Media relations in collaboration with other organisations

One of the tasks of the Communications Office is to provide support and guidance for personnel, such that contact with the media relating to the various forms of collaboration can be as clear and as correct as possible. Some of our guidelines in this work are presented bellow.

Logotypes and brand issues

We are generous about naming other organisations in body text in our own press releases and news articles on the website, at the same time as trying to limit the number of press announcements with similar content from a number of different organisations to the same group of journalists. We also try to restrict the number of logotypes in our press releases.

Guidelines using KI's logo and co-branding

Scientific publications

In the context of communication with the media about scientific publications, we follow the normal international practice of the scientific community; the university where the corresponding author or equivalent is active takes the leading role in the communication and distributes press releases and news tips to the media. Other partners may publish news articles at their own websites. 

More on news releases about scientific publications

Doctoral theses

Press releases about theses presented at KI by doctoral students employed by other organisations (i.e. hospitals, private enterprises, public authorities or university colleges) should be distributed by the KI Press Office. However, we are generous in naming collaborating partners in such press releases. A collaborating partner may also send out news tips to a few selected journalists, provided that it includes information about where the doctoral education and dissertation took place. Collaborating partners may, of course, also publish news stories about the thesis at their own website. 

More on news releases about doctoral theses

Corporate collaborations

In cases where private companies have been involved in a scientific study, for example, it may be justified for the parties involved to send out press releases separately. If it concerns information about a new collaboration project between our university and a company, however, a joint announcement to the media would be preferable. The communication strategy is decided from case to case. For researchers cooperating with industry, it may also be useful to know the main ethical rules drawn up by LIF, the trade association of the Swedish pharma industry. And please make sure to register your secondary occupations in Primula.

Research funding

We encourage research funders to communicate with journalists and the general public about grants and prizes that they award to our researchers. As far as possible, we try to follow up with news articles at our website and sometimes also communicate in social media. The KI Communications Offices decides how and when issues concerning our core activities should be communicated, but our goal is to be as transparent and generous as possible with information about funding organisations. This information must, for example, always be included in press releases about published scientific articles.

National facilities and EU collaborative projects

Together with other Swedish universities, KI is involved in national research facilities or resources such as SciLifeLab and NEAR. In these partnerships we follow international practice as regards to press releases about scientific articles (see above). However, when it comes to other communication with the media concerning new partnerships or apparatus, for example, the facility in question will distribute the information.

EU networks and similar international collaborative research projects are normally considered as individual units with their own profile, website and logotype. A similar division of responsibility between organisations is used as in the national research facilities. However, there are occasions when the coordinating university may take larger responsibility for press releases, as well as requests for separate national communication activities from member organisations of the network. How this work is planned is decided from case to case. When funding of several EU collaborative projects  is announced at the same time by the Commission, we try to publish one joint news article at ki.se.