Featured Experts: Dr. Oliver Schmidtke, University of Victoria
Professor Oliver Schmidtke is a regular contributor to national and international media.
Fields of expertise: Immigration and citizenship, Identity politics, and Comparative European politics
Contact info: ofs@uvic.ca
EUCAnet invited Oliver Schmidtke to share some tips and advice about his outreach expertise:
“Media appearance challenges scholars to condense complex information into a simple message that can easily be understood by a broader public (in style, use of vocabulary, demeanor, etc.). When preparing an interview it is important to come up with some key messages addressing the topic at hand. During the interview it is critical to create an environment in which the stress of the interview situation is minimized (technology, etc.) and to make sure that there is time to find the proper composure to start the interview (have a couple of minutes of quite time before the interview starts, focus on how to open the interview and so on). ”
“Media appearances can be challenging and we are poorly trained as academics to conduct them. Still, working with media provides scholars with an outstanding opportunity to engage with a wider audience and communicate their scholarly expertise in a way to engage with the wider public. In addition, in times of fake news and systematic misinformation it is essential that scholars make their knowledge available to the wider public and engage in public debates.”
For more information about the media appearances and contributions of our academic experts, please visit the following page.
