioners.

List of Published Outputs

The ECOPSI team published information regarding the project through various print and online mediums in 2012 and 2013. The reference list below itemizes each of the documents into the following categories:

• Journal Article
• Books
• Magazine Articles
• Conferences and Presentations
• Online Dissemination

Journal Article

Tench, R., Vercic , D., Tkalac, A., Juma, H. (2013), ‘Contemporary Issues Impacting European Communication Competencies’, Journal of Media Studies, Vol 4, No. 7, pp. 111-124.

Books

Tench, R. and Yeomans L. Future issues for Public Relations. In Tench, R. and Yeomans, L. Eds. ‘Exploring Public Relations’. 3rd Edition. Pearson Education/Prentice Hall.

Tench, R. (2012) ‘Communication management – current trends and issues’. Netherlands.

Magazine Articles

Communication Director Magazine. (2011) EACD Supports New Research Project: The European Communication Professional Skills and Innovation Program. Communication Director Magazine, Issue 4.

Communication Director Magazine. (2013) The Key to Growth: A new self-diagnostic tool allows communicators to evaluate their competencies and identify their qualification needs. Communication Director Magazine, Issue 4. EACD_2013_Communication_Director_Issue_4.pdf

Tench, R. (2013) Important findings from the ECOPSI programme. Kommunikations Manager, Issue 3, 2013 pp.76-78.

Tench, R. and Juma, H. (2013) Do you measure up? Communication Director Magazine, Issue 2, pp 22-25. EACD_2013_Communication_Director_Issue_2.pdf

Conferences and Presenations

European Association of Communication Directors (EACD) (2012) ‘EACD General Assembly Presentation’. European Association of Communication Directors. Brussels, Belgium, 5 July 2012.

European Association of Communication Directors (EACD) (2013) ‘EACD General Assembly Presentation’. European Association of Communication Directors. Brussels, Belgium, 28 June 2013.

European Association of Communication Directors (EACD) (2013) ‘EACD Coordinator’s Presentation’. European Association of Communication Directors, EACD Forum. Zurich, Switzerland, 26 November 2013.

Juma, H. (2013), ‘Future competencies of communications practitioners in Europe’. PhD Research Conference, Faculty of Business & Law at Leeds Beckett University, Leeds, UK, 16 January 2013.

Juma, H. (2013) ‘Future competencies of communications practitioners in Europe. 2012 Hofstede Symposium’, Groningen, Netherlands, 17 January 2013.

Juma, H. (2013), ‘Future competencies of communications practitioners in Europe’. Guest lecture to Bachelor of Public Relations students at Leeds Beckett University, Leeds, UK, 18 February 2013.

Moreno, A. (2013) ‘Triangulación metodológica en el diseño del proyecto ECOPSI’. Lecture to PhD and Master program Research Applied to Communication, Spain, 19 March 2013.

Moreno, A. and Navarro, C. (2013) Presentación de ECOPSI y anuncio de próximos resultados, Asociación de Directivos de Comunicación-Club Financiero Génova, Madrid, Spain, 13 March 2013.

Moreno, A., Navarro, C., Tench, R., Okay, A., Verhoeven, P., Vercic, D. and Zerfass, A. (2013) ‘European Communication Professionals Skills and Innovation Programme. Un proyecto de investigación con implementaciones prácticas para la profesión de relaciones públicas, Asociación de Investigadores en Relaciones Públicas, Zaragoza. Spain, April 25-26 2013.

Navarro, A. (2013) ‘Proyecto ECOPSI: European Communication Professionals Skills and Innovation Programme’. Lecture to PhD and Master program Research Applied to Communication, 26 March 2013.

Tench, R. (2012) ‘Global Issues and Opportunities: International and Cross-Cultural Research in Public Relations’ Extended session at the International Communication Association Conference, Communication and Community, 62nd Annual Conference, Phoenix, USA, 24-28 May 2012.

Tench, R. (2013) 'The case for Digital PR education: ECOPSI and ECM research findings'. Higher Education Academy Workshop, Leeds UK, 3 August 2013.

Tench, R. (2013) 'P4ACE – Portal for Advanced Communication Education: Building competencies for tomorrow's practitioners in Europe' 14th Croatian Public Relations Association Conference, Opatija, Croatia, 17 October 2013.

Tench, R. and Moreno, A. (2013) ‘Competencies of EU communication practitioners: evaluation, audit and intervention’. EUPRERA Congress, "Strategic Public Relations, Public Values and Cultural Identity", Barcelona, Spain, 3-5 October 2013. Winner of Best Paper award for the conference.

Tench, R. and Vercic, D. (2013) ‘How do you measure up? Communication Management Competence Matrix’. BledCom 2013 International Public Relations Symposium, “Trust and the New Realities”, Bled, Slovenia, 14-15 June 2013.

Tench, R., Moreno, A. and Vercic, D. (2012) ‘Future skills and competencies of communications practitioners in Europe’. Keynote panel at the EUPRERA Congress, “Researching the Changing Profession of Public Relations”, Istanbul University, Istanbul, Turkey, 20-22 September 2012.

Tench, R. and Zerfass, A. (2012) ‘Future strategies and competencies for communication executives’. European Communication Summit 2012, EACD, Brussels, 5-6 July 2012.

Online Dissemination

European Association of Communication Directors (EACD) (2013) ‘Are you a communication practitioner?. EACD Facebook page, 28 October.

European Association of Communication Directors (EACD) (2013) ‘Are you a communications practitioner?’. EACD Tweet, 28 October 2013.

European Association of Communication Directors (EACD) (2013) ‘ECOSPI launches diagnostic tool and evaluation portal for communicators: ecopsi.org.uk’. EACD Tweet, 22 October 2013.

European Association of Communication Directors (EACD) (2013) ‘ECOSPI launches innovative self-diagnostic tool for communication professionals’. EACD Facebook page, 22 October 2013.

European Association of Communication Directors (EACD) (2013) ‘ECOPSI to launch new diagnostic tool’. News Item on homepage of EACD Website, 17 October 2013.

European Association of Communication Directors (EACD) (2013) ‘European Communication Professionals Skills & Innovation Programme (ECOPSI)’. Publication section of EACD Website, 16 October 2013.

European Association of Communication Directors (EACD) (2013) ‘Facts & Figures: The key to growth’. Communication Director Newsletter, November 2013. Recipients: 2,000 EACD members / ca. 50,000 communication professionals across Europe. EACD_November_2013_Communication_Director_Newsletter.pdf

European Association of Communication Directors (EACD) (2013) ‘Facts & Figures: Competences of European Communicators’. Communication Director Newsletter, May 2013. Recipients: 2,000 EACD members / ca. 50,000 communication professionals across Europe. EACD_May_2013_Communication_Director_Newsletter.pdf

European Association of Communication Directors (EACD) (2013) ‘How do you stack up?’. EACD Tweet, 22 October 2013.

European Association of Communication Directors (EACD) (2013) ‘Identifying Communication Competencies and Qualification Needs’. EACD Newsletter, November 2013.

European Association of Communication Directors (EACD) (2013) ‘New online diagnostic tool allows communicators to identify their competencies and qualification needs’. EACD Press Release, 15 November 2013. Recipients: ca. 80 journalists of professional publications across Europe.

Heitmann, H., Tench, R. (2013) ‘New free tool to evaluate your communication department’s competencies’. Email sent to HR Professionals across Europe, 28 October 2013. Recipients: ca. 15,000 HR professionals across Europe.

Heitmann, H., Tench, R. (2013) ‘Test your skills with the Portal (for) Advancing Communication Education’. Email sent to European Association of Communication Directors (EACD) members and European communication professionals, 22 October 2013. Recipients: 2,000 EACD members / ca. 50,000 communication professionals across Europe.

Updated November 19, 2013

The following diagram is a simplified representation of the process and activities we have agreed to develop over the next two years:

Contact Professor Ralph Tench.

@EngageECOPSI

Engage ECOPSI