22nd March 2023
We have just launched a new £1m Themed Competition for dstl – Analysing and understanding audiences. This competition closes at midday 30 May. The full competition document is here
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/analysing-and-understanding-audiences
We have 15-minute dial-in sessions so that you can talk with the technical team about your ideas on 30 March and 04 April. These slots will fill soon so if you are interested register as soon as possible via the Eventbrite links in the competition document. This competition is focused on finding novel and innovative ideas at low levels of maturity (TRL1-4).
Successful projects will be a maximum of 6-months in length and will be funded to a maximum of £100k.
An audience-centric approach is key to Defence’s orchestration of military activities and understanding audiences forms a major part of this. Audiences can include individuals and groups, those who may be friendly, impartial or adversarial and this could be in peacetime or conflict. Audience analysis could be used to support Defence planning by supporting the identification of potential audiences of interest, providing a detailed understanding of audiences that are known to be of interest, and/or providing insights into factors that affect the understanding of specific audiences (e.g. cultural factors or unique audiences).
At this stage of the competition, we are limiting the scope to concepts, theoretical development, advancement and proof of concept research. This can include:
- approaches that are used outside of Defence and have the potential for application in a Defence context; and
- innovative ideas that apply to analysing and understanding audiences in general (and in turn could be applicable in a Defence context).
Areas of particular interest include:
| Product | Description |
| Audience Segmentation | Identifies the relevant audience segments/audiences for Defence activities, including pertinent information about their beliefs, habits, attitudes and behaviours |
| Behavioural Insight Assessment | Identify the priority behaviour drivers for the audience segments and the potential theories of change to apply for a required activity |
| Narrative Assessment | Key narratives and Disinformation, Misinformation, Malinformation and Information (DMMI) across and between the segments |
| Information Environment Assessment (IEA) | An assessment of how information is shared by audiences. It incorporates the virtual and physical dimensions of information sharing and includes an analysis of narratives and topics (information content) as well as dissemination routes and impact (information format) |
| Human Environment Assessment | Analysis of the human factors that affect the operating environment, PMESII is the common analytical framework to follow. (PMESII is political, military, economic, social, information and infrastructure) |
| Network Analysis | Identifies the connections between audiences/audience segments |
| Channel Analysis | Identifies the channels relevant to the audience segments (this will be dependent on findings from the Information Environment Assessment) |
| Information Packs | To inform the planning of activity to deliver a cognitive effect |
| Assessment Metrics | Identified metrics for monitoring change in an audience segment |
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to get in touch (note new email addresses although the old ones will automatically forward).
DASA Scotland
Deb (djcarr@dasa.mod.gov.uk) – Innovation Partner
Linda (lgalloway@dasa.mod.gov.uk) – Innovation Partner
Anis (amourad@dasa.mod.gov.uk) – Access to Mentoring and Finance Partner