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If you are looking to read more about how to boost the impact of your research, we recommend the following resources, which we have used to help prepare our ‘how to’ guides:
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Please contact maxime.paulis@maastrichtuniversity.nl for questions regarding
individual support (at the UM Faculty of Law) for boosting the impact of your research.
Making it easier for others to find your research is the first step towards boosting its impact. Improving the visibility of your work results in increased citations and the expansion of your network. It is also important to lay the groundwork for your overall approach to communication, and we have outlined the steps to help you do just that. This will make your communication more effective and will make it easier to take the next steps.
Be sure to submit all of your publications to the Institutional Repository of Maastricht University (Pure). From there, the Maastricht University Library makes sure that your publication or Green Open Access author’s version (if access to the published version is prohibited by the publisher) is indexed in all major search engines for the world to find, download and read.
Your personal profile page on the Maastricht University website provides an overview of your role at the university, your areas of expertise, your publications and your work for third parties. You should keep this page up to date so people know what you are working on, and make sure your contact details are correct so people can get in touch. Find out how to edit your personal profile page here.
ORCID is a personal ID number for researchers, similar to an ISBN is for books. It provides you with a unique and persistent identifier, connecting you and your research activities throughout your career. Signing up for an ORCID identifier and using it in your research workflows will ensure that you receive credit for your work. It can also simplify manuscript submissions and improve author search results. This is extremely useful if you have used multiple combinations of your name across your publications or if you share a name with other researchers. Find out more about ORCID and how to link your identifier with PURE on UM’s ORCID support page.
If you already have social media accounts on platforms such as LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook, check out your profiles and make sure they are up to date. Ask yourself what you can do to promote your research using your profile. Can you add any past or recent publications to your profile? Can you add your ORCID iD, link to your research output in PURE or link to your personal profile page on the UM website? For more on how to use social media to boost your research impact, see our social media guide.
It is important to consider what you want to achieve by communicating and engaging with others about your research. You may have multiple communication goals, so write them down in order of importance and make sure that your communication supports your goals. Some common goals that researchers have are:
As you get started with promoting your research, what kind of audiences do you want to reach with your communication? Be as specific as possible. Are there certain segments of each group that you want to focus on? List them in order of importance. Below are some general examples, which can be divided into more specific segments:
Determining your target audiences will help you identify the most effective ways to reach these audiences. For instance, if you are using social media, undergraduate students may be more likely to use Instagram, whereas postdocs may be more likely to use Twitter. Twitter may also be more ideal if you are looking to connect with policymakers and social organisations, for instance.
Determine your ideal network and list the specific people and organisations that you want to engage with. This includes specific members of your communication target groups from step 6 and specific organisations and people that you want to get information from and engage with online (by following them on social media, reading and engaging with their blogs or participating in or collaborating on events).
Identifying your ideal network means that you have a ready-made list of which people and organisations you want to connect with on social media. It also helps you determine which channels you want to use, which blogs you want to follow and which people and organisations you want to reach when you promote your events. Furthermore, it helps you to determine how to craft your messages to effectively facilitate engagement with members of your ideal network.
You can start anywhere, but we recommend starting with the area that you find the most interesting. Are you curious about joining a social media or want to boost your impact on a platform you are already on? Then follow our step-by-step guide on ‘How to use social media’. Want to try your hand at blogging first? Follow our guide ‘How to use blogs’.
Is there another form of communication that you want to know more about besides those listed above? Let us know by sending an email to our Faculty of Law research communication advisor, Maxime Paulis at maxime.paulis@maastrichtuniversity.nl.
WIJ ZOEKEN: U bent een patiënt met CRPS (unilaterale symptomen aan de hand/pols (links of rechts)) met een leeftijd tussen 18 en 65 jaar en chronische pijn (langer dan 3 maanden) die wilt deelnemen aan onze studie of u bent een kennis van deze patiënt die geen klachten heeft. We zoeken 20 patiënten met CRPS en 20 personen zonder CRPS of pijn.
DOEL ONDERZOEK: Met dit onderzoek willen we nieuwe inzichten verkrijgen in de symptomen van het CRPS door uw hersenen in beeld te brengen met behulp van Magnetische Resonantie Beeldvorming (MRI). Deze techniek maakt foto’s van uw hersenen. Tijdens een deel van de MRI hersenscans zullen we trillingen toedienen ter hoogte van uw vingertoppen en (ongevaarlijke) elektrische prikkels toedienen ter hoogte van uw pols. De prikkels ter hoogte van uw pols zullen pijnlijk aanvoelen maar wel te verdragen zijn en u kan de intensiteit zelf bepalen. We zullen meten hoe u deze prikkels ervaart.
In dit onderzoek bekijken we een groep personen die pijn ervaren langer dan 3 maanden en de diagnose CRPS hebben. Deze groep patiënten zullen we vergelijken met een groep gezonde personen die pijnvrij zijn en geen klachten hebben. We onderzoeken hoe symptomen, gevoeligheid voor een reeks aan prikkels (zoals druk, aanraking) en de structuur en functie van uw hersenen met elkaar in verband staan. We zullen ook beoordelen hoe factoren zoals overtuigingen over pijn en emoties uw ervaring van de toegediende prikkels kunnen beïnvloeden.
Met dit onderzoek hopen we de oorzaken van de klachten van personen met CRPS en chronische pijn beter te begrijpen. Met deze kennis willen we de behandeling verbeteren met als doel symptomen te verlichten en kwaliteit van leven van patiënten te verbeteren.
U ONTVANGT: Een waardebon van €42, vergoeding van uw reiskosten en een verslag met de onderzoeksresultaten. Indien u dit wenst kunnen we ook vervoer voorzien en een overnachting in Maastricht bij 2 opeenvolgende testdagen.
WAAROM DEELNEMEN: Met uw deelname helpt u de onderzoekers om meer inzicht te krijgen in de hersen-, psychologische-, sensorische- en pijnmechanismen die betrokken zijn bij CRPS symptomen. Met uw deelname helpt u ook mee in de zoektocht naar een betere behandeling van CRPS omdat we met dit onderzoek meer inzicht zullen verkrijgen in de onderliggende mechanismen van dit syndroom (bv. invloed van het brein).
Interesse in deelnemen? Stuur ons een e-mail: pijn_en_brein-fpn@maastrichtuniversity.nl
We aim to see how brain stimulation can boost attention by strengthening connections in your brain.
Imagine a juicy apple. Is it red or green? How much detail do you see? How vivid does the image feel?
We are looking for healthy participants (16 years or older) to participate in a project that investigates our ability to create images like this in our mind. We are interested in the wide range of mental imagery vividness from weak or absent to very strong and vivid - and anything in-between. As a first step, we need to collect a database of people with a wide range of mental imagery vividness to help us get an overview of the variation in our sample.
Filling in the online questionnaire will take you only around 5 minutes.
To investigate how different types of memory perform under pressure, and how hormones influence this, we are looking for student participants.
Who?
Healthy (fe)males, 16 - 35 years
Who not?
Individuals with cardio-respiratory disease, pregnancy, >10 cigarettes/week, psychological disorder
Where?
Universiteitssingel 40
Duration?
90 min and is rewarded with 1.5 SONA point or a raffle 1/5 change to win 20euro (cadeaubon.nl voucher)
In this study you will be randomly placed in one of two conditions: a control condition or a condition in which you will do a test with cold water that can cause a feeling of discomfort and can be painful. Both conditions are followed by two different memory tests. Females will fill-in some questions regarding their hormonal cycle.
Interested? Sign-up by sending an email to fpn-mupstudy@maastrichtuniversity.nl
UM is part of the twinning project Brain Research and Integrative Neuroscience Network for COVID-19 (BRAINN), together with the University of Cyprus (Cyprus), King’s College London (UK) and the University of Ghent (Belgium). BRAINN aims to characterize the effects of COVID-19 on brain health and to elevate the standards of assessment, diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of patients with mental health and cognitive problems due to COVID-19. To this purpose, the University of Maastricht is conducting an online study using different cognitive assessment tools adapted in Dutch to explore neuropsychological deficits in people with prolonged COVID-19 (compared to general Dutch population); that is, people who still experience difficulties, despite the end of the disease. The participation is open to all Dutch-speaking population, and it’s the first of its kind in the Netherlands. For more information, please visit https://www.ucy.ac.cy/brainn/welcome/ and, if interested in participating, please click here.
70 euro compensation – July participation possible
We are looking for participants in a new VR study that investigates whether the formation of unwanted and distressing thoughts after a traumatic experience can be prevented. This is done by administering an over the counter medication in the form of a nasal spray that could temporarily disrupts memory storage. This medication is compared to a nasal spray with no effects.
Are you taking part in the study?
It will take about 5.5 hours in total spread over 4 sessions and you will receive 70 euros.
First, there is a 30-minute screening, followed by the test day of about 3.5 hours, of which you may do something for yourself for 1.5 hours. Both sessions take place at the Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience (Randwyck). After the test day, you will use an app to keep a diary on your smartphone for 7 days (about 5 minutes per day). An online interview of 15 minutes occurs after this week, followed by a second online interview of 15 minutes one month later.
Interested?
First, we want to know if you are eligible to take part. Therefore, we will do a short telephone screening.
Please send you phone number to fpn-cogintruders@maastrichtuniversity.nl
Ever thought about how our eyes make sense of the world around us? The adventure into perceptual skill learning awaits, and we want YOU to be part of the journey!
👀 What's In Store?
At our cutting-edge Perception Lab, we're running multiple projects simultaneously focused on visual perceptual learning. Whether you're into orientation discrimination, texture segregation, or contrast sensitivity – there's a study for everyone! Visual perceptual learning is like a workout for your brain's visual processing. It's the process through which your brain hones its ability to interpret and make sense of visual information. Picture it as a fascinating journey where your neurons get into shape, enhancing your ability to discriminate subtle differences, segregate textures with finesse, and amplify your contrast sensitivity.
🚀 Why Participate?
🔍 How to Join the Fun:
Simply shoot us an email expressing your interest, and we'll guide you through. Send an email to ylka.kolken@maastrichtuniversity.nl and we will figure out what study suits you best!
Imagine you would only see objects and surface’s boundaries but nothing in-between. You would not be able to grasp objects. Functional visual perception requires perceiving edges as well as filling-in the surfaces within. How do we fill-in surfaces?
We are running a behavioural-fMRI study to understand the underlying mechanisms of surface filling-in.
Your task will be to indicate when the grey square is filled in by the background texture and completely disappears.
The study consists of at least 3 sessions. The first session is a behavioural session with eye-tracking of ~1h30 maximum in the psychophysics lab to assess your focus, your capacity to continuously fill-in this square. If the behavioural results show enough filling-in, we will continue with two fMRI sessions of ~2h each.
You can be compensated by 1 SONA points or 7.5e per hour for all of the sessions.
If you are interested, motivated and able to focus well, please send an email to anna.razafindrahaba@maastrichtuniversity.nl and kenshu.koiso@maastrichtuniversity.nl
Maastricht University has started a study regarding the effects of LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide) on brain activity and social behavior. For this study, we seek:
HEALTHY VOLUNTEERS (18 - 35 years old) IN A RELATIONSHIP: Who have previously used a psychedelic drug (e.g.: 2C-B, truffles, magic mushrooms, LSD, DMT, mescaline), and who will participate with their partner.
You will participate in this study with your partner. On two separate dosing days you will both visit the lab, and will both randomly receive either LSD or placebo. Together, you will undergo a 1 hour EEG session, which is a brain imaging technique that records electrical activity of your brain. You will do a series of computer and talking tasks with your partner to see how social you feel. Some of these tasks will be video and audio recorded. Blood samples will be taken at various intervals through a tube in your arm. These days will last 8 hours, so you will need to be comfortable with sitting still for long periods of time.
After the dosing day, there will be 2 follow-up days. One day you will visit the lab with your partner, and complete tasks and questionnaires asking about how social you feel. One day you will complete a questionnaire at home alone, asking about your relationship quality and sexual activity. Additionally, up to 4 days after a dosing session, you will be asked short questions about how you feel via an app on your mobile device. This cycle will be repeated for two times, after a 14-day waiting period. The study ends once you have completed both drug conditions or choose to withdraw from the study.
Once getting into contact with us and deciding to participate, you’ll need to sign a consent form. After this, you will be asked to complete drug andmedical questionnaires alongside a medical screening to check study eligibility. The medical examination lasts approximately 45 minutes, and will precede the dosing days. The study consists of 5 visits, for a total 19 hours of participation across 4 weeks.
At the end of your participation in the study (if completed and depending on your task performance), you’d receive a remuneration of 190 Euros. In addition, all your travel fees would be reimbursed.
Curious about participating?
If you are interested or have any queries, you can contact us at: fpn-pim_p139@maastrichtuniversity.nl or call (043) 38 81382
Contact and sign up via SONA or pain-research-fpn@maastrichtuniversity.nl. Download the full flyer.
Are you a student at either Maastricht, Leiden or Amsterdam (UvA) Universities? Do you own a smartphone and have a good knowledge of English? Then you might be the right participant for our 4-weeks smartphone study. We are curious to learn more about your daily life, behaviours and emotions
By participating in the study you can get 2 Research credits and up to 60€, or 75€ in VVV vouchers as compensation. Do you want to join? Click here.
When it comes to finding topics for your blog, think about the things that you find interesting.
Consider writing about:
Your interest and enthusiasm for the topic will come across in the text and will be engaging for readers.
You can try out blogging by writing a post for Law Blogs Maastricht. This will give you a good idea of what blogging is like in a forum that already has an active readership. Read the guidelines for writing LBM blogs and send us an email at law-blogs@maastrichtuniversity.nl to let us know what you are interested in writing about.
Here are some blog posts from your colleagues at the Faculty of Law to give you an idea of how to write a blog post and what you can write about:
See our additional guide
on writing blogs for LBM
See our social media guide
Some people feel more confident talking about their research in a video than they do writing about it in a blog post.
And some internet users will sooner watch a short video than read a lengthy text. Video blogs, called vlogs, are a great way to connect with an audience and get your message across.
If you’re interested read the guide on how to use videos to promote your research.
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Please contact f.hoekstra@maastrichtuniversity.nl for questions regarding support at the UM Faculty of Law.
There are many social media platforms that you can use, but look first at where your primary target groups are and how you want to interact with them. If you are new to social media, we recommend starting with LinkedIn, as this platform has a professional focus for most users and it has shown to boost the impact of researchers at the Faculty of Law. This guide is focused on this platform but also contains tips that are relevant for getting started on other social media platforms.
Some social media platforms are specifically geared towards connecting with other researchers and students, including:
No matter what social media platform you choose (we recommend starting with LinkedIn), you can take the following steps to get started.
Consider carefully what you would like to achieve through social media and what is realistic for you time-wise.
Focus on content and providing value in your posts.
You can post about subjects such as:
To use social media during your research process you can:
ask about who might have expertise in a specific area so you can start a collaboration,
poll your followers to see what type of follow-up research people are most interested in,
ask others for ideas about how to solve problems you run into,
request links to the best article about a topic that is not in your field of expertise,
get feedback on new ideas.
Using visuals, such as infographics, photos and videos, on social media is one of the most effective ways to help users to understand your message better, to interact with you more and to be more likely to share your content. Here are some statistics from Social Media Today:
You can start by adding photos of yourself or images of the subjects in your research.
See the video guide for more information on how to create videos.
Social media boosts the impact of your research by helping it to be seen by a wider audience. If your published articles are open access, they can be shared directly on social media. However, if they are behind a paywall, you can work with the University Library at Maastricht University to see if it is possible to publish a freely accessible author’s final version (AAM) or a summary. They will also take care of the correct license for access and reuse, in some cases after an embargo period.
If you have a blog, you may also be able to summarise your article or different aspects of it in a blog post, depending on the conditions set by your publisher. That way, if your full article is not shareable on social media, you can link to more information on your blog. Writing blog posts about your research is also a good way to explain your research in everyday language to a wider audience.
This means that sometimes you are more likely to reach a non-academic audience if you share your blog posts on social media than if you share your articles directly. You can then link to your published article in the blog posts if people want to read further.
See our guide on how to use blogs for more information.
Skill endorsements
Once you add a skill to your profile, your connections can publicly endorse those skills. You can ask your colleagues to endorse you or you can start endorsing your colleagues, which might prompt them to return the favour.
Articles
On LinkedIn, you can publish articles about your expertise or areas of interest. Your articles are shared on your profile as well as in the news feeds of your connections and followers. Articles are a good way to expand your professional network.
They can also be shared on other platforms. If your profile is set for ‘everyone’ to be able to see it, then your articles will be searchable both on and off LinkedIn.
Remember to include not only your position, but also your area of expertise in your headline so people can find you.
To get a general idea of how your social media posts increase your research impact, you can run some experiments to see how they affect your article views and downloads, which most publishers will give you access to.
Pick a platform and post about your research to see how many article views and downloads you get after a few days. You can try out different social media platforms as well as different types of posts. Add photos, infographics or videos and see what makes a difference. Talk about the social impact of your research, the personal impact it has had on you or ask questions to try and prompt a discussion. See which approach increases your views the most.
This is not a scientific approach, as your number of article views is only a small measure of your impact and some posts can continue to increase your views after more than a few days, depending on who shares them and when.
But it should give you an idea about which platforms and approaches are immediately effective at increasing your article views.
Please contact maxime.paulis@maastrichtuniversity.nl for questions
regarding support at the UM Faculty of Law
Videos open up creative ways to show your audience that your research impacts (or has the potential to impact) real people in real ways.
It is important to identify what you want to communicate and why before you start creating your video. You may have multiple communication goals, so write them down in order and make sure that your video supports your goals. Some possible goals are:
By following these simple steps, you can plan and create a video that meets your communication goals and effectively boosts the impact of your research.
Who do you most want to reach with your message?
Defining your message simply means deciding what you want to say to your target group to meet your communication goals. This can be a simple outline of the most important information, or talking points, that you want to include in your video.
Keep your target group in mind and what they will likely find to be the most interesting and relevant aspects of your research. And try to get feedback on this. If your target group is students, for instance, ask a couple of students what they think about your talking points and if there is anything else they think you should include.
Consider the channels that are most used by your target group and list all of the channels that you want to use to promote your video. The channels you use could impact the format and length of your video, for instance.
These channels could include:
Twitter science channels like:
Choose the best format for how to tell your story, keeping in mind your primary communication goals, target group, visual materials, budget and time.
There are many options for formats, some of which are:
You don’t need a big budget (or any budget) to make a video these days. But if you want a video with a higher production value, custom animations or images, assistance with filming and editing, a translation for captions, etc., you will need funding.
Talk to your manager to decide what your budget should be based on your needs.
Based on your storytelling format and budget, you can decide if you will be filming, editing and uploading the video yourself, enlisting the help of a colleague or students, or hiring someone else (including the UM Student Video Team).
If you decide to film the video yourself using a smartphone, you can borrow additional filmmaking equipment from the University Library, including a mini-tripod/selfie stick, external microphone (to reduce noise interference) and a light.
If you decide to hire someone else, you can find more information about hiring the UM Student Video Team or one of the university’s preferred suppliers on the UM webpage for employees about videos. This page also provides you with information about subtitles and uploading the video to the UM channels.
Usually, the channels that you want to use to distribute the video will publish information about the technical specifications your video needs to adhere to in order to be uploaded to their site. You will most likely be able to preview your video before it is published in case there are any technical incompatibilities.
Depending on the distribution channels you have selected, shooting your video in landscape (horizontal) format is usually most appropriate, followed by a square format.
You should shoot the video in the highest resolution you can and then you can reduce the correct resolution when you edit the video for each channel.
When choosing a location for your video shoot, consider the following:
If you are using a storytelling format that includes scripted speech or narration, for instance, you will need to write out a script for these parts of the video.
For most of the other formats, you can write a general outline that will give you a structure to follow when you shoot the video. If you are hiring a production company, they will likely take care of this step.
Just make sure that they fully understand your communication goals, target audience and message before they start working on it.
Have fun! And if you start to feel nervous or unnatural in front of the camera, you can always stop, take a deep breath or do some quick exercises to help get the tension out of your body. You can also consider placing a friend behind the camera so you are talking to a person instead of a piece of equipment.
Do whatever you need to do to feel like yourself and be engaging for the audience.
You can edit your video yourself or ask the UM video team to arrange this for you.
Using your list of distribution channels, start uploading! Include an attractive title that tells potential viewers what your video is about. Depending on the channel, you may also have room to include a short description of the video in addition to the title. Use that space to include a teaser that includes the most interesting aspect(s) of your research video.
To upload the video to the Faculty of Law webpages or channels, please contact f.hoekstra@maastrichtuniversity.nl
We are here to help!
There are a lot of things to consider when creating a video, so please remember that the research communication advisor at the Faculty of Law is here to support you. The communication advisor can help you come up with a plan for your video and help you with any questions you have. All you have to do is send an email to f.hoekstra@maastrichtuniversity.nl to set up a meeting.
If you want to upload your video to the central pages on the UM website, you can follow the instructions on the UM video webpage.
1. Frontload the most interesting information: Put the most interesting information at the beginning of a video since not all audience members will watch until the end of the video. Try to get them hooked within the first 30 seconds.
2. Be brief: Video viewers are not a captive audience and will likely stop watching if it takes too long to get the information they are looking for or if they stop being interested. Try to keep the video around 5 minutes or less.
3. Be yourself: Talk into the camera as if you were talking to a friend, colleague or student, depending on who your target audience is. You can always have someone stand behind the camera who you can talk to if this feels more natural to you.
4. Tell a story that relates your research to the audience: Explain how your research relates to your audience. Use examples, anecdotes, personal stories, analogies and statistics that your audience can relate to.
5. Try out your script or outline before you shoot: You can use the voice recorder on your phone or computer to run through your script or talking points a few times before you shoot. This will allow you to focus on what you want to say and how you want to say it before you start considering physical aspects such as your body language and facial expressions.
Whether you are using your phone or laptop, you can record a high-quality video using the tips below
For a video abstract that will be published with your journal article or will be used to describe and point to your published article, try to include the following information:
Structure your message
Don’t forget, the University Library has equipment you can borrow to shoot your own video!
Once your video is published, you can attract viewers by promoting it on a variety of communication channels:
Social media: Use our social media guide to help you promote your video on social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
Research platforms: There are a number of platforms, such as We Share Science, you can use to share your research video with others who are interested in research. These are also great places to get inspiration from the videos posted by other academics.
Your personal website: If you have your own website, you can publish your video on the most appropriate pages (homepage, publications, research).
Your blog: Use our guide on blogs to help you promote the video on your blog. When you post the video on your blog, you should also link to your publication and consider adding a transcript of your video if you have one.
The Maastricht University website or YouTube channel: Is your video relevant for certain research institutes, the general UM research page, the UM intranet or even the homepage? If you want to add your video on the central pages on the UM website, you can follow the instructions on the UM video webpage. To upload the video to the Faculty of Law webpages or channels, please contact f.hoekstra@maastrichtuniversity.nl
Academic journal: If your video is a research abstract of a publication in a journal or if it illustrates part of your research, you can inquire with the journal if you can add your video next to the abstract for your paper.
Personal profile pages: If you have a personal profile page, you can publish a link to your video here.
Check out UM’s webpage for employees about videos. This page gives you a good overview of your options regarding video production. These options include working with the Student Video Team or a number of preferred suppliers that have been selected by the university for the quality of their work. It also contains information about adding subtitles to your videos and guidelines for submitting your video for placement on the UM video channels and YouTube, as well as uploading to the Video Management System that provides you with analytics oversight.
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Please contact f.hoekstra@maastrichtuniversity.nl for
questions regarding support at the UM Faculty of Law
Before you approach the press office, consider how the press will determine if your research is newsworthy enough for publication. This will help you determine how to pitch your research to the press officers. Ask yourself if it falls under any of the following categories:
There are, of course, exceptions to what can be considered newsworthy and the press officers can help you determine this.
The press officer will most likely write the press release, but you need to provide the officer with the most relevant information for journalists. Consider what the most newsworthy aspects of your research are and explain them clearly, with supporting facts, to the press officer. Be brief, direct, accurate and informative. And remember to include ‘who, what, when, where, why, and how’.
Even if the press officer crafts a perfect press release, it is not a guarantee that your story will be picked up by the media. It is ultimately up to the journalists or editors whether they want to publish your story and many factors go into their decisions.
You also might be contacted by a member of the press directly if they need an expert comment for a story they are working on. This request could come directly from the journalist or via the university’s press office.
If a journalist contacts you directly and you do not feel prepared to comment immediately, especially if they are asking about a controversial issue, you are free to get their number to call them back after you have taken some time to gather your thoughts or consult with a press officer.
But call them back as soon as possible and agree with them on a time to call back or they could move on to another expert. They are almost always working against very tight deadlines.
Be thoughtful about how you word things so that a journalist cannot easily misunderstand you or take something that you say out of context. You can minimise this risk by first discussing your story with the journalist informally so that you each have the chance to make sure there is a mutual understanding of the facts and the tone of the news story. Assume that anything you say in this ‘pre-interview’ is on the record and can be published by the reporter.
If the journalist is not known to you or is not part of a reputable news organisation, it is wise to check out their previous work or their news organisation’s work before agreeing to an interview and decide if you will have a fair chance of presenting your message as you intend it. The press officers can also help you determine this, but it is good for you to have a feel for your conversation partner. You can request to have a press officer present with you in your meeting if the interviewer has a reputation for being controversial. If you are not comfortable with the situation, then it might be best to decline doing an interview or providing a quote.
Most journalists will make every effort to make sure that they understand what you intend to say and will represent it fairly. Usually, you will not be given the chance to comment on the final article or news story, but let the journalist know that you are happy to be contacted for additional information or clarification. If you realise after the interview that you have misrepresented a fact, call the journalist immediately to offer a correction. It is difficult to get a retraction once a story is published.
When you are preparing for a live interview, for instance, on television, radio, podcast or online streaming, discuss the content with the journalist, producer or presenter beforehand to:
Practice what you are going to say, but not so much that your answers sound rehearsed. Make a mental note of what you do and do not want to say on air. Identify a few talking points without creating a full script. You can also practise answering potential interview questions with a colleague, friend or press officer.
1. Get support from the press office: The UM press office should be one of your first point of contact when it comes to dealing with the press. You are the expert on your research, but they are experts in communicating with the media.
2. Identify your talking points beforehand: Prior to the interview, identify 3 to 4 points you want to convey and support these points with interesting examples, anecdotes or analogies.
3. Conduct mock interviews: Practise answering questions with your colleagues, family and friends. If you are preparing for a television or livestream interview, have someone record it so you can evaluate your body language.
4. Make sure you understand the question: Listen carefully to the question and ask for clarification if necessary.
5. Use everyday language: Avoid scientific terminology if possible. If you must use a term that is likely not familiar to the audience, offer a simple explanation or analogy.
6. Keep your answers brief and direct: Get directly to the point and reference a talking point whenever possible because you may not get another opportunity.
7. Cite facts and statistics: Use verifiable facts and figures to add authority and interest to your talking points.
8. Deflect questions you want to avoid: You can respond to a narrow question with a broad answer that leads into one of your talking points.
9. Correct mistakes: If you misspeak, speak up as soon as you realise it (even if that is while you are speaking about something else) and correct your response immediately because you may not get a chance to later. If the interviewer presents incorrect information, politely set the record straight by providing the correct information.
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Please contact f.hoekstra@maastrichtuniversity.nl for
questions regarding support at the UM Faculty of Law
Social engagement benefits both you as a researcher and society in many ways, including the following:
You may have multiple purposes, so identify all of them and make sure that your engagement activities support your goals.
Some common goals that researchers have are:
Engaging through social media
Social media platforms are full of people who are happy to share their opinions. This makes it an excellent way to engage with members of society. For instance, you can create polls, crowdsource ideas for research questions or potential collaboration partners, and discuss how your results can be applied in ways that benefit society.
See more in our guide on how to use social media to boost the impact of your research.
Which demographic would you like to reach? Consider age, gender, profession, location.
Some possibilities of engagement activities:
What type of engagement activities are most appropriate for your goals and your target group?
Is there a social organisation you can team up with to reach your target group? Is there another researcher or group you can collaborate with that may have similar goals?
What are some ways that your colleagues have engaged with the public? If you already have an idea of an activity, what do your colleagues or members of the public think about it? Who can you ask about the best ways to engage with your target audience?
Once the planning is done, it is time to get started. If your engagement involves an event, don’t forget to ask the participants for feedback. You can use this to optimise your next event.
Share ideas and get feedback from other researchers
MPCER is for UM researchers from various disciplines who are looking to have a positive impact on society by engaging the community in their research and to collaborate with researchers who have the same ambition.
Maastricht University has an Open Science policy and offers you support in putting these principles into practice.
The following steps for applying Open Science principles include links to the opportunities for support:
The Research Data Management Guide from the University Library, which explains how to manage your data in each step of the research process in a way that protects it while you are conducting your study and makes it possible for it to be openly accessible after publication (possibly after an embargo period). As part of this, you are asked to submit all Author Accepted Manuscripts of peer-reviewed articles to the institutional repository.
Submitting your research in Pure ensures that your research can be found in all the major indexes and search engines, making your research accessible to everyone in the world, in some cases after an embargo period.
Maastricht University has an Open Science policy and offers you support in putting these principles into practice.
Meaning that whenever possible, your research data should be Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable. The University Library takes care of the workflows and the legal formalities to make your research FAIR by:
UM has OA publishing deals in place to enable you as a researcher to publish Open Access without paying Article Processing Charges (APC). Find out more about Open Access resources available through the University Library.
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Please contact f.hoekstra@maastrichtuniversity.nl for questions
regarding support at the UM Faculty of Law