Deadline- October 12, 2012
Countries/Region- All Countries
The Knight Science Journalism program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology invites applications for 2012 Energy and Climate Boot Camp through which the boot camp begins with an overview of clinical and epidemiological research methods, giving journalists the tools to understand and evaluate medical studies.
One of the most difficult challenges facing journalists is the uncertainty of evidence in science, medicine, energy and environmental studies. Studies are hard to decipher, and sometimes appear to reach contradictory conclusions. But the public’s interest in health and science news, and the need for reliable information, is growing. To help journalists make sense of all this, organisation offers an intensive course on how to evaluate scientific and medical evidence.
The boot camp begins with an overview of clinical and epidemiological research methods, giving journalists the tools to understand and evaluate medical studies. Through lectures and discussions, they will look at science’s ways of studying different phenomena, from diseases to oil spills, from DNA to human migration.They will offer practical methods for getting the numbers in the news right.
For each boot camp, 10 to 12 journalists will be chosen to attend, joining the 12 Knight Fellows already in residence at MIT. Applicants may be freelance or staff reporters, writers, editors or producers, and must have at least three years of full-time experience in journalism.
If selected, we will reimburse you for up to $750 of your travel expenses to Cambridge, pay for your hotel room and provide most meals.
How t0 apply?
- Apply through Online Application form
- Applicant must email the following materials-
- Professional autobiography– Applicant must tell about their professional life. Not to exceed 750 words.
- Résumé or Curriculum Vitae– Be sure to include applicants education and work history.
- Fellowship year proposal- Tell them what applicant plan to do during a fellowship year and how that would fit in with their professional goals. Not to exceed 750 words.
- Freelancers– (Non-freelancers, skip this item). Provide a list of all applicants jobs in the last 12 months—what they did, for whom and, if their client is not widely known provide some idea of who or what it is. A few words for each job is sufficient.
- Samples of professional work- Please provide six samples. If their work is in a format that cannot be submitted electronically.
Guidelines for samples:
- Select six works that best show applicants interests and abilities. Please, no more than six.
- All six samples should have been published or broadcast within the last 24 months.
- If work is available online, Organization prefer applicant provide a PDF (for print), an .mp3 (for audio) or an .mp4 (for video) in addition to the URL for each work sample.
- If original work is not in English, English translations are required for at least three of the works.
- Editors/Producers/Directors should indicate their involvement in the piece.
- For series, send only the first and last pieces, with a brief outline of other items in the series.
- For books, submit one chapter. (PDF files preferred.)
- For audio/visual, submit a sample (or samples) with a total running time of up to 40 minutes. If samples are submitted on a CD or DVD, please include a written manuscript or synopsis indicating where each item (program, story or segment) begins. Please contact first before sending CDs or DVDs. For online submissions, .mp3 or .mp4 files are preferred. Please contact for details on how to upload their samples.
- For photography/graphics, submit published works in context or as unmounted printouts. (For electronic submissions, JPG or GIF files preferred.)
- Note, mailed submissions will not be returned.
- Four Letters of Recommendation-
- Three letters should be from individuals familiar with applicants’s work, commenting on applicants abilities and their commitment to journalism.
- Optional– One letter should come from their organization’s publisher or their immediate supervisor, supporting their application and granting a 9-month leave of absence if awarded the Fellowship. (Freelancers, and people thinking of leaving their jobs to take a fellowship need only provide the first three letters.)
Eligibility-
- Journalists from all countries compete on an equal basis are invited.
- Applicants must be full-time journalists, whether they are on staff or freelance. Part-time writers or producers are not eligible. Applicants must have at least three full years of experience covering science, technology, the environment, or medicine; or at least five years of other journalism experience and a desire to cover those areas in the future.
- Journalism experience must be in the years immediately prior to applying.
- Applicants may be reporters, writers, editors, producers, illustrators or photo-journalists. They may work for newspapers, magazines, television, radio or the Web.
- There are no educational prerequisites, nor is there an age-limit.
- Professionals working in public information, public relations, the trade press, government or academia are not eligible.
- Proficiency in English is necessary for Fellows to make the most of their time at MIT. IELTS or TOEFL exam, encouraged to the applicants due to the necessity.
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