3rd Annual PRIDE Conference (virtual event)

5 & 6 May 2021 – The 3rd Annual PRIDE Conference will be held online.

Giving a voice to professionals in doctoral education – how do we communicate and position ourselves?

The 3rd PRIDE conference brought together almost 200 professionals from 39 countries to exchange ideas on the topic of communication.

Thinking of the job profile of professionals in doctoral education, communication skills are one major must-have. Universities are complex organizations with diverse stakeholders who have different needs and goals. Professionals in doctoral education are expected to have an awareness of the interplay of these different interests in their working environment and to be able to communicate with the diverse stakeholders. Given such a complexity of activities, communication in the field of doctoral education is a challenging task. Especially in times of COVID-19 professionals were challenged by the new circumstances.

The following topics habe been discussed with experts (also in the light of the challenges of COVID-19):

  • Communicating within university management (academics and non-academics)
  • Communicating with doctoral candidates
  • Communicating beyond the university (for instance , local businesses, press and social media, community groups)

The pictures below, taken by Anna Fritsche as a graphic recording during the conference, reflect important points of the discussion.

What are the goals when communicating with the different stakeholders? How do professionals position themselves in their environment? What are communication strategies and tools? What are the challenges when communicating with the different stakeholders? What are communication no-go´s with certain interest groups? What are good practices?

These and other questions have been addressed at the PRIDE annual conference 2021.

Our Speakers

Åse Gornitzka, Vice-Rector and professor of Political Science at the University of Oslo

Vitalba Crivello, Science Policy & Communication Expert at European Science-Media Hub (STOA), DG EPRS at European Parliament

Douglas Halliday, Vice-Chair of the UK Council for Graduate Education and Director of the Durham Global Challenges Centre for Doctoral Training

Maura Hannon, expert and trainer in the field of communication and writing with focus on digital media space

Oriana Bertucci, project manager in the Research Office at the University of Liège in Belgium

Denis Billotte, Secrétaire général at Conférence universitaire de Suisse occidentale – CUSO

Brigitte Lehmann, CEO at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Humboldt Graduate School