Press coverage

Doctoral defences are often covered by press interested in academic research. The Media Relations Office liaises between the university and the media to get publicity for the PhD project through various channels.

Please submit the information about your PhD by completing this form (doc, 81 kB), and send it together with the appendices (brief and extensive summaries and CV) to media@ru.nl. All doctoral defences are announced on the academic agenda on the website of the university and the faculty. The announcements are also sent to a large group of journalists. This is what the short summary on the publicity form is intended for.

Press release or personal approach?

Some topics receive media coverage through the academic agenda. Many PhD research projects do not receive coverage, as they are too specialised or fundamental. A small number of topics are published in the media after receiving some extra attention from the Media Relations Office. This extra attention consists of a press release, personally approaching a specialised journalist, or a file in which we link the thesis to the work of others. In the latter case we use the current doctoral defence to bring an entire area of research into the limelight. Naturally we will let you know if we want to garner media attention for your PhD project. If you are interested in exploring the possibilities yourself, the NWO Media Guide (pdf, 5 MB) may give you some ideas.

Media training

If the media are interested in your PhD research, you may need some advice on dealing with them. In this case, too, the Media Relations Office is the place to go.