Making the University's research visible is an important part of showing the world what the University is and what we do. It makes an important contribution to the public debate and provides an insight into how taxes are used. Visible, successful research results also provide a strong basis for Umeå University's ability to recruit students and employees. It can also influence companies and other groups in society to choose Umeå University as a partner.
Who should communicate research?
Communicating and making research visible and attracting attention to it is primarily a task for researchers and your department – contributing to public debate, communicating with the media and making personal contacts outside the University. One easy way of making your research visible is to publish it in the research database. It will then be visible and searchable on our website, and can be displayed on your profile page on the web.
As a researcher, you can also get support from your faculty communications officer, who will help you with press releases, press contacts and ideas on how you can reach out with your research, for example.
The University also carries out work centrally to spread the news about the University's research strengths, both nationally and internationally.
What do we need to highlight?
The University focuses its communication on highlighting strong research, research projects, research results, research collaborations and individual researchers and partners, while toning down our organisation. What is interesting is the research itself, not the University structure surrounding it.
How do we communicate?
On the University's web, in the research blog and in the research database, we report on the University's research in a language that is easy to understand. We also highlight news, popular science events and provide profiles of individual researchers.
To the media, we submit press releases on doctoral theses and research results. The University is also a partner in Expertanswer, the Swedish Research Council's press service. Researchers also participate in the public debate.
Through lectures, we reach out to the general public in a more direct way, for example through Scientific lunches or lectures for selected groups outside the world of academia.
The University also communicates through contact with schools, such as further training for teachers, researchers in schools, visits to schools to answer questions from pupils, and the Upptäcktsfärden project.