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Communications and Media Relations | Guidelines for Doctoral CandidatesThe Communications and Media Relations Office sends a press release of an upcoming public examination and dissertation to the media, and this information will also be published on the university website. The target group of the press release is the general public, which means that the style should be reader-friendly and, if possible, not too scientific. Upcoming public examinations will also appear in the university’s events calendar. The press release is a method of making the university’s research known to the media and the general public alike. Dissertation FormFill out the dissertation form. The form asks for your personal information and information relating to your dissertation and public examination. This information will be used in the press release to the media. The information given on the form will also appear in the university’s dissertation database. You may fill out the form when you know the time and place of your public examination, and after your faculty has given you permission to defend the dissertation. Press Release For the purposes of the press release to the media, you should write a short and clear description of your dissertation. The press release should highlight the main results of your research.Click on the link below for more writing tips. The press release needs to be translated into Finnish so it can be distributed to the Finnish media. You can turn to the supervisor of your thesis to get help with the translation. Save the text in the .rtf format and send both the English and the Finnish version of the press release as an email attachment to vaitos(at)uef.fi. Both the English and the Finnish version will be published on the university website. The Finnish version will also be distributed to the Finnish media. If you wish to have the English version or a version in another language distributed to specific media abroad, e.g. in your home country, please contact vaitos(at)uef.fi for details. Some faculties (e.g. the Faculty of Health Sciences) require that the thesis should contain both an English and a Finnish version of the abstract. Despite this, it is not recommended to use the abstract as the press release. The abstract is written for scientific purposes, whereas the press release aims at popularizing science. Tips for writing your press release PhotographA link to a photograph of the doctoral candidate is usually included in the press release to the media. Thus, you should have your photograph taken at the Communications and Media Relations Office no later than two weeks before your public examination.
If you are unable to have your photograph taken at the university, you should send the photographer on your campus a good-quality paper photograph to be scanned. NB! Digital photos taken with a consumer grade camera and small passport photos rarely are print quality. Where is the press release sent? The Communications and Media Relations Office sends out the press release (which contains the details of the upcoming public examination, a link to a photograph of the doctoral candidate and a description of the dissertation) to nearly all media in eastern Finland and to the main national media, including the Finnish News Agency STT, the Finnish Broadcasting Company YLE, MTV3 and Helsingin Sanomat. The distribution list also includes freelance journalists who are interested in science, and special field journals. Moreover, the doctoral candidate may ask the press release to be sent to additional media of his or her choice. Media coverage and Interviews The press release is usually sent out a week before the public examination and the doctoral candidate will be notified of the dispatch of the press release. The media may publish the press release as such or the candidate may be contacted for an interview. The candidate’s contact information is given in the press release in order for journalists to be able to contact the candidate. Please make sure that you are reachable after the press release has been sent out, because the media usually report on dissertations they find interesting already before the public examination. You should, however, note that the media decides independently on whether a dissertation is worthy of a news article. Whether the news threshold is crossed or not depends on a number of factors: e.g., the number of public examinations, the general degree of interest of the topic, the overall business of the news day, and the home region of the doctoral candidate. In other words, the university cannot order the media to publish any press release. Contact Persons at the Communications and Media Relations OfficeEach faculty has a communications officer who takes care of press releases relating to dissertations.
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