✍️Science Writing News Roundup #220
U.S. Graduate Program Financial Aid Information for International Students + Tips for overcoming writer's block.
Apply by Jan. 15! The acclaimed MBL Logan Science Journalism fellowships immerse journalists, writers, producers & editors in biomedical or environmental research training. Get invaluable, hands-on experience with scientific discovery in world-renowned Woods Hole! Apply at mbl.edu/sjp (Photo by Blacki Migliozzi)
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🧪Resources
U.S. Graduate Program Financial Aid Information for International Students: The Open Notebook has gathered information about financial aid options that exist for international students attending graduate science journalism and science communications programs in the U.S.
What to know about Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s anti-vaccine advocacy. Global and national health experts, ethicists, physicians, health care groups, and even autism advocates are sounding alarms and lobbying against Trump’s nomination of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. for Secretary of Health and Human Services.
Tips for overcoming writer's block. Former UCLA professor Mike Rose, who passed away in 2021, authored a research paper on the topic after interviewing and working with 10 students — all skilled writers, but five of whom struggled with writer’s block.
These are Science News’ favorite books of 2024: Books contemplating the human experience and some of humankind’s greatest challenges were among the Science News staff’s favorite reads this year.
👩🏾🏫Videos & Podcasts
Connector Chat: Co-creating science stories with your audience.
The Journalism Salute: Humberto Basilio, Freelance Science Writer
Climate Change Means Health Changes: How Journalists Can Tackle The Links
Hear from program staff and faculty about the MIT Graduate Program in Science Writing.
💻Articles
Nieman Lab. Predictions for Journalism, 2025. Each year, Nieman Lab asks some of the smartest people in journalism and media what they think is coming in the next 12 months. At the end of a trying 2024, here’s what they had to say. Science journalism becomes plain old journalism. “For too long, science journalism has been treated as something distinct, something extra — the domain of specialists writing for audiences who are already deeply interested in and informed about science. This is bad,” writes Siri Carpenter, executive director and editor-in-chief of The Open Notebook.
The Role of Journalism in the Scientific Method. In addition to raising ethical questions, science journalism provides a forum to publicly weigh competing ideas. A science journalist’s job is to engage a diverse array of subject matter experts.
Telling Stories of Science: When Kendall Powell ’97 graduated from William & Mary, she did not know science journalism was a field. However, she followed her interests from academia to freelance writing and eventually to her current position as a senior editor for Nature Careers.
Floods in Spain highlight disinformation's appeal during natural disasters: “We haven’t seen anything like this flood of disinformation and conspiracy theories in Spain,” said Ximena Villagrán, director of operations at the Spanish fact-checking organization, Maldita.
More articles 👉Bonus content for monthly supporters.
🌏Opportunities
Submissions for the UNSW Press Bragg Prize for Science Writing 2025 are now open. All the shortlisted entries are included in The Best Australian Science Writing, NewSouth's annual collection featuring the finest Australian science writing of the year.
More opportunities and calls for pitches👉Bonus content for monthly supporters.
👩🔬News
Second Round of FRONTIERS Science Journalism Residency Programme Awards Grants to Ten Journalists. The chosen candidates — Marta Abbà, Rina Caballar, Danielle Fleming, Will Grimond, Giorgia Guglielmi, Suvi Jaakkola, Tim Kalvelage, Thomas Reintjes, Senne Starckx, and Meera Subramanian— will spend three to five months in residency at European research institutions, working on their journalistic projects.
📅Events
🪙Jobs
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