Communication guidelines for doctoral candidates

The dissertation announcement will include basic information both in Finnish and English about the upcoming doctoral defence and a description of the main research results and content. Please do not use abbreviations for your title.

The information both for the website and in Patio is received from the online form filled in by the doctoral candidate. It is advisable that the doctoral candidate fills the form carefully in the requested language; some fields require information in Finnish and some should only be completed in English. The same form will be used for the creation of the dissertation’s webpage both in Finnish and English. The information will be processed by the University Communications.

Before filling in the form, make sure you have all the necessary information needed to submit the form. Fill in the information in the form carefully. To publish the information of your dissertation on the website, the information must be correct and it is your responsibility to provide accurate and correct information on the form. Published information will be corrected only within limited resources.

If your dissertation is remotely accessible, please create a link address in advance of completing the form. A remote link is required before the form can be submitted.

The description text can be entered either in Finnish or in English. If you need help with the Finnish version, ask guidance from your custos or Finnish colleagues. If it is not possible to translate the text into English or Finnish, the doctoral thesis abstract can be entered in another language.

The form must be sent no later than fourteen days before the doctoral defence.

Online form for the description of research

In addition, it is hoped that doctoral candidates send a digital photo of themselves by email to the following address: viestinta@oulu.fi. The photograph will be distributed to the media with the press release, and it may be published with the news.

One or two days before the doctoral defence, Kaleva newspaper usually publishes a short news report on every doctoral candidate and doctoral defence taking place at the University of Oulu. University Communications send the information and photos to Kaleva on the basis of material submitted by the doctoral candidate.

Kaleva news coverage requires that the doctoral candidate submits the online form in the desired schedule in accordance with this instruction.

University Communications will formulate a press release based on the description provided in the online form, and distribute it to the media approximately one week before the doctoral defence. A press release will be drawn up and distributed if the dissertation and its description contain interesting information relevant to a specialist subject, and the matter can be presented in an easily accessible manner.

Press releases are distributed to, for instance, national and regional newspapers, YLE, local radio and TV channels, local newspapers in Northern Finland and some specialist magazines, depending on the scientific field of the dissertation (including Tiede, Tekniikka & Talous, Mediuutiset, Lääkärilehti).

If the doctoral candidate wants other media (such as a magazine, or the local newspaper of another region) to be informed on the dissertation, this may be indicated in the Further information section of the online form.

University Communications will not send the information to any scientific journals, but the doctoral candidate may contact them directly. Similarly, it must be agreed directly with the editorial staff of the media in question, if a wider article and/or a dissertation will be provided for its use.

Information on dissertations is also published on the university's Twitter account. University Communications will format the tweet.

Doctoral candidates can also format the tweet themselves in the Further information section of the online form and publish it on their own Twitter account. The maximum length of Twitter messages is 280 characters. The message has to contain the address of the university website used for announcing the dissertation online, appropriate hashtags and the University's hashtag #UniOulu.

The research description should be written as clearly as possible, and in an easily accessible manner. It is advisable to use short sentences and avoid scientific terms. Preferable text length is 1000–2500 characters.

The main research finding should be presented at the beginning of the description.  It is important to formulate a short headline based on the main findings. The text, which should be written with a general readership in mind, should briefly describe the research question or questions, the methods used, as well as the results obtained. Wherever possible, the practical applications of research findings should be emphasised.

The punchier the description, the greater is the probability that it will be read and understood by news editors, and the dissertation will be covered in the media. Interested editors may also contact the doctoral candidate and ask for more information already before the doctoral defence.

Further information: viestinta@oulu.fi