Training & Workshops

Conference attendees
The 10th World Conference of Science Journalists (WCSJ) in San Francisco. Photo by David Poller

As part of CASW’s science journalism initiative, we are collaborating with our partners to help journalists deepen their expertise through training and workshops.

Training

  • The National Science-Health-Environment Reporting Fellowships are a first-ever collaboration of CASW, the Association of Health Care Journalists (AHCJ), and the Society of Environmental Journalists (SEJ). The year-long fellowships are open to early-career journalists interested in covering any or all of the three fields. Thirteen journalists were selected for the 2021-22 pilot year, and 12 Fellows were selected for 2022-23. This program is generously supported by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Department of Science Education and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.
  • CASW has collaborated with ComSciCon to provide professionally mentored science reporting experiences for early-career scientists interested in journalism and science communication. ComSciCon organizers select participants for one-day workshops in association with the annual ScienceWriters conference; students then develop science stories based on New Horizons in Science content and speakers. These ComSciCon stories are featured on this site:
    • New Horizons Newsroom 2015. Thanks to the Howard Hughes Medical Institute for essential support, and to Newsroom editors Lakshmi Chandrasekaran, Elizabeth Daley, Brian Hayes, Lisa Ann Marshall, A’ndrea Elyse Messer, Charlie Petit (chief editor) and Amanda Solliday.
    • New Horizons Newsroom 2019. Thanks to HHMI for essential support, and to mentors Athena Aktipis, Hannah Hickey, Jane C. Hu, William Kearney, Maggie Koerth, Betsy Mason, Amy McDermott, Ashley Smart, Tom Ulrich, Jon Weiner, and Liz Zubritsky, and Newsroom editors Jennifer Cox, Hannah Hickey, Czerne Reid, and Joann Rodgers.
    • New Horizons Newsroom 2020. Thanks to HHMI for essential support, and to mentors Athena Aktipis, Ashley Braun, Hannah Hickey, Liz Devitt, Pete Farley, Hannah Hickey, Jane Hu, Jeanette Kazmierczak, William Kearney, Betsy Mason, Ashley Smart, Tom Ulrich, Jon Weiner, and Liz Zubritsky, and Newsroom editors Czerne Reid (chief editor), Liz Devitt, Bryn Nelson, and Joann Rodgers.
    • The #ShutDownSTEM Newsroom, a special project in association with the day of action on June 10, 2020, when many institutions halted the business of science and mathematics to spend a day reflecting on systemic racism in science.
    • New Horizons Newsroom 2021. Thanks again to HHMI for essential support and to mentors Melissa Lutz Blouin, Ashley Braun, Marla Broadfoot, Katie Burke, Laura Dattaro, David Ehrenstein, Jeanne Erdmann, Jeff Grabmeier, Tara Haelle, Laura Hamers, Hannah Hickey, Claudia Kalb, Alla Katnelson, Bill Kearney, Jyoti Madhusoodanan, Michael E. Newman, Lesley Evans Ogden, Czerne Reid, Eliot Richman, Jill Sakai, and Jon Weiner, and Newsroom editors Czerne Reid (chief editor), Elliot Richman, Jeff Grabmeier, and Joann Rodgers.
  • In 2022, CASW launched a pilot mini-course, “Asking Questions About Data,” to provide tools to help journalists report critically and accurately about scientific issues and study results. The pilot course was supported by the Kavli Foundation, produced by instructors Regina Nuzzo and Kristin Sainani, and attended by the 2022-23 SHERF fellows and a cohort of science writers. Building on this concept, CASW hopes to offer a rigorous course providing the foundations of data and statistics reporting for journalists.

Workshops

Professionally curated workshops are designed to help bridge the gap between conference sessions and formal academic training. Our science journalism workshop program launched in 2020 with two virtual workshops focused on statistics and ethics offered as part of ScienceWriters2020.

In 2021, a second virtual ethics workshop, “Science Writing Meets Social Justice,” was presented in conjunction with ScienceWriters2021.