Tips to share your expertise with the general public
The Keele Communications Team continues to work with colleagues to share their news, research and expertise with the public through media engagement.
The team is currently working remotely so please keep in touch via news@keele.ac.uk and all our landline numbers are redirecting to our mobiles.
Is your expertise area in the news?
Every day, journalists are looking for experts to comment on the news agenda to ensure their stories are accurate, reliable and inform the public properly — this is for all news stories not just COVID-19.
On a daily basis we work with academic colleagues to match their expertise with the breaking news agenda. The media needs experts — more than ever before. The TV media are looking for academics to give interviews via Skype, and radio stations can do interviews via landline, mobile and Facetime — so please get in touch if you can provide an expert opinion. We are also on-hand to offer Skype media training.
For print and online media — if your expertise area is in the news please contact the team with a few lines on your thoughts that you would like to share. We can send your comment to print and online media journalists.
Sharing your research
Researchers are working on some of society’s biggest problems and are developing new ideas, innovations and understandings to help change people’s lives for the better. It’s also Keele’s responsibility to share this incredible work with the public.
Whether it’s a grant announcement or a journal publication, please contact the team so we can write a press release, approved by you, to share with the media but also your peers and students on our social media channels.
The general public (including journalists) very rarely read journal articles, and are only likely to know about your research by reading it in the news or via Keele’s social channels. Media coverage of your published research also has the ability to increase your journal article citations and raise your profile within your field and bring it to the attention of policymakers.
We can also share what’s happening with your current research projects. If you’re part way through your research but it’s of public interest and you would like to share what you’re doing, let us know and we can write a story, blog, Twitter thread, create short clips, social media posts etc.
Pitching to The Conversation
If you want to write for The Conversation please pitch your ideas to the Comms Team here or email us. We’re happy to help mould pitches (about 100–150 words) and send them to the relevant Editors. Over the last few weeks, The Conversation’s worldwide audience reached 15.7 million people, that’s five times more than March 2019, demonstrating that people are actively looking for accurate news stories that are backed up and written by experts themselves.
The Keele blog
We’re also keen to publish new articles on the Keele blog. If you pitched directly to The Conversation but it wasn’t commissioned please get in touch with us, we can publish it on the blog and share on Keele’s social media channels, as well as your school’s channels.
Positive news stories
We’re here to help craft and share positive stories on what our academics, staff and students are doing. If you know of any stories we could share please get in touch.
