About Us
![iStock000010849371Small[1]](/ImportedImages/PR/iStock000010849371Small[1]415x293.jpg)
What we do
The press team in the PR department manage relations between King’s College London and the media, both proactively by contacting media about news and events, and also reactively by dealing with media enquiries, usually linked to the main news issues of the day.
Proactive press work
• Peer-reviewed journal research: If you are one of the lead authors then please contact the press officer for your school (see contacts below). It is important that you contact us as soon as your paper has been accepted, so we have adequate time to liaise with other academic partners and funding bodies and decide how best to publicise your work. Most research press releases are issued to media under embargo so it is important that we have enough notice to do this and allow media enough time to prepare their stories before the paper is published.
• Events: All upcoming events can be submitted for posting on the website via the King’s ‘What’s On’ webpage: http://www.kcl.ac.uk/media/whatson. You can also email us if you think the event will be particularly newsworthy, or there are several prominent speakers (and the event is not held under ‘Chatham House rules’), as we may be able to send out an invitation to media. Events that are relevant to the wider public and media will be flagged on the King’s corporate twitter feed (@KingsCollegeLon).
• Funding announcements: May be of interest if it is a major award, or long-awaited announcement. Otherwise it may be better to wait and tie any funding announcements to research news, which is more of a natural news ‘peg’ for journalists.
• Clinical trials: If you are about to begin a clinical trial, please contact us so we can consider publicising it. If you are already leading a trial which is due to come to an end soon, please let us know so we can consider publicising the results. The more notice you can give us, the better.
Ways in which we can publicise your work
• Press release to relevant national and international media
• Press conference/briefing held at King’s or jointly with another partner to announce key research breakthroughs, or as a backgrounder for media on relevant newsworthy topic.
• Web story on the King’s home page/news page as appropriate
• Stories in the College ezine, Comment, and other King’s publications
• An audio interview posted as a podcast
• Event photostream, published on King’s Facebook page
• Live tweeting of events on Twitter
• Tip offs to selected reporters covering your subject area
• A video posted on the King’s website, iKings and YouTube channels (and eventually, iTunesU channels)
• A backgrounder for reporters or ‘rapid round up’ email, featuring quotes from you and other relevant academics on a topical issue, (this is particularly useful if you are fluent languages other than English).
• Inviting media to come and visit your research facilities and department.
• Inviting you to join panel discussions/debates held for the media and general public.
KEY THINGS TO REMEMBER AND CONSIDER:
1. Language: Have you thought about how you will communicate your work to a general, non-specialist audience? Why is it important, why should we care about it? This isn’t ‘dumbing down’, but just explaining it in a simple, straightforward fashion, and allowing you to connect and engage with a much wider audience.
2. Notice: Please give the press office as much notice as possible about your work, the more time we have, the more effectively we can publicise it.
3. Availability: Please make sure you tell us if you are travelling, or going to be hard to contact around the time your work is publicised. The news agenda moves fast, so if journalists can’t reach you easily, they will drop the story and move on to something else. We need a mobile number for you before we publicise your work.
If you are contacted directly by a journalist
•Please contact the relevant Press Officer for your School if you receive any media enquiries, as it is useful for us to track media interest and coverage across the College.
• If you are unable to respond to the journalist then we may also be able to put them in touch with another academic instead, so please let us know as soon as possible.
• We monitor print, online and broadcast coverage in the UK and internationally but this is a huge job and things do get missed, so we appreciate if you let us know if you are doing any media interviews, particularly from major international press and broadcast media.
• We can also help to advise you if you are new to media work, or you think the interview may cover any controversial topics.
• All filming requests need to be handled by the Press Office in order to clear locations and make the necessary parking and security arrangements.
KEY CONTACTS
Alison Denyer Director of Public Relations
0207 848 3073 alison.denyer@kcl.ac.uk
Higher education, corporate and crisis communications
Louise Pratt Public Relations and Communications Manager
0207 848 5378 louise.a.pratt@kcl.ac.uk
Institute of Psychiatry
Emma Reynolds Press Officer (Health & Society)
020 7848 4334 emma.reynolds@kcl.ac.uk
Medicine, Biomedical Sciences, Dentistry
Anna Mitchell Press Officer (Arts & Sciences)
020 7848 3092 anna.i.mitchell@kcl.ac.uk
Arts & Humanities, Natural & Mathematical Sciences, Law, Social Science & Public Policy
Katherine Barnes International Press Officer
020 7848 3076 katherine.barnes@kcl.ac.uk
International media enquiries, Brazil, India and China Institutes
Seil Collins Press Officer
0207 848 5377 seil.collins@kcl.ac.uk
Institute of Psychiatry
Allie Johnstone Communications Officer
0207 848 3062, allie.johnstone@kcl.ac.uk
Florence Nightingale School of Nursing & Midwifery
Kyle Christie PR Co-ordinator
0207 848 3238 kyle.christie@kcl.ac.uk
Supports work of Press Officers, general media enquiries
Isabella Fitzpatrick PR Intern
0207 848 3086 isabella.1.fitzpatrick@kcl.ac.uk
Supports work of Press Officers, international media enquiries