The SciCommer: 21 Jan 2025
Fellowships, vaccine communication and how to use data in science stories
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📰 In the News
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From UnDark, an opinion piece, ‘How Do We Democratize Scientific Research? As scientists struggle to connect with the public, they must consider new models for making research more accessible.’
And also from UnDark, an interview ‘How to Discuss Vaccines Amid the Partisan Divide. Biostatistician Jeffrey Morris says effective dialogue requires an awareness of how politics shape a person’s beliefs.’
In The Open Notebook this week, ‘Using Open Data to Sharpen Science Stories’
Applications are now open for The Club of Rome Communications Fellowship 2025. The fellowship is a remote seven-month paid mentoring programme aimed at increasing the diversity of voices covering sustainability issues and supporting early-career communications professionals from Most of the World.
Futurism covers the story that Springer Nature, the publisher of Nature as well as Scientific American, is asking authors to use ‘AI-generated "Media Kits" to summarize and promote their research.’
The Association of British Science Writers awards are open until the 31 of January.
There’s no escaping the stories about Meta removing fact-checkers this week but what does that mean for science and science communication? In Nature ‘Does fact-checking work? What the science says’ and LSE Impact blog looks at the topic too in ‘Do community notes work?’
NEW BOOK: Flow (Vol. 1 in the FicSci Series) ‘The practice and theory of science communication can take many forms. One of them, which this volume represents, explores what forms of knowledge might be constructed when creative writing encounters science.’
The Guardian have published this Opinion piece, ‘The people fighting to get through to anti-science Americans: ‘It’s just talking to each other’'
Looking for something to pass the time? here’s a new game ‘nergal’ that generates data for research and it is CUTE. A great example of how games can support research.
LISTEN: The Storyology Podcast: Episode 8 covers what happens when science and story meet in the news media.
New Research
A Framework for the Communication Capabilities of scientists. International Journal of Science Education, Part B, 14(4), 473–491. - This article is from a special edition of the journal with other papers on this topic.
Cyber anti-intellectualism and science communication during the COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-sectional study. Frontiers in Public Health, 12, 2025
Climate change is (NOT) funny: insights from a climate change comedy event JCOM 24(01), N01.
Science to Sheep as a Model to Sensitize Young Citizens to Biodiversity, Animal Welfare and the Social Utility of Research. Animals 2025, 15, 201.
Masters Thesis: Course-based Undergraduate Research: A Catalyst for Developing Science Communication Skills in Undergraduate Students, Illinois State University
PhD Thesis: Rodríguez Vásquez, Abril (2024) Generation, social scope, and potential for disseminating scientific knowledge in Mexico: an analysis of the National Council for Science and Technology’s Public Research Centres. PhD thesis, University of York.
Astronomy and Society: The Road Ahead, special issue of Journal of Astrophysics and Astronomy
Jargon and Readability in Plain Language Summaries of Health Research: Cross-Sectional Observational Study. J Med Internet Res 2025;27:e50862
Comparing the Impacts of Different Risk Communication Policy Designs on Public Risk Perceptions: An Experiment in a Nuclear Power Plant Siting Scenario. Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis: Research and Practice, 1–20.
🗓 The SciComm Diary
NEW ENTRIES TO THE DIARY. If you are a paid subscriber you can access the full diary listings (running into 2025) at any time. You can also see what is coming up this week, for free, via the button below.
WEBINAR 22 JAN 2025: IMPETUS Prize Open Call 2025 Webinar 1
WEBINAR 22 JAN 2025: NCACE Evidence Café 14: Artists and Universities
HYBRID CONFERENCE 27 - 28 JAN: The Arab Forum of Science Media and Communication
VIRTUAL OPEN EVENT 30 JAN: 19:00–20:00 (BST) MSc Science Communication open event | UWE Bristol for an overview of the MSc and the Science Communication Unit.
HYBRID CONFERENCE 3 FEB: International Conference on Science and Technology for Sustainable Society: Ecosystems for Creating Sustainable Innovation - Looking Ahead to Science, Academia, and Society in 2040 [Japan but also online]
WEBINAR 12 FEB: COALESCE clinic - engaging on AI
USA CONFERENCE 3-4 APRIL 2025: Early-Bird Registration for ScienceTalk 25! is open now [Raleigh, North Carolina]
VIRTUAL COURSE 22 APRIL 2025: Science Communication: Online and Media writing online CPD course
UK EVENT 25 April: Play for the Planet 2 [York]
UK CONFERENCE 27 - 29 MAY 2025: PCST (Public Communication of Science and Technology Network Conference [Aberdeen]
POLAND Conference 3-5 JUNE 2025: Ecsite Conference 2025 [Warsaw]
JAPAN CONFERENCE 11 - 13 NOV 2025: PCST Tokyo Symposium, Japan – Save the date
Looking for a SCICOMM INTERNSHIP or FELLOWSHIP? Follow the link to see a full list of opportunities that often run on a yearly cycle. These are always available for free for everyone - as are entry-level and paid PhD positions.
AUSTRALIA: The QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute is looking for a Communications Officer (part-time) $44,461 to $48,962 p.a (p/t) + Super + Sal Pack [Brisbane]
AUSTRALIA: Zoo South Australia is looking for a Communications Co-Ordinator (0.8 Position) [Adelaide]
CANADA: The Scholarly Communications lab is looking for a ScholCommLab Manager (P/T) - this position is open until filled [Vancouver]
UK: UKAEA is looking for a L4 Fusion Outreach Apprentice – Apprentice Scheme 2025 (FTA) £20,319 + excellent benefits including outstanding pension [Oxfordshire]
UK: The University of Cambridge is looking for a Museum Events and Bookings Assistant (Fixed Term) £26,642 to £30,505 per annum [Cambridge]
You can access more jobs, the full SciCommer archive and last week’s job list if you subscribe! This week there are 12 jobs behind the paywall.
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