Sensitive and professional media handling of research has gained the trust of academics and ensured increasing media coverage for research from Leeds' Faculty of Biological Sciences
The brief
The Faculty of Biological Sciences at the University of Leeds is one of the UK’s largest groups of life science researchers, but it was failing to get an equivalent slice of media coverage. The Faculty felt a higher profile in both mainstream and specialist media would help it to:
- recruit and retain high quality students and staff
- support applications for research funding
- develop more industrial collaborations
Campus PR was contracted to increase media coverage of Faculty research.
Our response
As only a few researchers had previous media experience and many were wary of the media or reluctant to get involved due to time pressures, it was vitally important to first generate a positive attitude to media relations within the Faculty.
We spoke at meetings of each research institute to explain the process by which we work –particularly our golden rule that nothing is released without approval from the academic. We explained why it’s important to promote research to the media and answered any queries.
We met a large number of researchers individually to discuss their research and talk through the opportunities for publicity and found the vast majority were very happy to work with us.
From the academic interviews, we identified newsworthy stories, built a calendar of future opportunities, drew up and issued press releases. We were soon gaining significant media coverage thanks to the excellent material we were able to identify. Part of our skill in achieving this was through knowing how to handle each story, deciding between exclusives or general release and judging where photography might be key.
We liaise constantly with the academic journals, funding bodies and the University’s media relations team to maximise coverage and ensure all appropriate credits are included.
Outcomes
We’ve gained the respect and trust of the academics by dealing sensitively and professionally with the stories, making the science clear and never overstating the research simply to gain a headline. Now, rather than chasing them, researchers actively come to us with story opportunities.
We’ve gained increasing coverage year on year, achieving 118 national hits from 2006-10. Not every story gains national coverage, but those that do generate multiple hits, including Channel 4 news, BBC Radio 4 (Today, World Tonight, Material World), other national radio stations, and numerous articles in the major daily and Sunday newspapers (Times, Telegraph, Guardian, Independent etc.).
In addition, we’ve gained over 1,000 hits in the specialist media and internationally in India, the USA, throughout Europe, China, Pakistan, Canada, South America and South Africa. These include newspapers, magazines, news websites and broadcast media.
Some researchers have received enquiries from potential collaborators as a result of the coverage. Many use the coverage to support further funding bids as evidence of the importance and impact of their research. The stories we generate are also used on the University website and in corporate magazines and newsletters.
