Dissertation news releases and public examinations on UEF’s website

The university’s Communications and Media Relations raises awareness of research carried out at the university by, e.g., adding information about upcoming public examinations in the university’s events calendar and publishing doctoral dissertation news releases on the university’s website and social media channels, and also by sharing this information with the media. The faculties’ designated Communications Specialists publish the details of each upcoming public examination, and a dissertation news release, on the university’s website. All public examinations and dissertation news releases are published on the UEF website.

To ensure a smooth communication process, please fill out the electronic dissertation form no later than two weeks before the public examination of your doctoral dissertation.

Electronic dissertation form

Doctoral candidates fill out an electronic dissertation form available in Finnish and English. Please select the language at top of the webpage. Note: If the unit requires the dissertation news release in Finnish and the English-speaking doctoral candidate cannot fill the form in Finnish, doctocal candidate should ask help for filling the form in Finnish from the supervisor or other Finnish-speaking staff of the unit.

The form is used to collect all information needed for the creation of a public examination event for the university’s events calendar, and for publishing a news release about the dissertation.

Doctoral candidates can fill out the dissertation form after they know the date and venue of their public examination, and after the faculty has given them permission to defend their dissertation in public.

Events calendar

For the purpose of adding your public examination in the university’s events calendar, doctoral candidates are asked to provide basic information about themselves and about their opponent and custos, as well as the details of their public examination. If the public examination is streamed online, a link to the stream needs to be given either on the dissertation form or by sending it by email to Communications and Media Relations at vaitos@uef.fi.

Dissertation news release

Doctoral candidates are asked to provide basic information about the topic, key findings and methods of their doctoral research on the dissertation form. Based on this information, the faculties’ Communication Specialists will prepare a brief news release for the university’s website. A more extensive press release for the media can be prepared on selected topics on a case-by-case basis.

Communications and Media Relations issues a weekly press release about upcoming public examinations, sending it to a broad selection of media in eastern Finland and to the main national media, including the Finnish News Agency STT, the Finnish Broadcasting Company YLE, MTV3 and Helsingin Sanomat. Specific newspapers and journalists interested in certain topics can also be added to the distribution.

Doctoral candidates are asked to give their contact information on the dissertation form so that journalists can contact them for more information or for an interview.

Please note that the media decide independently on whether to cover a doctoral dissertation in the news or not, and this depends on a number of things, such as the number of upcoming public examinations, how interesting the topic in general is, and what the overall news day is like. In other words, the university cannot order the media to publish any press release.

Photograph for the dissertation press release

A photo of the doctoral candidate can be included in the dissertation press release sent to the media, but this is optional. If you wish your photo to be included in your dissertation press release, please have your photo taken no later than two weeks before your public examination.

The doctoral candidate’s photo will be used both in the press release and in the doctoral conferment book. This is why the dress code for the photo should be fairly similar to the dress code of the doctoral conferment ceremony, i.e., a plain, dark, long-sleeved outfit (no extravagant jewellery; outfit colour preferably black), a tailcoat or a dark suit.

Please book a photo shoot with a photo studio. In the university’s campus towns, Joensuu and Kuopio, doctoral candidates can use the photo studios contracted by the university free of charge. UEF Communications and Media Relations (in Finnish: viestintä) pays for the photo. The photographer will make sure that your photos are delivered to all the necessary places.

• On the Joensuu Campus, please contact Photo Studio Valokuvaamo Salla Seeslahti, address: Kirkkokatu 21, tel. +358 50 549 2943, asiakaspalvelu@sallaseeslahti.com, open Mon-Fri from 9 to 5 pm. Online calendar for photography.
• On the Kuopio Campus, please contact Studio EveLiisa, address: Kasarmikatu 10, tel. +358 50 358 5433, info@studioeveliisa.fi, open Mon-Fri from 9 to 5 pm, Sat by reservation.

If you can’t use one of the contracted studios in the campus towns, you can have your photo taken in another studio. In these cases, please ask for instructions via email: vaitos@uef.fi.

If you are unable to have your photograph taken in a studio but have a studio-quality photograph available, you can send it to vaitos@uef.fi. NB! Digital photos taken with a consumer grade camera and small passport photos rarely are print quality. All photos must be 20x25cm in size, minimum resolution 300 dpi.

Contact persons at Communications and Media Relations

Each faculty has a designated Communications Specialist who takes care of press releases relating to dissertations.

• Philosophical Faculty: Communications Specialist Nina Venhe, tel. +358 50 593 0160
• Faculty of Science and Forestry: Communications Specialist Marianne Mustonen, tel. +358 44 716 2394
• Faculty of Health Sciences: Communications Specialist Ulla Kaltiala, tel. +358 40 745 6463
• Faculty of Social Sciences and Business Studies: Communications Specialist Terhi Suominen, p. +358 50 361 9280 (filling in for Sari Eskelinen 1.1.–28.6.2024).