Katrina – Chemistry World
From bench monkey to science journalist wannabe in just three simple steps!
After having spent five years as a researcher, I got the unique chance to work as a trainee with the RSC - a very exciting change! I’m currently on rotation with Chemistry World. Everyone has been friendly and welcoming from day one, amazingly helpful and supportive. Working with theChemistry World team has introduced me to a huge variety of tasks, only few of which I can describe here. It certainly never gets boring! It is also extremely rewarding having an actual physical product containing bits of my work on my desk at the start of each month – and knowing that over 50,000 members will receive the magazine, too.
One of my main tasks has been to write research news article based on scientific publication. Starting with picking ‘newsworthy’ research out of the constant flow of upcoming scientific papers, I pitch them to our news editor during our daily news meetings and, if he and the team decide them to be of interest for our audience, write them up as a short article. The articles are aimed at an audience with a general chemistry interest and knowledge (usually no need to explain chemical staples like ‘enantiomer’) but it was still challenging to ditch all that jargon that I have accumulated over the years. Most articles include direct quotes from the lead author of the publication as well as comments from an independent expert. Conducting phone interviews to get these quotes can be scary at first, but most scientist are excited to talk about their research, pointing out both advantages and disadvantages of their new discoveries and are willing to answer even my stupidest questions.
News writing gave me the chance to peek into a huge number of different research areas, from
nanotechnology to
synthetic biology. In the process, I have learned a lot about writing for different formats, and how to analyse and improve my writing style, in addition of more than a handful of new words.
I have also been involved in organising the
Chemistry World science communication competition. I updated the website, promoted the competition on our social media and supported the team with setting up the prize-giving event, which included budgeting, finding a
keynote speaker and sending out official invites. The competition closes very soon and I’m excited to see what brilliant ideas participants come up with for this year’s topic ‘chemistry and art’.
Despite having only two months left in this rotation, I have some exciting things in the pipeline: writing a full-length feature article on the 'innovation gap' (also ominously called 'valley of death') and putting together a buyer's guide for organic chemistry textbooks. Thinking I will have to leave the Chemistry World team soon brings a little tear to my eye, even though I don't doubt that upcoming rotations will be as exciting and fascinating. I'm looking forward to learning new things and meeting new people!
Katrina is a Graduate currently working in the Chemistry World team on the Royal Society of Chemistry's Graduate Scheme. To see if we are currently recruiting for the RSC Graduate Scheme click here
