NCBS announces its 4th annual science journalism workshop, which will be held on campus from July 23 to August 7, 2014.

The workshop's main objective is to impart to students the basic skills necessary for communicating science to the lay person via the written word.

Students will learn the elements of good science writing and the art and craft of conducting good interviews. The workshop will focus on news and features, which will lay the basis for a career in communicating science to the lay person. Popular science writing and journalism isn't merely about summarising an academic paper. Rather, it strives to entertain and educate, provide multiple points-of-view, and at its best be an independent and necessary part of a thriving culture of scientific enquiry.

The workshop will demand active and committed participation from students. They will have to interview scientists, write news and feature stories, which will be edited in-class by the instructors. A firm grounding in science and/or technology is mandatory as is a facility with language.

The workshop will require fulltime attention, from 9 AM to 5.30 PM. Please be prepared to commit fully to the workshop. Students from outside NCBS are encouraged to apply. The workshop will be for a maximum of 10 students. Accommodation will be provided on campus for up to 5 out-of-station students.

If you are interested please email Anil Ananthaswamy at ncbs.workshop.2014@gmail.com by 15th May, 2014. Each applicant should send their CV and write a short essay, of no more than 500 words, describing his or her reasons for wanting to join the workshop. Prospective students will be contacted by 15th June, 2014, either in person or remotely.

Please do not inquire about your selection before 15th June, 2014. The organisers are unable to respond to individual requests for information before the deadline.

INSTRUCTORS

Anil Ananthaswamy: consultant, New Scientist magazine. Anil has a BTech (IIT Madras), MSEE (University of Washington, Seattle) and trained as a journalist at the University of California, Santa Cruz. He has been with New Scientist magazine in various capacities since 2000, most recently as staff writer and deputy news editor. Anil's work has appeared in Discover magazine, National Geographic News, The Independent (UK) and Times Online (UK). Anil is a guest columnist for PBS Nova's Nature of Reality blog. He is a guest lecturer at UC Santa Cruz's science writing program. He is the author of The Edge of Physics, a popular science book on modern cosmology and astroparticle physics, which was voted Book of the Year 2010 by Physics World, UK.

Names of other instructors will be confirmed in due course.