Dr Liz Kalaugher, editor of IOP Publishing’s environmentalresearchweb, has won the European Geosciences Union’s Science Journalism Fellowship competition.
Dr Kalaugher, who has been awarded €1500 to cover expenses for a trip to Finland, will report on fieldwork at the Kilpisjärvi Biological Station, a region where “the first effects of climate change are starting to bite,” she wrote in her winning proposal. Liz will follow scientists to the European Arctic to communicate their research on climate-change impacts on soil, vegetation and local fauna, and to understand how resilient ecosystems are to changes in temperature.
Dr Kate Ravilious was also awarded the fellowship. Kate is an independent science journalist who writes for environmentalresearchweb, among other publications. Ravilious’s proposal focused on “Earthquakes without Frontiers”, a project involving a team of scientists studying continental faults stretching from southern Europe to central Asia and China that could pose major risks to populations in these regions.
The Science Journalism Fellowship is an annual competition open to professional journalists who want to report about ongoing research in the geosciences. The winning proposals receive up to €5000 to cover expenses related to the projects and assistance in liaising with scientists. This support is intended to allow the fellows to follow geoscientists on location and to develop in-depth understanding of their questions, approaches, findings and motivation.
Reports from Liz’s trip will be published on environmentalresearchweb in 2013.