Category Archives: Autumn 2011

Sci Comm news

Posted on by

Stempra Press Officer Training Event, 10 March 2011

A new event held jointly with the Science Media Centre, and as a direct result of the Science and the Media Report chaired by Fiona Fox, the Stempra Press Officer Training Event was held in March at The Royal Institution in London. The aim was to give early career officers an overview of the field and for those who were more experienced to share tips and advice. The event was attended by over 100 press and communication officers, some of whom had travelled all the way from Paris and Geneva. Most were new or fairly new to science press work, and many also new to Stempra. A great line up of speakers from the science PR and media worlds covered a variety of topics, including what national news journalists need from press officers, top tips for science press work and how to cope with a bad news story. The event was a huge success both for Stempra and science PR. We’re currently investigating ways to run it again next year, so watch this space!

Helen Jamison
Science Media Centre
helen@stempra.org.uk
Wellcome Trust-MRC Press Officers’ Conference, 13 May 2011

The Wellcome Trust-MRC Press Officers’ Conference took place for the fifth time this year, held once again at the Wellcome Trust. May saw press officers from up and down the country (and abroad) descend on the Euston Road for an interesting day of presentations, discussions and workshops. The general vibe on the day, and feedback afterwards, revealed the event to once again be a great success, with most people finding it extremely useful for reminding themselves of good practises, gaining new insights and good old-fashioned networking.

You can read Nancy Mendoza’s (BBSRC) blog on Campus PR’s website about embargoes, which follows on from the opening session of the conference at which David Derbyshire (Daily Mail), Tom Feilden (Today), Robin McKie (Observer) and Stempra’s very own Tara Womersley spoke. Along with the session on international coverage, this proved to be the most popular on the day.

I’m looking forward to next year already! Hopefully the event will continue to be a success and draw ‘sci-commers’ from all round the UK – and not just for the Wellcome Trust lunch!

James Lush
Biochemical Society (Medical Research Council at time of writing)
james@stempra.org.uk

 

Capacity-building for African press officers, 29 June:

Stempra was present in Doha, Qatar, at the World Conference of Science Journalists (WCSJ), as a co-organiser of a training workshop for press officers from sub-Saharan Africa. Originally due to take place in Cairo, the conference was hastily moved due to political unrest at the beginning of the year.

So in the chilly air conditioning of the Qatar Foundation Student Centre, 54 participants from across the continent – Ghana and Gabon in the west, Rwanda, Uganda, Ethiopia and Kenya in the east, Botswana and South Africa down south – gathered for a fruitful workshop.

After a brief welcome the day kicked off with a lively session about the challenges faced by journalists and how press officers can help them. Experienced print, online and broadcast reporters gave their thoughts and then participated in a discussion. This was followed by sessions with scientists and journals, and a networking lunch with opportunities for the speakers and the participants to mingle.

The afternoon saw a surgery style format with workshops on pitching and press release writing. One participant commented: “The ‘surgery’ really suited the event. It was a serious dissection of a press release which opened up most of our eyes I like to believe. After I learned the new ways of cooking a press release, I was embarrassed at how I used to do them, I must say.”

Thanks to a Wellcome Trust Public Engagement Award, 11 bursaries were granted to allow travel and attendance to the whole WCSJ.

And it doesn’t end there. The day culminated with a discussion about the formation of a network of African press officers, to help support each other in the future. Stempra’s Chair is on an advising committee so do contact her for further information.

Ruth Francis
Nature Publishing Group
ruth@stempra.org.uk

New Committee and AGM report

Posted on by

Welcome to the Stempra newsletter! This is the first newsletter since the new committee was elected at the AGM, so we thought it would be a good idea to remind everyone of who we are (with some selected highlights of the circulated biographies) and the new positions we’ve taken on.
New chair (2 year term):
Ruth Francis, Nature Publishing Group: “Excited to take the reins having seen Stempra go from strength to strength in recent years.”
Chair@stempra.org.uk

 

Newly elected committee (2 year term):
Mike Findlay, University of Surrey: “With almost ten years experience in media relations across the Higher Education, charity, science and arts sectors I hope to add value to the committee.”
Mike@stempra.org.uk

James Lush, Biochemical Society (Medical Research Council at time of election): “Hopefully I’ll be able to provide a fresh outlook.”
James@stempra.org.uk (Newsletter Editor)

Jen Middleton, Wellcome Trust: “Looking forward to getting stuck in!”
Jen@stempra.org.uk  (Website and online coordinator, job-share)

Jenna Stevens-Smith, Society of Biology: “I am a keen promoter of the importance of networks and connections.”
Jenna@stempra.org.uk (Events coordinator, job-share)

Paul Thorne, Cancer Research UK: “I’m keen to make communicating and providing information via the website much easier.”
Paul@stempra.org.uk (Website and online coordinator, job-share)

Robin Wilkinson, Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust (Proof Communication at time of election): “I’d love help facilitate more crossover and networking with our public engagement brethren.”
Robin@stempra.org.uk (Events coordinator, job-share)

 

Re-elected (2 year term):
Helen Jamison, Science Media Centre: “I love science and I love being a press officer, and I look forward to what lies ahead for Stempra!”
Helen@stempra.org.uk

Simon Levey, Imperial College London: “I see it as my job to keep the other committee members in check.”
SimonL@stempra.org.uk (Secretary),

Becky Purvis, Association of Medical Research Charities: “I love science policy (really) so I’m going to make sure we get some on the agenda.”
Becky@stempra.org.uk
Halfway through term:
Robbie Walker, Impact Evaluation Services.
Robbie@stempra.org.uk (Treasurer and Membership Secretary)

Tara Womersley, University of Edinburgh.
Tara@stempra.org.uk
The AGM was a great and lively success, with discussions around the health of the finances, events, the perceived increasing ‘medicalisation’ of the committee (we won’t let that dictate the variety of events; Robin and Jenna have been working up some great ideas already) and who could forget Bob Ward’s speech!

If you have any comments on the newsletter, please direct them to me – James@stempra.org.uk

Thanks!

James Lush
Biochemical Society

The Silly Season

Posted on by

We asked each other and our colleagues what the biggest silly season stories we’d been involved with were…

Paul Thorne trumped everyone by revealing that he once had a tug of war in front of Westminster, whilst dressed as a piece of pizza. Naturally, he describes it as a “hard hitting piece of public relations activity”, to highlight the argument about pubs either serving food or allowing smoking. In further smoking-related japery, he also did a road trip in giant chemical tanker that was dressed up like a giant cigarette. Another career highlight we think!

Helen asked Fiona Fox, a goldmine of PR stunts from previous jobs in the international development sector. A sizeable list included getting 20 Catholic bishops in full bishop’s dress to engage in a tug of war outside Downing Street to symbolise third world debt. She also took Anne Widdecombe to Zimbabwe. Must have been a joy!

Ruth (“Gosh! Who wouldn’t want to be a Stempra member?”) Francis, age 15, was attracted to the world of PR by doing a photo-call with a giant starfish when she was on work experience. But with the subsequent journey having led her all the way to being Stempra’s chair, it’s all been worth it!

Oh, and was anyone involved with any of these in years gone by?

Certainly some to be proud of there!

If you have any suggestions for the next newsletter (Christmas!), or would like to contribute an article, please email James@stempra.org.uk .

Working with journals

Posted on by

Many of us promote research as it is published, and this means trying to find publication dates from a range of journal titles. We know why we want this information, and we know the common complaints, but many of us are unaware of what it’s like on the ‘inside’. At this year’s British Science Association Science Communications conference a session organised by Stempra tried to peel back the veil with Wiley-Blackwell’s Alexa Dugan, Nature Publishing Group’s Rachel Twinn and Imperial College’s Laura Gallagher.

Alexa and Rachel explained their working procedures; how they find out about upcoming content from their journals, how they work with press officers, researchers, journalists, and what their objectives are. And Laura discussed her top tips for press officers trying to navigate the manifold workflows of different journals.

Many smaller journals don’t have the resources to tell you if one of your authors is publishing a paper. Even some of the bigger ones with slick operations will alert you just a few days in advance as more and more papers are being published online for speed purposes. So what can you do to get the information you need in decent time?

Within your own institute there is a lot you can do! Get to know as many of your researchers as you can, explain to them how much notice you will need ahead of a study being published, encourage them to drop you a line if they have an interesting paper accepted by a journal, reassure them about embargoes, and put resources in place e.g. on your website that explain how you work and how to work with you. All this can help encourage them to get in contact with you… and help prevent them contacting you two weeks too late! Finally get to know your organisation – do your authors record what research is being submitted, e.g. via their department or their funding body?

You can also find out where your key researchers tend to publish their work and get to know the relevant people at those journals, and how they work. For example, are their papers usually published on a particular day or week, and is there a usual embargo time? How long is the journal’s usual process – from submission, to acceptance, to final proofs, to online publication, to print publication? Do they issue their own press releases and if so, in what format? Can you see a copy/have input into this? Do they have a press site where you can put your own press release?

As you can see, there is a lot you can do to help your job run smoothly, and ultimately work effectively with both researchers and journals. For further wisdom, and more details on the workflows at Wiley Blackwell and Nature Publishing Group, the slides from the session are here

Ruth Francis, Stempra Chair
Nature Publishing Group
Ruth@stempra.org.uk

EVENT REPORT: Summer Drinks in Scotland

Posted on by

Back in July we organised Stempra summer drinks in Edinburgh. Fantastic weather meant that we were able to spend the evening on the rooftop terrace with our sunglasses! Interesting discussions ranged from badger culling to how to get rid of Google cache memory, so you don’t get targeted by advertisements tailored to your browsing history.

There were positive discussions about the idea of an event on social media in Scotland too, and an offer to help organise an event in Glasgow, which is great news in our effort to increase our activities north of the border.

Following the event, there was an abortive attempt to attend the Edinburgh Bright Club event. For those who aren’t familiar with this, it involves academics doing stand-up comedy based on their research. Unfortunately it was full, but watch this space for Stempra involvement in the future.

Here’s a photograph of some of those who turned up in the sunshine.

From left to right: Jenny Liddell (Royal Society of Edinburgh), Fiona Selkirk (Fiona Selkirk Public Relations), Tara Womersley (University of Edinburgh), Suzy Powell (Law Society of Scotland), Caroline Wallace (Society of Biology), Maggie Bennett (Moredun Research Institute), Gio MacDonald (NHS Lothian).

Tara Womersley
University of Edinburgh
Tara@stempra.org.uk

Twitter – a black hole for time OR a great tool for engaging?

Posted on by

In early July over 30 Stempra members, new and old, gathered at Charles Darwin House to discuss the usefulness or otherwise of Twitter and other social media.

The evening began with thoughts from Brian Owens, Assistant News Editor and tweeter at Nature; Jo Brodie, a sci commer who has been tweeting for three years and curates the best of the bunch; and Henry Scowcroft, from Cancer Research UK’s Internet & New Media department.

The experts immediately disagreed on whether Twitter and social media was a means of engaging with the public with two in the ‘yes’ camp and the other believing it is a one-way push of information. Comment from the floor mirrored this divergence, discussed the restrictions that different organisation’s operate under, and opened up debate about how much personality is acceptable – or desirable – for a corporate account.

What became clear is that there is no one size fits all social media strategy that can be successfully applied for science communication. Crucial corporate factors include an organisation’s priorities, internal approvals processes, and willingness to invest time and resource. Individuals running the account must be able to dedicate sufficient time to regularly update the content and be able to resist being sucked into long, futile discussions (always a possibility for science communication) – or be able to hold back argumentative team members who have got too close to a particular issue.

A quick show of hands to start showed that approximately 4 out of 5 attendees thought that Twitter could be useful; with a handful thinking it was a waste of time or unconvinced. Notably, a few people’s hands (including the Stempra Chair’s) went up for all three options!

At the event’s close, another show of hands showed the numbers for and against were similar to at the start – although one detractor reluctantly concluded they could now see some merit in social media as long as there was a well thought-out strategy.

The event received great feedback and prompted requests for more events exploring tensions between personal and corporate profiles, and information about newer channels such as Google+. The only gripe was that the event had to close promptly when people were still in full flow – happily many continued discussion down the pub.

Those who were unable to attend will shortly be able to listen to the audio of the event on the Stempra website.
Robin Wilkinson
Guys and St Thomas’ NHS Trust (Proof Communication at time of writing)
Robin@stempra.org.uk

From the Chair

Posted on by

Our spring AGM seems a distant memory, but as summer turns to autumn we are pleased to mail out the first Stempra newsletter from your new(ish) committee. Thank you for bearing with us as we got going, I hope you enjoy this update.

After, slightly belatedly, introducing the new committee, we’ve included a round up of the events Stempra has organised since March. From basic press officer training in the UK and the Middle-East to sharpening your social media skills, we’ve hosted a lively and educational series of events which we hope you enjoyed if you attended. If you have ideas for future events, please do contact us and we’ll see what we can do.

Our session at the British Science Association Science Communication Conference proved so successful we’ve included a longer write up with tips, and a link to the speakers’ presentations online. We are hoping to run a similar session in the future so do keep your eyes peeled for emails from our events team.

Talking of future events, we’ve included a couple of upcoming highlights to whet your appetite. And, if you’re mourning the end of summer our silly season focused Last Word should give you a lift!

And finally… You’ve heard the rumours, you’ve seen past emails, you may have even fed into our discussions; work is starting on revamping the Stempra website, so if you have requests, thoughts, advice, do get in touch with me or any of the committee.

Ruth Francis
Chair, Stempra
chair@stempra.org.uk