Dissemination determines whether the results of a publicly funded project are used beyond its own consortium. This article outlines how European funding programmes define dissemination, why it matters for impact and sustainability, and how it has been put into practice in MiCRET, an Erasmus+ policy experimentation project on micro-credentials for renewable energy technicians. The MiCRET experience suggests that dissemination works best when it targets specific stakeholders, is shared across partners, and begins early in the project.
Dissemination is the planned process of making project results available to the people who can use them. Lomas (1993) distinguished it from diffusion: diffusion is passive and unplanned, while dissemination is active and aimed at a defined audience. Wilson et al. (2010) found 33 frameworks guiding dissemination, and noted that funders still do not agree on what the term covers.
In EU-funded projects, three related activities are usually separated:
- Communication raises awareness of the project itself among a broad audience, including the general public.
- Dissemination shares the project’s results with audiences that can make use of them, such as practitioners, policymakers and researchers.
- Exploitation is the actual use of those results, for example when a new tool is adopted in practice or informs policy.
The Erasmus+ Programme Guide requires applicants to plan how they will share information about their project and its results both during and after the funding period, in proportion to the project’s objectives and scope (European Commission, 2025). Dissemination is therefore not an optional add-on, but a condition of funding.
Dissemination is what turns a project’s outputs into impact. A skills analysis or policy framework that stays within the consortium changes little; the same work presented to ministries, training providers and employers can shape practice and policy.
The literature points to four main benefits:
- Uptake and impact. Results are more likely to be used when they reach the right people in a form they can act on. Wilson et al. (2010) show that effective frameworks tailor the message to each audience rather than broadcasting it.
- Sustainability. Networks, agreements and relationships built through dissemination allow results to outlive the funding period.
- Feedback and quality. Presenting interim results to stakeholders tests them against practice and improves later outputs.
- Accountability. Public funding carries an obligation to show what was achieved. The Erasmus+ programme also requires that educational resources produced by projects be made freely available under an open licence (European Commission, 2025).
Harmsworth and Turpin (2000) add that dissemination should be planned from the start, not left until results are final. Early activity builds the audience that will later receive and use the results.
MiCRET is an Erasmus+ policy experimentation project on micro-credentials for renewable energy technicians. It builds on the Council Recommendation on a European approach to micro-credentials (Council of the European Union, 2022). Its dissemination work illustrates the principles above in four ways.
Starting early, with policy audiences. The project opened with an international conference in Milan, with speakers from DG EMPL, EACEA, CEDEFOP, INAPP and the Lombardy and Piedmont regions. This placed MiCRET in front of EU and national decision-makers from the outset.
Sharing results with the people who can use them. Once the Skills Needs Analysis (D2.1) was complete, the consortium presented its findings in a webinar with VET providers, industry and policymakers, and collected their feedback on priority skills. The Micro-credentials Thermometer webinars then shared country-level analysis with national stakeholders.
Using partner networks. Dissemination was shared across the consortium. Partners presented MiCRET at events such as Lifelong Learning Week, the ALL DIGITAL Summit and national pedagogical conferences, and in related EU projects such as H2 Excellence. Each partner reached audiences the others could not.
Dissemination is most effective when it is planned from the start, aimed at specific audiences, and shared across all partners. MiCRET’s experience supports this: early engagement with policymakers, results presented directly to the people who can use them, and agreements that outlast the project. For projects working on emerging policy tools such as micro-credentials, dissemination is not only a reporting requirement but the main route by which results reach practice.
References
- Council of the European Union (2022). Council Recommendation of 16 June 2022 on a European approach to micro-credentials for lifelong learning and employability (2022/C 243/02). Official Journal of the European Union, C 243.
- European Commission (2025). Erasmus+ Programme Guide 2026. Brussels: European Commission.
- Harmsworth, S. and Turpin, S. (2000). Creating an Effective Dissemination Strategy: An Expanded Interactive Workbook for Educational Development Projects. TQEF National Co-ordination Team.
- Lomas, J. (1993). Diffusion, dissemination, and implementation: who should do what? Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 703, 226–235.
- Wilson, P.M., Petticrew, M., Calnan, M.W. and Nazareth, I. (2010). Disseminating research findings: what should researchers do? A systematic scoping review of conceptual frameworks. Implementation Science, 5, 91.
