Tag: eusja

  • Moving from research career into science writing: lessons from Ireland and UK

    By Tom Kennedy

    Researchers sometimes wonder if they should, or even could, start broadcasting or writing about science. Is it possible to take leave of the lab and become a science communicator?

    This was the question uppermost in the minds of science postdocs at Queen’s this month when they gathered to hear what a panel of experienced science journalists had to say about what they do and how they had first entered the field.

    The workshop, organised jointly by the Irish Science and Technology Journalists’ Association (ISTJA) and the Association of British Science Writers (ABSW) and hosted by the Centre for Experimental Medicine at Queen’s, had an impressive line up of writers and broadcasters, all ready to share their knowledge and give the postdocs tips on how to carve out a niche in the highly competitive world of communications.

    As the postdocs were told, they are already well on the road to become a communicator because they can get going with two distinct advantages, in-depth knowledge of science and a command of English.

    Sabine Louet who once worked as news editor with Nature, commented that changing over from her native French to English had given her journalistic career a considerable boost.

    Having a hands-on knowledge of science gives a journalist a considerable edge over those who are unlikely to understand the concepts or have the ability to unravel the arcane peer-to-peer code used between scientists. When asked for advice on how to get into communications, this writer said that the science should always come first, and only then the writing.

    The term ‘science communications’ is often assumed to embrace, or even be the same as science journalism, but as everyone on the panel agreed, simply lumping the two together is a serious but widespread error. While the term ‘communications’ usually refers to such activities as outreach, managed content or PR, science journalists fight hard to maintain their independence.

    The panel members stressed the importance of this distinction because journalists, unlike communicators, have a vital role to play in presenting the public with unbiased content. A person employed as a communicator is always obliged to present a positive view, and scientists have been known to lie, claiming to be right, when they are, in fact, wrong. If only to have a well-informed society, independent science journalists are needed to cover important issues by raising questions and asking for second opinions.

    Post-grads, of course, are free to make their choices between entering the relatively cosy, and often well-paid world of managed communications, or embarking on the more difficult path into science journalism.

    As talented journalist such as Claire O’Connell, Leo Enright or Anthony King could demonstrate, it is possible to follow this freelance route and thrive. How each of these journalists and the others on the panel had successfully broken into the field is, in each case, a completely different story.

    As the long established broadcaster, Leo Enright, recalled, his high profile as space correspondent all began when he had the good luck to get a press pass enabling him to report back on the Moon mission launch.

    Marine scientist, Olive Heffernan, got hooked on journalism when Seán Duke asked her to write up a report in Science Spin, and Maria Delaney, 2015 winner of the ABSW Newcomer Award for Britain and Ireland, started off by writing a blog. Writing the blog, she said, was relatively easy to do and it gave her the confidence to plunge into the wider field of journalism. Editors spotted the exceptional quality of her reporting leading on to features in The Sunday Times, Guardian and other papers.

    Emma Stoye, senior science correspondent with Chemistry World, got her break working as an intern for the Naked Scientist show. Marie Boran, who writes a weekly column in The Irish Times is one of the few that began with a PhD from Dublin City University in science communications (more info here). Claire O’Connell, a regular contributor to the Irish Times, had been following a brilliant research career when she decided that journalism was a more attractive option.

    Like Anthony King, whose work regularly features in Irish and international publications, Claire keeps lot of irons in the fire. Both said that they would have lots of stories on the go, ready to finish up on getting an editorial go-ahead. Their advice to aspiring writers is not to put all their eggs in the one basket, get to know what editors want, and before finishing an article, submit an outline first. Also, new writers should not be overcome by disappointment if their initial offerings are turned down, or worse, ignored. There can be all sorts of reasons for rejection, no space, no money, or even too busy.

    To contact the Irish Science and Technology Journalists’ Association

    anthonyjking@gmail.com

    For more about the Association of British Science Writers

    https://www.absw.org.uk

    On the panel: Marie Boran, Claire O’Connell, Maria Delaney, Leo Enright, Olive Heffernan, Tom Kennedy, Anthony King, Sabine Louet and Emma Stoye. With thanks to the organisers, Dr Lindsay Broadbent, Dr Alice Dubois, Dr Amy Dumingan, Dr Joana Sa Pessoa and Mico Tatalovic.

    This article was first posted on sciencespin.com http://sciencespin.com/talking-about-science/

     

  • Workshop on science journalism and media careers in Belfast

    British and Irish science journalism associations are organising a joint workshop on careers in science media in Belfast on the 19 October 2017.

    The half-day event is organised by Queen’s University Centre for Experimental Medicine PDC, in association with Irish Science and Technology Journalism Association (ISTJA) and Association of British Science Writers (ABSW).

    The entry is free to Queen’s University students and staff, and members of ISTJA and ABSW.

    Location: Basement Seminar Room, The Wellcome Wolfson Institute of Experimental Medicine, Queen’s University, 97 Lisburn Road, Belfast. Please fill in this form to register for the event.

    Date and time: 19 October 2017, 12:30-17:30

    Draft programme is below

    12:30-13:00 Arrival and registration, coffee reception and informal networking

    Sesions 1 Chairs: Dr Lindsay Broadbent and Dr Alice Dubois

    13:00-13:05 Welcome and overview of the day from Lindsay Broadbent, Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the CEM PDC

    13:05-13:15 Introductions from representatives of ABSW and ISTJA: what these two associations do and how you can join them, with Emma Stoye (ABSW), and Cormac Sheridan (ISTJA)

    13:15-14:00 Moving from research into writing and media: how and why to build a career in science journalism, panel discussion with Emma Stoye, senior reporter at Chemistry World, and freelance science journalists Claire O’Connell, Olive Heffernan, Tom Kennedy and Cormac Sheridan

    14:00-14:45 How to thrive as a freelance science writer: challenges and opportunities, panel discussion with Olive Heffernan, freelance science writer and a Visiting Science Writer at Trinity College Dublin; and freelance science journalists Marie Boran, Maria Delaney, Tom Kennedy and Anthony King

    14:45-15:00 Tea/coffee break and networking with professional science writers

    Session 2 Chairs: Dr Amy Dumigan and Dr Joana Sa Pessoa

    15:00-15:45 How new media are changing science journalism plus the latest online tools and software that science writers must know about, a talk by Sabine Louet, founder and editor of SciencePOD.net, specialist content creation solution focused on science, medicine, innovation and technology

    15:45-16:30 Careers in science broadcasting, TV and radio, panel discussion with Leo Enright, former head of Radio News with the Irish national broadcaster, RTE; Marie Boran member of the Technology Voice podcast team; Maria Delaney, who worked on radio programme including at RTÉ Radio 1 and Newstalk

    16:30-17:30 Communicating to a lay audience: how to avoid technical jargon and translate your science without dumbing it down, an open panel and Q&A with all of the speakers

    17:30 Optional trip to the pub – free drinks provided and networking continues

    Speaker biographies:

    Marie Boran is a PhD researcher at the School of Communications, Dublin City University, where she also lectures on science communication in the School of Nursing. Her research explores online reader comments as a space for public deliberation on science and technology. Marie is an award-winning freelance science and technology journalist: she writes a weekly column for the Irish Times newspaper, podcasts occasionally, and is science editor at Headstuff.org.

    Claire O’Connell is a scientist-turned-writer. She has a Ph.D. from University College Dublin, and during her scientific career she variously peered at plants, brains, insects and even the inner workings of mammary gland cells. She holds a Masters in Science Communication from Dublin City University. She has been contributing to The Irish Times since 2005 and writes mainly about health, science and innovation. She also contribute to Silicon Republic.

    Maria Delaney is an award-winning science and health journalist. Her writing has appeared in The Sunday Times, The Irish Times, Guardian.co.uk, Ars Technica, Creative Nonfiction, and more. She has radio experience with national stations including RTÉ Radio 1 and Newstalk, and was part of the team producing Inside Culture on RTÉ Radio 1 during its first season. She won ABSW Newcomer Award for Britain & Ireland in 2015.

    Leo Enright is a former Head of Radio News with the Irish national broadcaster, RTE. He was the network’s Middle East Correspondent, before taking up posts as North America correspondent and later London Correspondent. Most recently, he has been the BBC’s correspondent in Ireland for more than a decade, before resigning to concentrate on personal projects in the area of public understanding of science. He had broadcast regularly on BBC radio and television and on RTE and contributed articles to national newspapers in Britain and Ireland.

    Olive Heffernan is a freelance environment writer and editor. A former marine scientist, Olive was on staff at Nature for 5 years, where she launched the prestigious research journal Nature Climate Change as its first chief editor. Olive now mostly writes about climate change and oceans for outlets such as New Scientist, Nature, Nature Climate Change and Scientific American. She has also contributed to the Guardian, National Geographic News and Yale E360. She is currently a Visiting Science Writer at Trinity College Dublin in the School of Natural Sciences.

    Tom Kennedy studied natural sciences and then worked as a film-production assistant and freelance photojournalist before specialising in science journalism. He was an editor of Technology Ireland, a monthly magazine published by the state agency, Enterprise Ireland, and was among the founding members of the Irish Science and Technology Journalists’ Association. He was also instrumental in establishing a long-running science writing competition for school students with the Royal Dublin Society, and he co-authored a popular book on the art and science of colour. With two other freelance science journalists, Tom established Science Spin magazine to report on science from a local perspective.

    Anthony King is a freelance science journalist based in Dublin, Ireland. He covers a variety of topics in chemical and biological sciences, as well as science policy, health and innovation. His articles have appeared in Nature, Science, Cell, Chemistry World, New Scientist, the Irish Times, New York Times, EMBO Reports, Chemistry & Industry and more. Previously he worked for a publishing company as a science editor.

    Sabine Louët is a freelance writer based in Dublin. She has 20 years experience as a science, medical and technology journalist and editor, including as news editor for Nature Biotechnology. Her company, SciencePOD.net, is a content creation solution, which provides clear, concise compelling content, related to science, medicine, innovation and technology. SciencePOD.net’s journalists, writers and editors can deliver any content translating complex scientific and technological information into accessible language, ready for distribution to a wide audience.

    Cormac Sheridan is the president of ISTJA. He is a freelance journalist, covering biotech for over two decades with publications BioWorld Today & Nature Biotechnology. He has also been a guest lecturer on the BSc in genetics program at University College Cork (UCC). He has a BSc in microbiology from UCC and an MA in journalism from Dublin City University.

    Emma Stoye is Chemistry World’s senior science correspondent, where she spends time reading, writing and talking about cutting-edge research as well as the bigger issues affecting scientists such as funding or peer review. Before becoming a chemistry journalist she studied biological sciences at the University of Oxford, focusing on plant, animal and environmental biology. After graduating she got her first real taste of science journalism working as an intern for the Naked Scientists podcast, and was instantly hooked. In the years since she has been lucky enough to interview dozens of leading scientists and write about their research.

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  • Challenges. Reflections after the conference

    By Agnes Kittel,

    member of the Club of Hungarian Science Journalists

    If there is something which is common in the life of every being living under the Sun, it is for sure that pain belongs to it.

    The X Congress of the European Pain Federation /EFIC/ was held in Copenhagen between 6-9 September 2017. This nice city is well-known among others, about the statue of the Little Mermaid. Likely Andersen would have liked the statue, but many, mostly American tourists are  frustrated at seeing it, because the very lifelike, sorrowful little figure fitting well into the original tale but not of its film variants ending up happy ending. However, the organizers of the three thousand-person scientific event might not have found a better and more beautiful logo for the event like her, whose life is just a fairy tale only, but it is far from fairy tale because it is full of pain.

    The venue of the event was the Bella Center, easily accessible from the city center or from the airport, too. The conference was also named “Bringing Pain Relief to All Europe”. This drew attention to the need of recognition the importance of pain relief throughout Europe and make it available to all its sufferers. We might think that even the old Greeks knew, that the most important tasks of the doctors were to save life and attenuate the pain immediately, however, one of the lectures showed that even today there are countries, where it is not generally expected. Even more shocking fact was to hear that the number of patients suffering in Europe due to chronic pain – this type of pain lasts long months, sometimes through the entire life of the patient – is as the combined population of France and Germany, practically every fifth of Europeans!

    And in the near future, unfortunately, we can not count on the improvement of the situation because the aging population also means, that the number living with chronic pain increases.

    There is another significant drawback, namely, that today we are still far from the understanding  the nature of chronic pain, so it is no wonder we do not have scientifically based pain relieving strategies. However, this does not mean that there is no progress and no hopeful results.

    It is not a coincidence that one of the topics most concerned was the use of the Internet not only in the information, prevention, but also in the treatment of people with chronic pain. The Internet has long been not only for keeping contact between the  doctors and patients. A session attended by a great number of coonference attendants was for presentations on the “Digital Revolution”, Internet-based therapies and the use of virtual reality in the treatment of chronic pain sufferers. Dr Chris Eccleston / Bath, UK/ held several very good lectures on the opportunities offered by the Internet.

    Another major topic of the conference was the use of cannabis/cannabinoids  in analgesia and healing. One of the experts on this field was Dr. Mary-Ann Fitzcharles (McGill University Health Center, Canada) who held the Ulf Lindblom Special Lecture titled: “Medical cannabis for cancer and chronic pain – is there a way forward between the problems?” and she delivered another plenary lecture  on the first day.  According to her opinion, the introduction of  medical marijuana is inevitable in many countries, including of course the US and Canada. Her opinion was in full agreement with the conclusion of the conference and with the recommendation of the board consisting of leading scientists on this research area. Briefly,  the medical evidence for efficacy and side effects of herbal cannabis is still missing and doctors „should advocate for further study of individual cannabinoid molecules whereby dosing can be accurately controlled and efficacy and safety can be assessed using a standard scientific method.”

    We, journalists, were spoiled, I have to say.

    Before the first pleanary we have already had a press conference with the leadership of the old and new presidents of EFIC  /Chris Wells and Bert Morlion professors/ who both gave us extra possibilities to raise questions and talked openly about the most „painful problems” of pain-treatment, such as the use of  opioids and the medical marihuana problem. However, we also heard about the progress in several fields, such as the growing number of doctors with Diploma in Pain Medicine, who treat pain as independent disease, the increasing number of Pain Clinics in Europe and worldwide, and they talked with great expectations about the possibilities offered by the use of the Internet. We were very grateful for the extra discussion with Dr Chris Ecclestone, too. For me, it was especailly encouraging to see his belief in a brighter future and he could convince us, that he and his colleagues work hard in the interest of the suffering people and it must result good.

    And of course, we all are very grateful to Toby alias Tobias Van Assche, who worked  a lot before and during the conference and was always ready to help journalists  and to solve any problem.

    Thank you for the generous support of the EFIC and the possibility from the EUSJA.

    Photos: Agnes Kittel

  • GRANTS FOR SCIENCE JOURNALISTS

    The European Commission’s Science and Knowledge Service, the Joint Research Center, organizes its annual conference on 26 September around the topic of “(Scientific) Evidence for policy in a post-fact world”.

    The conference aims to discuss the interaction between science and policy in light of the post-fact phenomenon, involving renowned scientists, experts, journalists and media professionals as well as senior policymakers and politicians, including:
    – European Commission vice president Jyrki Katainen,
    – former Director-General of the World Trade Organization Pascal Lamy,
    – Chair of the International Network for Science Advice to Governments Sir Peter Gluckman,
    – AAAS CEO Rush Holt,
    – Financial Times journalist Simon Kuper,
    – Professor Steven Sloman of Brown University’s Department of Cognitive, Linguistic, & Psychological Sciences,
    – and Professor Stephan Lewandowsky of University of Bristol’s School of Experimental Psychology

    The JRC offers three possibilities for journalists to attend the conference:
    1) You may register free of charge at JRC-PRESS@ec.europa.eu until 22 September and attend the conference on regular basis, with the possibility of interviewing participants
    2) We offer 5 “travel grants”, which cover the cost of participation, including travel and accommodation, to selected journalists. Please submit an application to JRC-PRESS@ec.europa.eu by 15 September. The application should include a short motivation letter, short CV, plus a few examples of your writing.
    3) Last but not least: you may follow the conference live on webstreaming, including the possibility for telephone interviews with participants (please send an advance request to JRC-PRESS@ec.europa.eu). The webstreaming link will be available at the conference webpage later https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/en/eu4facts

  • ECSJ2017: An American in Copenhagen

    By Robert Frederick

    digital managing editor, American Scientist magazine

    From the time I was a child, whenever I heard the word “Copenhagen” I would think of the song that starts “Wonderful, wonderful Copenhagen” from the 1952 film “Hans Christian Andersen.” I’d never visited the city before. But I have even more reason to sing that song:  ECSJ2017, the city, and the conference hosts–the Danish Science Journalists and European Union for Science Journalists’ Association–were wonderful, wonderful!

    From the opening plenary to the closing Science and Cocktails party in Christiania (as well as the final training the next morning for those of us who didn’t stay out too late), I was gaining a new understanding and appreciation of our profession, being both challenged and inspired by fellow attendees. Despite stories of failures in climate change reporting, demoralizing and exasperating censorship, and discouraging “post-truth” reality, I also heard stories of hope, camaraderie, and most importantly–from my perspective–community.

    In the session in which I was invited to serve as a panelist, titled “New Reality for Media: Challenge or Failure?” organized by Viola Egikova, my fellow panelists and I discussed, among other things, how electronic media has fractured our audiences and often broken our industry’s publishing models. Although today’s myriad forms of “new” and “social” media have democratized the capture and dissemination of “news” (literally, what is new, including new ignominious acts and new sordid opinions), we discussed also how it typically does little to replace the work of professional science journalists. So as much as we may be tempted to shout at the world “Leave it to we professional journalists,” our discussion also revealed determined stories of re-focus, transformation, and success, including from those in the session’s audience.

    Indeed, our panel’s question–challenge or failure–was not an either/or, and instead prompted stories of challenge and failure, with several reminders that the challenges we face today are iterations of problems faced by our profession before. Within my relatively short 14 years of science journalism experience, online-only videos are hardly substitutes for studio productions, online magazines/newspapers are far from replacing their paper versions, and podcasts have not put radio broadcasters out of business but, in some cases, turned out to be a boon to them.

    Yes, it is hard to look at challenges or failure in the face and smile, if only in recognition of seeing challenges or failure yet again. But I would not ask those in our profession to try. Instead, what we do as science journalists is wonder. And so if I had just the 140 characters of a Tweet to summarize my takeaway from ECSJ2017, including particularly the session I participated in as a panelist, I would say “At #ECSJ2017, reminded as a science journalist to be full of wonder. Thanks to our hosts, wonderful, wonderful Copenhagen even reminded me.” Thankfully, I have the opportunity to write a bit more about ECSJ2017 here, and to have been invited to attend.

    Photo: Robert Frederick and his spouse, Donna Scheidt, in front of the Hans Christian Andersen statute in Copenhagen.

    By Marina Huzvarova: Robert with his magazine at ECSJ.