Julia Wandt has been a member of the Executive Board of the University of Freiburg since 2021 as the responsible for the division science communication and strategy. Additionally, she has been the president for the Bundesverband Hochschulkommunikation since 2014. She is regularly active in project groups and political hearings on the status quo and future of science communication, including strategy development in science (e. g. at the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research and the Bundestag).
In times of the so-called “knowledge society”, the transfer of knowledge from universities to society, politics and business is becoming increasingly important. The pandemic has shown that we need to improve our transfer of knowledge, and that communication activities and strategies has become more important for institutions. Our communication department must take these needs into account. It is no longer just a media office, taking care of the website, the publications, social media, but must help the university management to fulfil the strategic goals of the university. To do this, we need to better connect our projects, our reporting, and our department with the University Management.
A discussion on how university communication offices will develop in the future and what we need to keep in mind.
A Talk with Uwe Steger and Gian-Andri Casutt
Moderator: Mirjam van Daalen, Switzerland, Paul Scherrer Institute PSI, Head of communication