Association of British Science Writers

ESOF2012, Europe’s largest general science conference, is coming to Dublin. Over the 5 days of July 11th-15th 2012, more than 5,000 scientists, business leaders, policy makers and international media will come together to discuss the current global scientific challenges.

A critical element to the conference is the Science to Business Programme which will offer delegates the opportunity to engage with business experts irrespective of what stage their idea, business or their entrepreneurial career might currently be located.

If you want to be part of these discussions now is the time to act.  ESOF 2012 is looking for creative and exciting session proposals that address the key issues facing entrepreneurs from a science background.

The deadline for submitting a proposal is the 13th of February 2012.

To submit a proposal, please follow the link to www.esof2012.org/calls. Criteria for proposals are available here along with instructions on how to make a submission.

Both I and the rest of the ESOF2012 team are available to answer any queries you may have about ESOF2012. My contact details are below and further info can be found at
www.esof2012.org.

We look forward to seeing you in Dublin for ESOF2012.   

Emma Critchley, Programme Coordinator
ESOF2012
Office of the Chief Scientific Adviser
Wilton Park House, Wilton Place
Dublin 2, Ireland

P:            +353 1 607 3044
F:            +353 1 607 3059
E:            This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
W:           www.esof2012.org

Twitter: @esof2012
Linkedin: Euroscience Open Forum 2012

Winners of MJA Winter Awards 2012 announced

The winners of the MJA Winter Awards 2012 were announced at a ceremony at  the King's Fund, London, last night, January 25,

MJA members can read the press release distributed to relevant news media,  on the MJA website: www.mjauk.org. If you wish it to be sent to anyone  please contact the secretary.

A fuller review of the evening, with more information aimed at MJA  memebrs, will follow shortl. There will also be pictures of winners and the  event which we hope to display on the website picture gallery.

Watch this space.

NEWS RELEASE

NEWS RELEASE

WFSJ Events at the AAAS Annual Meeting, in Vancouver, 18 and 19 February 2012

WFSJ will announce the 7 winners of trips to Norway during the AAAS meeting, in Vancouver
 Join Vesa Niinikangas, President of the World Federation of Science Journalists, and Nils Christian Stenseth, the President of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, Saturday 18 February 2012 at 4:30 p.m. for a Wine-and-Cheese Reception in the Reporters' Coffee Lounge area outside the Technology Workroom (Room 301) in the Vancouver Convention Centre.

WFSJ will announce the names of the winners of seven scholarships to attend the 2012 Kavli Prizes Ceremony, in Oslo, next September. Nils Christian Stenseth, President of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, will give brief remarks on the science they can expect to see in Norway.

To participate in this competition, go to Kavli Awards. The deadline is now the 31st January 2012.

Vesa Niinikangas, President of the World Federation of Science Journalists, will also – most probably – introduce the new director of the World Federation and will – most certainly – give some information on the upcoming World Conference of Science Journalists in Helsinki, Finland, in June 2013.
 
Meet the organizers of the 2013 World Conference of Science Journalists in Helsinki
On Sunday 19 February 2012, from 4:00 to 5:30 p.m. the organizers of the upcoming World Conference of Science Journalists and the World Federation of Science Journalists will host a Wine-and-cheese Reception and Social Hour looking ahead to the 8th World Conference of Science Journalists in Helsinki, Finland, 24-28 June, 2013.

This will be a unique opportunity to meet the Board members and the Executive of the WFSJ as well as the team organizing the Conference.

The reception will be held in the Reporters' Coffee Lounge area outside the Technology Workroom (Room 301) in the Vancouver Convention Centre. These receptions are held within the context of the Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) which is being held in Vancouver, Canada, 16 – 19 February 2012.

World Federation of Science Journalists
4 Taschereau St.
Suite 390
Gatineau, Qc.J8Y-2V5

WFSJ Events at the AAAS Annual Meeting, in Vancouver, 18 and 19 February 2012

WFSJ will announce the 7 winners of trips to Norway during the AAAS meeting, in Vancouver
 Join Vesa Niinikangas, President of the World Federation of Science Journalists, and Nils Christian Stenseth, the President of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, Saturday 18 February 2012 at 4:30 p.m. for a Wine-and-Cheese Reception in the Reporters' Coffee Lounge area outside the Technology Workroom (Room 301) in the Vancouver Convention Centre.

WFSJ will announce the names of the winners of seven scholarships to attend the 2012 Kavli Prizes Ceremony, in Oslo, next September. Nils Christian Stenseth, President of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, will give brief remarks on the science they can expect to see in Norway.

To participate in this competition, go to Kavli Awards. The deadline is now the 31st January 2012.

Vesa Niinikangas, President of the World Federation of Science Journalists, will also – most probably – introduce the new director of the World Federation and will – most certainly – give some information on the upcoming World Conference of Science Journalists in Helsinki, Finland, in June 2013.
 
Meet the organizers of the 2013 World Conference of Science Journalists in Helsinki
On Sunday 19 February 2012, from 4:00 to 5:30 p.m. the organizers of the upcoming World Conference of Science Journalists and the World Federation of Science Journalists will host a Wine-and-cheese Reception and Social Hour looking ahead to the 8th World Conference of Science Journalists in Helsinki, Finland, 24-28 June, 2013.

This will be a unique opportunity to meet the Board members and the Executive of the WFSJ as well as the team organizing the Conference.

The reception will be held in the Reporters' Coffee Lounge area outside the Technology Workroom (Room 301) in the Vancouver Convention Centre. These receptions are held within the context of the Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) which is being held in Vancouver, Canada, 16 – 19 February 2012.

World Federation of Science Journalists
4 Taschereau St.
Suite 390
Gatineau, Qc.J8Y-2V5

Calling All Journalists to the AAAS Annual Meeting!

Join colleagues from around the world in Vancouver, B.C. for science and fun at the 2012 Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Free registration is available to journalists via the AAAS virtual newsroom on EurekAlert!. Please log onto http://www.eurekalert.org/aaasnewsroom. A preliminary press program is now online at http://bit.ly/us4BAv.

NEWS AND NETWORKING: With more than 170 symposia, seminars and lectures to choose from, reporters at the world's largest general scientific conference will have ample opportunity to learn about cutting-edge research and hot policy topics. AAAS typically organizes 20 to 25 embargoed news briefings and medi availabilities over the course of the meeting. Science news headlines in 2012 are likely to encompass topics including: Biologging, archaeoacoustics, endangered and minority languages, advancements in the treatment of spinal cord injury, and hydraulic fracturing for oil and natural gas.

SPECIAL SOCIAL EVENTS: Social events for newsroom registrants only will include a welcoming reception Thursday, 16 February at the Vancouver Aquarium in beautiful Stanley Park; the AAAS Kavli Science Journalism Awards gala Friday, 17 February at Science World; and the Canadian Science Writers' Association party at The Canvas Lounge, sponsored by Waterloo Region, Ontario -- Canada's leading tech cluster -- and brought to you by Communitech and its 800 technology organizations.

ADVANCE UBC TOUR: The University of British Columbia also will sponsor a tour of research facilities Wednesday, 15 February. To RSVP, visit http://www.ubc.ca/news.

BOOK YOUR TRAVEL NOW: When your newsroom registration is confirmed, you will receive a code number for making reservations at official meeting hotels at a discounted rate through the AAAS Travel Desk. Be sure to book your air travel and hotel reservations early! Visitors to Canada, including U.S. citizens, need a passport.

Please contact AAAS at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or 202-326-6440 with any questions. See you in Vancouver!

MJA members invited to the Winter Awards presentation, January 25,  2012

We announced the location and date of the presentation  of the first MJA Winter Awards in the last MJA News. Here is a  formal invitation to all MJA members.

Invitation

MJA Winter Awards will be presented on Wednesday, January 25, 2012, at The King’s Fund, 11-13 Cavendish Square, London W1G  0AN  www.kingsfund.org.uk

6.30 for 7 p.m.

Refreshment will be served

RSVP to Philippa Pigache

This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or 01435 868786

 If you wish to bring guests

The King’s Fund is a fine, central-London location but  it doesn’t come cheap. All MJA members who wish to attend naturally come  free, but should you wish to bring a guest we ask for a contribution (not the  full amount) to the catering.

 Please send the name of your guest plus for a cheque  for £15, payable to the Medical Journalists’ Association, no later than  January 20, to the MJA hon sec Philippa Pigache at: Fairfield, Cross in Hand,  Heathfield, East Sussex, TN21 0SH.  We may need to refuse guests if the  numbers of members wishing to attend the presentation is very high.

MJA invited to attend a UCL School of Pharmacy Media Seminar at the Royal  Society

Invitation:

UCL School of Pharmacy Media Seminar at the  Royal Society, 6-9 Carlton House Terrace,  SW1Y 5AG – 11am on  January 10, 2012

The 2012 School of Pharmacy New Year lecture  will be given at the Royal Society on the evening of January 10, (see details  below). The following morning the new UCL School of Pharmacy will publish a  report entitled ‘Relieving Persistent Pain, Improving Health  Outcomes’.

To discuss key messages about the future  development of the NHS and affordable health improvement, a media seminar  will be held on the morning of January 10 in the City of London rooms at the  Royal Society in Carlton House Terrace.

Please let us know if you can attend this  meeting by responding to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it   soon as is convenient.

Contributors will include:

Professor Sir John Tooke (Vice-Provost,  Health, UCL and a member of the NHS Future Forum)
Amanda Callaghan (Director of Corporate  Communication at the ABPI, and former Director of Communications at the Royal  College of Nursing)
Professor Richard Langford (President  of the British Pain Society and consultant in anaesthesia and pain medicine  at Barts and The London)
Professor Richard Sullivan (of the  King's Health Partners Integrated Cancer Centre, who chaired the 2011 Lancet  Oncology Commission)
Dr Richard Butt (Director and Pain  Research Project Leader at Pfizer Ltd in Cambridge, whose research includes  investigations of the fundamental biology of pain).

This seminar will be chaired by David Taylor,  Professor of Pharmaceutical and Public Health Policy at the UCL School of  Pharmacy. Coffee will be available from 10.30 am and the meeting will start  promptly at 11am. It will formally close at 12.15 pm, after which there will  be light refreshments and opportunities for informal discussion with  speakers.

All new information presented by the above  contributors named will be for immediate release. The report  ‘Relieving Persistent Pain, Improving Health Outcomes’  and the press release accompanying it will be embargoed to 00.01 hours on  Wednesday January 11, 2012.

The UCL School of Pharmacy New Year Lecture  and associated initiatives are in part funded via an unconditional grant from  Pfizer Ltd.

For further information please call David Taylor on  07970 139892, email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

UCL  School of Pharmacy, Mezzanine Floor, BMA House, Tavistock Square, London WC1H  9LP

T: 020 7874 1270   F: 020 7378 5693   www.pharmacy.ac.uk

 Professor Sir John Tooke of UCL will give the 2012  School of Pharmacy New Year lecture on ‘Pharmacy, Medicine and the  Future NHS’. Stephen Whitehead, the CEO of the Association of the  British Pharmaceutical Industry will offer a response entitled ‘The  Pharmaceutical Industry, Professionalism and the Future NHS.’

MJA 2011-12 Winter Awards -- shortlisted entries chosen

The judges for the 2011-12 MJA Winter Awards have selected a shortlist of  entries from those submitted in eight categories, below, in alphabetical  order.

The eight winners will be announced at a presentation to be held in  London, at the King’s Fund, 11, Cavendish Square, on Wednesday, January 25,  2012. A formal invitation will be sent out shortly any minute.

WINTER AWARDS SHORTLIST

Investigative reporting/scoop (broadcast)
Murray Anderson-Wallace, Matthew Hill, Fergus Walsh

Investigative reporting/scoop (consumer print/online)
Ben Hirschler, Warren Manger

Investigative reporting/scoop (professional  press/online)
Gareth Iacobucci, Susie Sell

Judges for all three awards ­– Branwen Jeffreys, Nick  Timmins, Andy Coghlan

Financing Healthcare (all sectors)
Warren Manger, Ruth Williams

Judges – Victoria MacDonald, Richard Hoey

Interview of a health or medical figure (all  sectors)
Ewen Callaway, Jenny Hudson

Judges – Simon Warne, Justine  Hancock

Medical science explained (broadcast)
Beth Eastwood, Fergus Walsh

Judge – Vivienne Parry

Medical science explained (print or online)
Jerome Burne, Laura Donnelly

Judges – Zosia Kmietowitch, Alan Maryon-Davies

Any queries concerning this short list should be  addressed to the Philippa Pigache -- secretary@mjauk.orgMJA 2011-12 Winter Awards -- shortlisted entries chosen

The new generation of online and data-savvy science writers now have a new sandbox to play in, testing new ideas and experimenting with science writing, thanks to newly launched Scientific American 'Creatology' and 'Incubator' blogs.

The Incubator blog aims to "highlight the work of upcoming superstars of science writing, in the hope that they will be seen, noticed, recognized, and most importantly be hired", according to its founder and blog editor at Scientific American Bora Živkovic. It has featured publications from two UK institutions, the University of Aberdeen (Au Science Magazine) and Oxford University (Bang!).

A separate blog, Creatology, gives upcoming science writers an opportunity to experiment with science writing and online media. It will host blogs from science journalism students at a different institution each year. In its first year, Creatology is hosting bloggers from London's City University science journalism programme.

Karolinska Institutet and Mayo Clinic strengthen their cooperation.

The scope of Karolinska Institutet’s cooperation with one of the world’s leading health organisations, Mayo Clinic, is now being extended through a formal contract. A delegation from Mayo Clinic is coming to Stockholm, and the cooperation is being marked by a major international conference.

PRESS CONFERENCE WITH THE NOBEL LAUREATES IN PHYSIOLOGY OR MEDICINE 2011

Press Conference with this year’s Nobel Laureates in Physiology or Medicine Professor Bruce A. Beutler and Professor Jules A. Hoffmann takes place Tuesday December 6, 2011 at 14.30 hrs in the lecture hall (Wallenbergsalen) at Nobel Forum, Karolinska Institutet, Nobels väg 1.

No accreditation needed, please bring your press card and photo ID.

For further information please contact the Nobel Office:

Tel +46 (0)8-524 87800, +46 (0)8-524 87805, +46 (0)8- 33 3931
E-mail This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Here is a reminder about the MJA statistics meeting on Thursday, December 1.

Quite a few of you signed up early, but there is still room for more.

Non-member may come if they pay £10 towards catering up front. Non-members can also join and come for free like other members.

ARE YOU AT SEA WHEN IT COMES TO STATISTICS?

Thursday, December 1, at 6.30 for 7 p.m. at
The Medical Society of London,
11 Chandos Street, London W1G 9EB (www.medsoclondon.org)

Meeting, 7 to 8.30 p.m. buffet supper, 8.30 p.m.

If you report health you have to handle statistics. They are at the foundation of evidence-based medicine. But many journalists find they are out of their depths when it comes to the finer points of significance, relative or absolute risk or correlation versus causation.

Help is at hand. The MJA has organised a meeting to steer you to the shore. Three speakers who are tops at both understanding, and explaining statistics will address us, and then you will have a chance to ask them questions.

Speakers:

David Speigelhalter, Winton Professor for the Public Understanding of Risk at the University of Cambridge, also attached to the MRC’s Biostatics unit, who has a list of media credits as long as any journalist
Trisha Greenhalgh, who heads the Healthcare Innovation and Policy Unit at Barts and the London Medical School, and is also a GP in north London. The theme of her talk will be: the over-use, under-use, mis-use and abuse of statistics in medicine.
Nigel Hawkes, currently Director of the campaigning group Straight Statistics and a columnist for the BMJ, formerly science and health writer for The Observer and The Times.

If you want to ensure your  questions get answered, send them in advance to Philippa (below).

The meeting will end with a buffet supper organised by Verena Resell. (Please let us know if you want a vegetarian meal).

RSVP to Philippa Pigache, MJA hon sec, Fairfield, Cross in Hand, Heathfield, East Sussex, TN21 0SH. Phone: 01435 868786. Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Travel grants to attend ESOF2012
Dublin, 11th-15th  July 2012

PRESENTATION AND CONDITIONS FOR TRAVEL GRANTS

1. – Purpose

Created by Euroscience, ESOF – Euroscience Open Forum – is the biennial pan-European meeting dedicated to scientific research and innovation. At ESOF meetings leading scientists, researchers, young researchers, journalists, business people, entrepreneurs and innovators, policy makers, science and technology communicators and the general public from all over the world discuss new discoveries and debate the direction that research is taking in the sciences, humanities and social sciences.

Nature Publishing Group (NPG) is a publisher of high impact scientific and medical information in print and online. NPG publishes journals, online databases, and services across the life, physical, chemical and applied sciences and clinical medicine.

Winter Awards closing date extended to November 17th - Don't delay; send in your entries now
 
The MJA Winter Awards were launched at the beginning of October.

Where are your entries? A delightful stream of non-members have applied to join us on the back of sending in their entries to the Awards, but all too few existing member have signed up.

There are eight journalism awards and one for broadcast drama.

Here they are:
Investigative reporting/scoop (consumer press)
Investigative reporting/scoop (specialist/professional press)
Investigative reporting/scoop (TV or radio)
Financing healthcare
Print or online article, or broadcast programme
Interview or profile of a health or medical figure
Print or online article
Medical science explained for the lay person
Print or online feature
Medical science explained for the lay person
Broadcast programme
Best handling of a health issue in a TV or radio drama or soap opera

The organisers have decided to extend the deadline to November 17, hoping to attract more entries.

Do get in touch with Deanna Wilson now if you think you have something to enter.

You can find out all about what you must send in, and where on the special MJA Awards site: www.mjaawards.com

DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT, NOW -- contact Deanna Wilson.. Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

MJA Awards Booklet, 2011 now posted and available
 
A pdf of this year's Awards Booklet has now been posted on the MJA website. This is the MJA's salute to those whose achievements the association has recognised this year, as well as a thank you to all those who have helped us in one way or another. It's one of the few things we have to show who and what the MJA is and does and is useful when talking to outsiders wishing either to join, support, or be associated with us.

It's much better in print, and if you would like a printed copy there are some spares. Contact me, Philippa as below, confirming your postal mailing address, and I will send one. If you know an individual, association interested in knowing about us, I can also send the booklet, plus a copy of the latest MJA News, also distributed this week.

The MJA needs to grow, so if you would like copies to show to colleagues and talk up belonging to the association, please ask me for them.

Many thanks -- PHILIPPA (Pigache, MJA hon sec)

Fairfield, Cross in Hand, Healthfield, East Sussex, TN21 0SH.
Phone: 014354 868786
 

Read more...