Practical use of AI in marketing

At JYU, we aimed to find AI tools that would save money and especially time in creative and repetitive tasks in marketing and communications. For example, the always-on marketing in student recruitment requires constant content creation. 

Content types we produce vary widely: We were looking for AI tools to help with drafting science news, blog posts and newsletters, crafting social media posts, editing and creating photos and videos, writing subtitles, optimizing websites, etc.  

The AI pilot 2024–2025 was conducted by the Communications and Community unit, responsible for JYU’s internal and external communication and marketing. We tested more than 10 AI tools and assessed their suitability and scalability for our versatile needs. 

In this circus session, we will explain our process for selecting tools for the pilot, detail our testing methods, share our key findings, benefits and challenges, and discuss which AI tools are still in use in our unit. 

From information to storytelling: how Chalmers reframed its voice on social media

We’re changing how we communicate in our own channels, moving from sharing formal information to emotional and personal stories. By focusing on the people, places, journeys, and challenges behind the world of Chalmers, we’re creating content that connects, engages, and inspires.  

This session shares how we built a storytelling strategy for social media, why we stopped chasing content and started inviting ideas, and how emotion became a key ingredient in our communication, resulting in higher engagement, broader reach, and a more fun workflow. 

Do Talk to Strangers! Why LinkedIn might be your most effective internal comms tool

Come and hear the story of how our years-long Employee Advocacy strategy on LinkedIn turned out to be an unexpected boost for our internal communications.   

We’ll take you through our list of practical advice, do’s and don’ts, and open up our cabinet of horrors, and show you where our strategy failed.  

Promoting Diversity in Higher Education

OsloMet is committed to increasing diversity in its professional programs to ensure equal access to higher education. We believe that recruiting students who mirror societal diversity is crucial for addressing disparities in metropolitan areas. Since 2022, we have partnered with Søndre Nordstrand District in Oslo, focusing on initiatives like OsloMet-Holmlia project and ”Where Are My Brothers,” collaborating with local schools and libraries.  

The communication work is intricate and follows various narratives. The “Where Are My Brothers” project leader often says to children in the district: “You can’t be what you can’t see.” Our mission in the district is to show local children that they also can pursue higher education. These efforts bring higher education to new parts of the population and integrate cultural and social understanding into our study programs. Examples of activities include nursing students completing their practical training in Søndre Nordstrand, and journalism students contributing to the local newspaper.  

How AI helps prospective students discover the right study programs.

In 2024, the University of Bergen launched a study match that uses artificial intelligence to recommend study programs to prospective students.  

AI is used to analyse the user’s personality based on their responses, summarise key traits, and provide study recommendations accordingly. 

With this solution, users discover study programs they didn’t know about – presented in a language and style tailored to the young audience. 

The Study match uses a dedicated Tone of Voice that aligns with our social media strategy, ensuring consistency across all communications. 

How we utilised Halmstad’s skyscraper in our science communication

Having an elevator pitch for your research—is, a brief explanation that people outside your field can understand—is a valuable tool for researchers working across various contexts. At Halmstad University, we have taken this concept one step further. 

On our campus, you’ll find the Trade Center, a 22-storey building where the lift takes approximately 45 seconds to reach the top. In our concept, a researcher is tasked with explaining their research in the time it takes to ascend the high-rise – a literal elevator pitch. 

The concept has several uses. The films are available on the research project pages on our website, as a complement to the text. Researchers use them in their presentations, for example at conferences. Additionally, the videos are published on Halmstad University’s YouTube channel to share research with the public and strengthen the brand linked to Halmstad. The elevator pitches are appreciated by both researchers and funders — a winning concept! 

Web of science for 25 years

Girls in Tech

Media Academy

How to customise student content

This session explores the challenges and benefits of customising web content and transforming Umeå University’s student website. Instead of organising content by department, the new approach organises information by theme and customises it for students depending on course or programme. This change presents some obstacles and requires a new way of working for web editors. However, it offers many advantages for the users – our students – including easier access to relevant information and improved search results.

Growing Global Reach with The Conversation

TikTok work, Strategy, Planning & Content

Hiking trips with science tips

From insights to impact: mapping the student journey

If you want to reach young people navigating the complex landscape of higher education, insight is key. 

Where do they look for information? What questions are they asking themselves? And what tone of voice truly resonates with them? 

These were some of the core questions we set out to explore before developing last year’s student recruitment campaign. To find the answers, we conducted in-depth research to better understand our main target group: young people considering higher education.  

Through interviews and analysis, we mapped their user journey—from initial curiosity to final decision-making. 

In this session, we’ll walk you through the process behind the insights: how we approached the research, what we learned, and argue why this method is a powerful starting point for developing campaigns and other communication that will resonate with your target audience.    

A ritual that made the new Rector go viral 

When a new rector took office at the University of Copenhagen in 2025, the University decided to mark the event in a new way. In the communications department, we helped create an entirely new ritual based on historical silver trophies, choir singing and golden chains changing hands. With this more festive celebration, we wanted to use the occasion to showcase the University to the outside world.   

In this circus, we will tell the story of how we created a new ritual that respects the University’s history and how we successfully brought it to life on social media. Rather than issuing a press release to announce the change of rectors, we organised an event that generated massive interest and had guests sharing it on social media.   

How do you get 498 researchers to trim their hair and their profiles? 

Have you ever searched for relevant information about a researcher, only to find insufficient and useless information on their employee profile? 

We sure have. Employee profiles are some of the first pages to pop up if you Google a researcher from Aarhus University – which foundations and partners do regularly. 

So, the university made it mandatory for all employees to fill in basic information about work areas and professional profile. 

But no one did. A brand-new interface and articles about the benefits of a completed profile didn’t make a difference either. 

To solve this, we – the comms dept. at the Faculty of Health – came up with a campaign, using behavioral design and cheap tricks to turn good intentions into action and put a human face on the organisation. 

In this circus session, you will get hands-on knowledge on how we motivated busy researchers to complete the task that is always at the bottom of their to do. 

Hiking trips with science tips

 

The Brain in Focus

UiB’s student ambassadors

Digital Introduction Course for New Students- Enhancing Transition to Higher Education

Connecting University Leadership to 4,000 Employees

Hallå Campus: Reinventing Student Recruitment with Reality Storytelling

Hallå campus is Sweden’s first campus reality series, created in response to the COVID-19 pandemic when traditional student recruitment activities were canceled.  

The series, featuring 8 students and their lives at Umeå University, spans 3 seasons and 14 episodes, each around 10 minutes long. It was launched to engage prospective students digitally and support the university’s new YouTube channel. 

Out of 139,000 about 70% of views was within the target audience (ages 19–24), with high engagement and a notable increase in male viewers. It doubled the channel’s subscribers and received positive feedback for its authentic and engaging portrayal of student life.  

The project was partly produced with the universitys communications agency but was later handled in-house, earning internal pride and  nominations for several awards.  

In 2025 the concept will be used again for student recruitment.

Enhancing Transition to Higher Education: OsloMet’s Digital Introduction Course for New Students

Viten-TV – Science on screen. For everyone

Imagine a streaming platform where research and knowledge take center stage – no ads, no algorithms, no tech giants. That’s Viten-TV. Launched in autumn 2024 by the University of Bergen (UiB), the University of Western Norway (HVL), UiT The Arctic University of Norway, and the University of Stavanger (UiS), Viten-TV is a new, open platform for audiovisual science communication. 

It’s free to use, open to all, and built to share verified academic content from Norway’s higher education sector – without logins, commercial interests, or distractions. From short clips to in-depth documentaries, Viten-TV is made for the knowledge-hungry public. 

In this presentation, I’ll share the story behind Viten-TV, our vision for the future, and how we curate content. In a time of AI-generated noise and misinformation, Viten-TV offers a trusted space for science that informs, inspires, and makes an impact. 

Wiki 4-ever – how we created a podcast using Wikipedia to mediate research

Wiki 4-ever is a knowledge podcast where researchers and other experts are invited to talk, using a Wikipedia article selected by the editorial team as the starting point. The format offers a playful entry into serious topics and makes research more personal and accessible. In this session, we will share how we developed the podcast concept from scratch, from idea to production, and offer insights into our editorial process, recording workflow, launch strategy, as well as challenges. This presentation is for anyone curious about rethinking podcast formats, content planning, and audience engagement – even on a limited budget.