Archive | CIPR

The Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) is pleased to announce it has awarded its 2026 President’s Medal and Sir Stephen Tallents’ Medal to Rupert Younger and Samantha Seewoosurrun, respectively.

The two medals are among the Institute’s highest honours, recognising exceptional achievement in PR practice and contribution made to the profession’s wider development.

President’s Medal - Rupert Younger

The 2026 President's Medal is awarded to Rupert Younger, Director of the Oxford University Centre for Corporate Reputation and Senior Research Fellow and Tutor in Management at Worcester College, Oxford. By establishing the Centre, Rupert has played an important role in bringing the study of public relations into the University, with work spanning research, insight, and executive education including Oxford’s globally recognised Corporate Affairs Academy. In awarding the medal, Farzana cited the standard of that academic work and her belief in the value of intellectual rigour to the profession's development.

Sir Stephen Tallents’ Medal - Samantha Seewoosurrun

The 2026 Sir Stephen Tallents' Medal is awarded to Samantha Seewoosurrun Chart.PR, FCIPR, Founder and Managing Director of the PR and publishing agency Perpetual Motion. A Chartered Practitioner, CIPR Fellow and Council Member, Samantha founded the CIPR's International Network in Mauritius in 2019 and went on to chair the Institute's International Group from 2021 to 2024. She has served on the CIPR's Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee, been a judge for the CIPR Excellence Awards, and now sits on the Institute's Audit & Risk Committee while co-chairing the Council Working Group on Making the Case for Public Relations. She received the CIPR Volunteer Recognition Awards for Outstanding Long Service in 2024 and 2026. In awarding the medal, President Farzana Baduel recognised Samantha's sustained commitment to the Institute and her work to build and uphold its presence in Mauritius.

The Chartered Institute of Public Relations’ (CIPR) Engage podcast returns with a new episode examining what makes an effective public relations campaign.

Episode 23 - Creating Effective PR and Communications Campaigns - is hosted by Miriam Brown, communications consultant and founder of Mulberry Brown Communications, who discusses how good campaigns come together, from defining the problem they need to solve through to delivery, evaluation and learning.

Miriam is joined by guests:

• Sarah Key, leader of the content team at NHS Blood and Transplant, and
• Tim Ridgway Chart.PR, the Strategic Stakeholder Engagement Manager at Surrey County Council.

Drawing on campaigns delivered across healthcare, local government, policing, and the charity sector, the panel discuss how practitioners can identify objectives, segment and map audiences to tailor messaging, and secure stakeholder buy-in. Listeners will hear about established planning approaches including the OASIS framework and PESO model, and the case for establishing strategies before reaching for tactics.

The panel concludes by examining how communicators can test novel approaches in their campaigns without chasing trends, what audiences reaction to influencer and AI-generated content reveals about the value of credible voices, and why evaluation and measurable indicators of performance belong in a campaign from its outset.

New research from the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) has found culturally diverse communities are being locked out of digital services by the way organisations communicate with them. The report - Cultural Digital Inclusion: From Digital Access to Digital Belonging - by Olushola Adetutu MCIPR and sponsored by the CIPR Research Fund, points to four recurring failures:

• Communication that assumes shared language and cultural knowledge
• Low representation in the stories, imagery and messengers organisations use
• Distrust rooted in past experiences of exclusion
• Short-term campaigns that do not build lasting relationships

The study sets out to understand why digital communication fails to reach these communities and how public relations professionals can build messaging people trust. Drawing on 10 in-depth interviews with PR professionals, media leaders, accessibility specialists, academics and community founders, survey responses from practitioners and community organisations, and three applied case studies across Scotland, it identifies where inclusive communication succeeds and sets out practical steps to reach audiences who may be overlooked.To address these barriers, the report provides a Digital Inclusion PR Toolkit, a resource that aims to embed inclusion into everyday PR practice. It includes readiness checks, guidance on inclusive language, frameworks for co-creating communication with communities, and a measurement approach that weighs trust and confidence alongside reach.

The Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) has published new research revealing that cost, low awareness, and a lack of locally relevant content are keeping young African professionals from global PR training, certification, and employment.

The report - Impact Beyond Borders: Expanding Global Access for Young African Communicators - was authored by Adedoyin Jaiyesimi Chart.PR, MCIPR and sponsored by the CIPR Research Fund. It draws on a survey of more than 200 respondents across 11 African countries, 10 focus group discussions with 40 young professionals in Nigeria, Kenya and Zimbabwe, and one-on-one interviews with the presidents of four national PR associations and the chair of the CIPR International Group.

The study sets out to understand why young African professionals are excluded from global PR and communications training and how international associations could widen access. Reviewing how training is provided across the sector, it identifies where engagement is strongest and sets out practical steps to reach those still being missed.

The research identifies three main barriers that limit the access young African professionals have to global training and certification:

• Financial constraints and affordability
• Limited awareness and visibility of what associations offer
• A mismatch between global course content and African market realities

To address the barriers, the report proposes the ARC model, a framework built on three pillars: accessibility, relevance and collaboration. Accessibility addresses the cost, format and payment of training. Relevance concerns how well course content reflects African markets. Collaboration calls for partnerships between global bodies and African associations, academic institutions and PR communities.

The Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) has announced the candidates standing in its 2027 President-Elect and Board elections and confirmed eleven members elected to its Council.

Two candidates are standing for election as the CIPR's 2027 President-Elect:

• David Hamilton Chart.PR, FCIPR - Executive Director of Engagement, Marketing and Communications at the British Film Institute (BFI)
• Anne-Marie Lacey Chart.PR, FCIPR - Degree Programme Director and Senior Lecturer at Newcastle University

The successful candidate will serve as President-Elect in 2027 before becoming CIPR President in 2028 and Past-President in 2029. Candidate statements are available to read on the CIPR's website, and a virtual hustings will take place on 15 September from 12:00-13:00 BST where members can pose questions to David and Anne-Marie.

Five candidates are standing for two seats on the Institute's Board of Directors, for a term running from January 2027 to December 2029:

• Hajira Amla Chart.PR, MCIPR
• Adam Barrett MCIPR
• Paul Compton Chart.PR, MCIPR
• Aimee Postle Chart.PR, Dip CIPR
• Naomi MG Smith Chart.PR, FCIPR

Voting in both contested elections opens on 16 September 2026 and closes on 28 September 2026, with results expected on 1 October. Eligible CIPR members will receive voting instructions by email from Mi-Voice, the Institute's electoral services provider.

Eleven candidates stood for election to the CIPR Council. With fewer candidates than available seats, all eleven have been elected unopposed and will serve a term running from January 2027 to December 2028:

• Bridget Aherne Chart.PR, MCIPR
• Peter Campbell Chart.PR, MCIPR
• Catherine Condie Chart.PR, FCIPR
• Shaun Gibbons Chart.PR, MCIPR
• Andrew Hesselden MCIPR
• Lisa James Chart.PR, MCIPR
• John Mayne Chart.PR, MCIPR
• Paula McNulty Chart.PR, FCIPR
• Lorna Muir MCIPR
• Samantha Seewoosurrun Chart.PR, FCIPR
• Samantha Wilding Chart.PR, MCIPR

The Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) has commissioned four new studies through its PR Research Fund, with findings set to be published throughout 2026.

Now in its sixth successive year, the PR Research Fund supports independent research into questions facing the public relations profession. The 2026 projects cover ethics in internal and science communications, hidden disabilities, and the effects of secondary trauma on practitioners.

Successful applicants will receive grants of up to £2,000 and access to CIPR training courses to strengthen their research methods.

The projects commissioned under the 2026 Research Fund are:

• Living the Values: embedding ethical values through internal communications, by Katherine Bradshaw Chart.PR, MCIPR
• Invisible but Impactful: creating a more inclusive PR profession for people with hidden disabilities and long-term health conditions, by Samantha Livingstone Chart.PR, FCIPR
• Ethical and practical considerations in research communications, and how STEM PR professionals can provide fair and inclusive opportunity to diverse groups, by David Schley Chart.PR, MCIPR
• Vicarious and secondary trauma in PR: when telling the story takes a toll, by Crispin Thorold Chart.PR, FCIPR, FRSA