Category: News

The Science Journalists Association of Australia is delighted to welcome Swinburne University as its latest Champion of Science Journalism.

The Champions of Science Journalism program was established for institutions, businesses and research organisations to financially contribute to the mission of the SJAA by providing donations that facilitate editorially independent reporting, travel and professional development opportunities for the Association’s membership. 

“We are incredibly grateful to Swinburne University for this generous support, which will enable the SJAA to deliver more new funding opportunities for our members in 2025,” said Jackson Ryan, President of the SJAA.

“To have another leading university in Australia commit to our Champions program is an acknowledgment of the importance of science journalism in a world grappling with misinformation and a science media landscape under extreme pressure.”

Swinburne’s support will enable the SJAA to offer several student and early-career journalism grants, independent reporting grants and a grant for travel or professional development.

“Swinburne researchers are answering some of the biggest questions our world is asking today, and it is science journalists who keep the public informed of these breakthroughs” said Matt Macklin, Swinburne’s Director of Communications and Media.

“We recognise the critical role SJAA plays in advancing the work of science journalists and ensuring our community hears from the real experts, like those at Swinburne, and not those who use their social platforms to spread mis- and disinformation.”

Grant applications are expected to open in April 2025. Previous recipients have used funding to develop award-winning reporting, travel to Columbia and get published in The Guardian, Cosmos and MIT Tech Review.

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Swinburne University of Technology is a dual-sector institution, defined and inspired by technology and innovation, and renowned for strong industry and community engagement. With a vision of people and technology working together to build a better world, Swinburne’s people are driven by a shared purpose: to create tomorrow’s technology and the human capital and talent required for a digital, tech-rich future.

The Science Journalists Association of Australia was founded in 2019 and has a short but storied history of supporting science journalism in Australia, providing more than $45,000 in grants and funding for science reporting and training, with support from the likes of The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science, STEM Matters and Influencing. It continues to actively seek partnerships with universities, donors and philanthropists to accelerate this support and help build a sustainable ecosystem for Australian science journalists. 

Looking to join SJAA’s vibrant, supportive community? You can find all the details to sign up here. Questions and media requests can be directed to contact@SJAA.org.au.

Science journalist Jackson Ryan has been elected president of the Science Journalists Association of Australia, taking over from founding president Bianca Nogrady.

Following the AGM and election yesterday, SJAA welcomes its executive and committee for 2023-24:

Secretary: Sara Phillips

Treasurer: Felicity Nelson

Committee: Jacinta Bowler, Manuela Callari, Richard Haridy, Suzannah Lyons, Bianca Nogrady, Lyndal Rowlands, Carl Smith, and Clare Watson.

A big thanks to outgoing committee members Neena Bhandari and Ruby Prosser Scully.

The Science Journalists Association of Australia is proud to announce the winners of the 2023 SJAA Grants Program. 

This year’s program features eight winners across four categories, each receiving up to $1000 in funding, with the opportunity for mentorship. The SJAA extends its congratulations to this year’s recipients and can’t wait to see the work produced. 

Two travel grants were awarded to explore environmental issues. Freelance journalist Alessandra Bergamin will be investigating the environmental and cultural impact of Australian mining companies and Rachel Williamson will use her grant to produce in-depth stories on how climate change is impacting rural communities in South Australia.

This year’s student/early career grants were awarded to Amalyah Hart and Alysha Huxley. The former will use the funding to develop a longform story about insect cognition and consciousness, the latter will explore how biodiversity is threatened in the face of a warming planet. 

Ivy Shih is the recipient of an independent reporting grant for her pitch on cochlear implants and why they can’t detect subtle shifts in tonal languages. Lydia Hales will also receive an independent reporting grant to explore the difficulties in diagnosing and treating body dysmorphic disorder.

A professional development grant was awarded to Lyndal Rowlands to help her undertake the UnionDocs Pod Pod residency program in the US. She hopes to produce a narrative podcast series on religious beliefs during her time in the US. The final professional development grant went to Manuela Callari, who made a strong pitch to upskill in data journalism, visualisation and storytelling. She will undertake a course to understand, interpret and present data – a much-desired skill in modern newsrooms.

The SJAA Grants Program is now in its third year and has awarded over $20,000 in funding to support international travel, in-depth science feature writing and professional development programs. The program is supported by SJAA’s Champions of Science Journalism: the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science and STEM Matters.

We’d like to extend our sincere thanks to the judging committee, who took the time to provide feedback to all applicants and were impressed by the depth, clarity and quality of this year’s proposals. We’d also encourage those who missed out on this year’s grant funding to apply again in the future. 

Get those pitches ready for SJAA’s 2024 Grants Program which we expect to open in April 2024.

The Science Journalists Association of Australia is delighted to welcome its two inaugural Champions of Science Journalism – the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science, and STEM Matters – as financial supporters of SJAA.

SJAA is enormously grateful for their support, which will enable us to continue and expand our grants program, develop our mentoring and internships program, and host more in-person events in 2023 to build science journalism in Australia.

After the recent AGM, SJAA is delighted to present the committee that will steer the organisation for the next year:

President: Bianca Nogrady

Secretary: Sara Phillips

Treasurer: Felicity Nelson

Vice President: Carl Smith

Committee:

Neena Bhandari

Jacinta Bowler

Rich Haridy

Clare Watson

Ruby Prosser Scully

Jackson Ryan

In response to a recent query from a university science student about how to start getting bylines, SJAA’s members offered a range of helpful suggestions:

• approach the university media/PR office and ask if you could do some writing for them. Universities produce a lot of content for their website and newsletters, and that can be an opportunity for students to try their hand at writing. I know university comms units are a lot more beefed up these days than when I went to uni, but it definitely can’t hurt to stick your head in their door and ask if you can do some work experience/writing for them.
• look at some of the scientific societies and the newsletters they produce, and contact them to ask if you can write for them. Depending on what you’re interested in, there’s orgs like the Australian Society for Medical Research, Australian Society for Microbiology, Genetics Society of Australasia etc. The British Medical Journal also has a student section that you could pitch an idea to or contact.
• There aren’t any specific courses in Australia on science journalism, but there are some online ones you might want to take a look at.
• Read science writing (and other journalism!). Like all the time. Find the science writers that you enjoy. Don’t try to emulate them, but pick apart their stories and what they do and try to pin down what you enjoy it. You’ll be a much better writer.
• Contact writers/editors you like and say ‘hey’. Say you liked something they wrote. Tweet at them. Email them. Say ‘hey’ at conferences. Be on their radar. The industry is small and often feels very much about who you know so why not be in that conversation?
• Write. Start a blog and develop your style. Write about things you like. No one will read it. That’s not the point. Point is just to develop and see if you really enjoy the process enough to want to do it all the time.
• I started writing when I was still in research – a lot of volunteer writing for blogs and also for the lab (not too deadline-driven, flexible, good way to practice). I also did a lot of unpaid internships, which were all great experiences but I wouldn’t recommend that widely as it was a real struggle financially. What I found was really helpful was that I just kept on writing/ pitching for practice, and doing a lot of institutional writing – there’s a nice constant style/ tone you develop – which helps to get more gigs when you get clips.
• I started writing for my university magazine! They didn’t have a science section, or it was verryyyy limited when I was a student at unimelb, so I helped them develop that. Then I got the itch and took a bunch of unpaid internships, which is less than ideal and obviously a privilege. Otherwise, I would say if you want to be a writer the best thing you can do is just start writing. Even if it means starting your own Medium account that no one follows (which I did). It helps when you start pitching to be able to show editors you know how to do what they want.
• Add yourself on the Young Australian Writers Facebook page page and SJAA. You’re more likely to be accepted if someone is actively looking for pitches. I would also recommend joining the university newspaper. Most have them and it allows you to do whatever you want, but not be exploited by someone making way too much money and paying you for exposure. I also think that Uni media teams are still good ways of getting science comms practice.
• I was working in science research at the time so I started writing features for the university media team, as well as newsletters for related research organisations, covering their conferences on Twitter and volunteering at the Australian Museum writing blogs as part of their science festival. I’d also say going along to science writing festivals, talks, events etc. such as Quantum Words really helped because meeting people in person made it slightly less daunting to pitch them ideas later!
• I was still working in science when I started out, so one thing I could do is write for The Conversation. I also wrote my own blog, which, as others have pointed out, is not about getting views or readers, but about practice and building up a collection of ‘clips’ that will help to convince an editor that you do, in fact, know how to write.