(Often referred to as the staff ezine)
Staff News is a weekly roundup of news and events for staff at the University of Aberdeen.
The newsletter is created and distributed by the Communications team. All submissions will be reviewed and edited before publication to ensure a consistent tone and style throughout.
You can submit contributions to both the staff and student newsletters via this online form. Submissions received via email may be missed, so to guarantee your story appears in the ezine, please only submit via the online form above.
The deadline for contributions is 5pm on Tuesday for publication on Thursday. If your submission is received after this time, we will do our best to include it. If we are unable to, it will feature in the following week's ezine.
The order of articles will be decided by the Communications team when all submissions have been received.
Guidelines for contributions to Staff News
- Repeat submissions
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We can only guarantee a news item or event will be shared in a maximum of two issues of the ezine. This ensures we are not repeating the same content and everyone has the opportunity to have their stories shared. If you submit an article for a third issue of the ezine, inclusion will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
- Events
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We share a maximum of nine events in each issue of the ezine. If we receive more than nine submissions, events occurring first will be prioritised. Submissions not used will be included in a subsequent issue ahead of the event.
If your event is fully booked at the time of sending the newsletter, it will not be included in the listings.
- Target audience
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Staff News is for University of Aberdeen news and events only. We have limited space so requests to include information about partner events, personal achievements of employees, fundraising efforts, or anything not directly related to the University will be considered for the Community pinboard feature on a case-by-case basis.
Teams can share a maximum of three articles in any one issue. Please note, the newsletter is sent to all staff, research postgraduates and honorary staff, and as such submissions should be relevant to this large audience. For smaller events or targeted communications, please consider your local newsletters or department mailing lists.
If your submission is better suited to the student newsletter, we reserve the right not to include it. You can submit to the student newsletter only via the same form.
- What is the best format? Word count, images and links
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Word count
Articles should be no longer than 75 words. Please note, all submissions are subject to editing.
If the word count exceeds this, your article should be added to an appropriate webpage by an administrator in your team and a “read more” link should be provided.
If your team doesn’t have an appropriate section of StaffNet to add articles to, your article will be uploaded to the general news or events pages of StaffNet.
Sharing shorter articles with a consistent word count will help ensure that readers can easily find the content that's of interest to them.
Images
Images should be eye-catching and appropriate to the article submitted. Contributors should ensure that they have permission to use an image before it is submitted for inclusion.
Images should ideally be square or a 4:3 ratio. Poor quality or blurred images will not be used.
Please be conscious that images included in StaffNet News are small. Large group shots of people and logos may not resize well and should be added to webpages rather than submitted for inclusion in the newsletter. The same image or logo will not be used more than once in any one issue of the newsletter.
For accessibility purposes, graphics should not include significant amounts of text.
If the image supplied has too much text on it, or is otherwise unusable, an appropriate alternative chosen by the Communications team will be used instead.
Links
No more than two links should be included in any one contribution. This includes emails addresses.
Guidance for each article
- Getting to Know
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What does a typical day at work look like for you or your team? With a diverse workforce of around 3,000 people, the University has expertise in areas you probably aren’t even aware of.
Our “Getting to know…” articles will help you learn more about the work of individual colleagues, or understand the work of different teams across the institution and give you a platform to share more about your role at the University.
If you’d like to tell people about your role at the University, download the Personal template here. Or shout about the work your Team is doing here. Send completed forms to communications@abdn.ac.uk.
- My Other Life
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Do you have a hidden talent, an unusual hobby or a favourite pastime that keeps you busy outwith work? If so, we would love to hear more about it.
- Retirements
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Who in your team is stepping back? Which colleagues are getting ready for life after work? Pay tribute to those who have had a big impact in their time at the University of Aberdeen in this feature which give thanks to retiring staff.
Information should be submitted along with supporting imagery.
- Volunteers for research studies
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Requests for volunteers to take part in research studies can be submitted for inclusion in the staff newsletter, however only one of these will be included each week on a first come, first served basis.
- Campus Champs
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With thousands of people living, working and studying at the University, it takes a small army of professionals to carry out the myriad of activities needed to keep us safe, warm and able to focus on our own tasks. Meet the dedicated people who keep day to day life on campus running smoothly.
- Community pinboard
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Want to share news about what you are doing outside of work with your colleagues? Limited space is available on the Community pinboard for partner events, personal achievements, fundraising efforts and other activities not directly related to the University.