Knowledge transfer and science communication in researchers’ engagement portfolios: Channel-dependent alignments

The relationship between knowledge transfer (KT) and science communication (SC) remains debated within broader discussions of universities’ “third mission” and societal engagement. Some perspectives emphasise their complementarity, while others point to competing demands, different audiences and distinct institutional logics. We examine this relationship using a two-wave nationwide survey of 1,793 researchers, alongside qualitative insights from a participatory workshop. Quantitatively, KT and SC frequently coexist in researchers’ portfolios, and the breadth of activities in one domain remains positively associated with breadth in the other even after accounting for observable researcher characteristics. Yet this alignment is strongly channel-dependent: informal forms of KT align most closely with media-based and professional SC, whereas artistic and narrative communication show minimal or no association with KT. Workshop discussions help illuminate the mechanisms behind these patterns, highlighting how communicative competencies underpin some forms of KT, how artistic SC operates under different evaluative and identity logics, and how institutional incentives, disciplinary cultures and skill profiles lead some researchers to engage exclusively in KT, exclusively in SC, or in neither. Together, the findings show that KT–SC coexistence does not imply uniform complementarity: rather, alignment emerges selectively through specific channels, competencies and institutional conditions.