Communication and outreach letter

Dear expedition participant,

How are we, together, going to make sure that everyone knows what we will be doing in Spitsbergen and how important our work is? That is our collective challenge. As the organisers of the expedition, we would like to include you in our communication plans for the Spitsbergen expedition and to ask for your personal contribution. Get involved and tell your story!

You, as an expedition participant, are our most important ambassador. You have without a doubt your own plans, goals, and reasons for going on this expedition. We will come back to those later. We have formulated a central message for the expedition as a whole:

‘The scientific expedition SEES.nl and the research conducted in the Arctic are of great importance to the Netherlands to learn more about climate change and the consequences of human activity.’

The coming months will be tremendously important for our expedition to succeed. We would like to generate publicity for the work that will be carried out in Spitsbergen and for the expedition’s participants on an international, national, and regional level and through all possible channels. Of course, we also want to engage the public during the expedition and afterwards, but now, we have to prepare this. At the moment, we know already about three people from the national news, and various journalists which will be on board.

The general spokesperson for the SEES organization is the expedition’s initiator, Maarten Loonen. Annette Scheepstra is responsible for the organization of the expedition and its media attention.

What can you do yourself?

As an expedition participant, you have an extensive network. In addition to regular scientific publications, there are numerous possibilities to generate attention for your work and for the expedition. You could, for example, do an interview with the University magazine or with a national, regional, or local newspaper, or a radio or television interview with your regional broadcaster. You could also consider lectures at schools, for public charities such as Rotary or Lions Club, or at your own local library. Don’t underestimate the power of social media such as Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram either.

In the press releases, we have listed some information. You are, of course, welcome to supplement it with your own plans and use it to contact media that may be interested in your story. If you need help with compiling your story or finding possible contacts, please do not hesitate to contact us. The easiest way to do so is by sending an email but we are, of course, also available by phone.

On the website https://www.SEES.nl we hope to keep track of all events and publications. Please send any of your personal successes to Maarten.

On behalf of the expedition organisers,

Maarten, Frits en Annette

m.j.j.e.loonen[at]rug.nl, +31 6-55911818

a.j.m.scheepstra[at]rug.nl, +31 6 54658965