It is noticeable that few ‘explainers’ of engineering or the physical sciences appear regularly in the media. To redress this, the Public Engagement Programme invites applications for Senior Media Fellowships. These enable leading researchers to devote time to develop a higher media profile. The aim is to advance public engagement with the physical sciences, mathematics and engineering via the broadcast and written media.
Senior Media Fellowships are intended to be used for active development of media opportunities (not research, scholarship or teaching). Fellows are expected to act as high-profile ‘champions’ using regional and national media opportunities to:
- Explain and interpret advances in their field in ways which are accessible to the general public.
- Convey the excitement and value of research to society.
- Explain or debate issues for society arising from research in their area.
Possible Activities
We are not prescriptive about the type of activities that should be carried out by fellows. Senior Media Fellows are expected to engage in activities that communicate with the general public via some aspect of the mass media. Public engagement projects that focus upon a different communication route (for example, websites, school visits or similar) are more suitable for the Partnerships for Public Engagement award scheme.
Examples of possible activities include:
- Appearances on local or national radio or television – including news, documentaries and magazine programmes.
- Inspiring major science features, series or columns in popular print media.
We will not support proposals that just involve writing a popular science book but welcome applications that include publishing a book as part of a wider range of associated media activities.
Every proposal should include a proactive element of activity. It is not enough to just respond to media enquiries (in the sense of simply answering journalist questions when they call and being briefly interviewed when invited though this can form part of the overall activity.
Senior Media Fellows do not have to limit themselves to explaining their own research, although that may well form the core of their activities. Other legitimate subjects for activities include the general subject area (including its recent history), engineering and physical sciences research in general, the nature of the research process, and ethical and social issues that arise from research and its products.
Further Information
Current Senior Media Fellows
- Jim Al-Khalili - Professor of Physics and of Public Engagement in Science at the University of Surrey
- Chris Cooper - Professor of Biochemistry at the University of Essex
- Trevor Cox - Professor of Acoustic Engineering at the University of Salford
- Marcus du Sautoy - Professor of Mathematics at the University of Oxford
- Mark Miodownik - Head of the Materials Research Group at Kings College London
- Andrea Sella - Senior lecturer in Inorganic Chemistry at UCL
- Noel Sharkey - Professor of Computer Science at the University of Sheffield
- Alan Winfield - Professor of Electronic Engineering at the University of the West of England
Past Senior Media Fellows
- David Howard - Professor of Music Technology at the University of York
- Tony Ryan - ICI Professor of Chemistry at the University of Sheffield
- Peter Styring - Head of Green Chemistry, Dept of Chemical and Process Engineering at the University of Sheffield