Communication

Communicating with an audience

Researchers sometimes want publicity, if they are conducting an interesting study or organizing an event, for example. Conversely, the media might try to contact you, for example to ask your expert opinion on a hot item. The UG has various support services that can help you to make the most of your external, and internal, communication.      

More information and support

Seeking publicity

There are various options and channels for announcing your news. The central Communication Office can offer advice and help you to bring your news to the attention of the media and the public.

Communication strategy tool

The five-minute Communication strategy tool helps you to think about how you can reach your audience, and provides a compilation of interesting material.

Communication advice and support

General information about communication within the UG.

More information per faculty

Public engagement for researchers

‘Public engagement stands for societal and public involvement. It describes the many ways in which the activities and advantages of higher education and research can be shared with a wider audience.’

The UG encourages researchers to work alongside public partners. These could be: citizens, communities, companies, and social organizations. Sharing, co-creating, and applying knowledge generates a dialogue between the public and academia. This serves to increase the societal impact of your research. Are you a researcher who works with public partners and would you like to increase your impact? Or do you want to explore the possibilities of public engagement, but could use some advice and support in this respect? Various departments within the UG would be happy to share their expertise and provide support and guidance.

Further information

Vision on public engagement

Why is public engagement important to the UG and what are our objectives? Read the UG vision on public engagement.

Course in public engagement

The UG gives training sessions on public engagement for academics. Learn how to deal with different target groups and receive advice and support when organizing public activities.

Media training for scientists

Sharing your research results to generate successful impact for a broad public is important. It promotes your research, broadens your network, and can be relevant for securing funding for follow-up research. But how do you go about finding publicity, and via which channels? How can you find the right words?

In the Media training for academics you learn how to formulate a powerful message, how to attract media attention, and how to best handle this attention. After following this training course, you as a researcher will know how to handle publicity and media contact. Learn how you can communicate effectively with the media, reach your full potential and increase your visibility. Do you want to approach the media confidently about your research, apply now!

For more information and application: Media training for academics

Working with others

If you collaborate with companies, organizations, or citizen groups, take a look at the opportunities for conducting research together within the UG.

Science Shops

The Science Shops, based in various faculties, link questions posed by citizen groups, societal organizations, public bodies, and institutions to academic research.

IP & Business Development

The IP & Business Development department of the Knowledge Transfer Office, part of the Research & Impact cluster, focuses on boosting the societal impact of research and encouraging entrepreneurship. Intellectual property (IP) is often an important aspect of regional, national, and international public-private partnerships, and as such, essential in allowing promising research at the UG and the UMCG to develop further and generate impact.

Support from IP & Business Development entails help applying for patents, safeguarding intellectual property rights (IPR), commercializing research (e.g. licences or transfer agreements), and advice about launching start-up companies. The IP & Business Development team can also help you to set up public-private partnerships. This could include help identifying commercial partners, negotiating the conditions for a licence or IP transfer, and agreeing contracts.  

• More information is available on the IP & Business Development page.

Impact tool

The impact learning portal offers step-by-step tutorials and showcases designed to help you get the best out of your research using tools such as Altmetric and SciVal. The 'Impact quiz' and the 'Communication strategy tool' take you through a series of quick questions to ensure that you have everything you need to make your research easy to find, visible, and impact ready.

More information per faculty

Open Science

Open Science is a global movement that aims to disseminate academic teaching and research and make it widely accessible. The UG works hard to promote and facilitate Open Science within the academic community.       

More information and support

It is a good idea to think about ways of opening up your research process throughout the research project itself. This could mean the pre-registration of research, open research material, FAIR data, open code, open access publications, open teaching aids, and public engagement. 

Open Science

Read important information about Open Science here. For questions about Open Science in your specific field, please contact one of the Open Science ambassadors of your faculty. 

More information per faculty