Join Physics World’s team of student science communicators

Join Physics World’s team of student science communicators

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Join Physics World’s student communicators team
Get involved: Are you a PhD student with a talent for writing and a passion for communicating the latest research to a broader scientific audience? (Courtesy: iStock/apichon_tee)

Back in 2017 Physics World set up its student contributor networks – a programme for early-career scientists to work alongside our award-winning journalism team to write and publish news stories for the global scientific community. These contributor networks, made up of PhD students with a passion for science communication, offer a fantastic opportunity for students to improve and refine their scientific writing skills.

We currently have three networks, for PhD students working in quantum science and technology, materials/nanoscience, and medical physics/bioengineering. With training and mentorship from members of the Physics World editorial team, the students in these networks have written articles covering the most exciting new research in their fields. All have benefited from the chance to connect with other members of the network and publish their work on a site read by hundreds of thousands of professional scientists all over the world. Students even get their own page on Physics World, such as these pages of current contributors Rojin Jafari, Maria Violaris and Hardepinder Singh.

Many of our original contributors have now completed their PhDs. Some are now pursuing careers in science communication, writing for us (and other media outlets) as paid freelancers. Others have remained in academia or entered industry jobs, where they can apply their communication skills to write better grant applications, research papers and reports.

What this means is that we are now looking to sign up the next generation of PhD students to join our three contributor networks.

So are you a PhD student with a talent for writing and a passion for communicating the latest research to a broader scientific audience? We’ll provide initial training on how to craft compelling science news stories, and we’ll also ensure that you get regular feedback from other student contributors as well as our professional journalists, providing ongoing support to hone your scientific writing skills.

We expect each contributor to write one or two articles (of about 500 words long) per quarter summarizing the results and significance of some recent research in their field – either a newly published paper or a recent conference presentation. As part of the team, we would also like contributors to provide pre-publication feedback on articles written by other students.

The goal is that after one or two years in the network, every contributor will have a body of well-written, published work that they can include on their CVs – either as evidence of strong communication skills when applying for jobs in academia or industry, or as a springboard to a career in science communication. There’s more information available here.

Join the team

If you‘d like to get involved in the project, and are currently a PhD student in one of the three areas mentioned above, please send the following information to pwld@ioppublishing.org by 31 March 2023:

  • A short (300 words or less) explanation of why you’d like to join the network and what you think you’d bring to it. Previous experience in science communication is not required, but if you have some, please say so.
  • A short (500 words or less) description of what your PhD is about, written so that a physicist in a completely different field (e.g. astronomy) can understand what you’re doing and appreciate why it’s interesting and important.

We look forward to hearing from you.

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