Count down to WCSJ 2009

The web site for the 6th World Conference of Science Journalists is up and running. So the official countdown can begin until the big day on 29 June next year.

Count the days, read the blog.

Week interactions for science on the Telegraph

The 14 May issue of DWPub JournAlert, the weekly newsletter from Daryl Willcox Publishing, has news of interesting developments over at the Telegraph Media Group. It appears that it "plans to combine coverage of science, sport and religion across The Daily Telegraph, Sunday Telegraph and telegraph.co.uk".

Fortunately for those involved, this means that the science coverage will come together across these outlets, not that the Telegraph plans to combine coverage of science, sport and religion. Science writers are versatile people, but asking them to rush between house of worship, lab and football pitch may be asking too much.

The newsletter says that "Science editor Roger Highfield and science correspondent Richard Gray, who were formerly based at The Daily Telegraph, will now contribute news and features across all three Telegraph titles. They will be assisted by health correspondent Kate Devlin."

What should we do with the WFSJ?

The World Federation of Science Journalists (WFSJ) wants your views on what it should get up to. Over on WFSJ News its says:

The members of the WFSJ Board are meeting next July. Their priority is to come up with a strategic plan for the Federation that will be presented at the General Assembly, in June 2009, during the 6th World Conference of Science Journalists, in London (UK).

The web site has a page for a survey on the Consultation on the Future of WFSJ.

News Reporter - Nature

Nature, the world’s leading international journal of science, is looking for a reporter to join its news team in London.

The successful applicant will have an ambitious attitude to digging out the best stories in the world of scientific and medical research, and a proven flair for doing so. Working primarily online, she or he will be able to report on and analyse news developments under tight deadlines, but will also have many opportunities for other forms of journalism, from feature writing to podcasting. All areas of proven expertise will be taken into consideration, with an eye to complementing the particular knowledge base of current staff; at the same time a demonstrated ability to report on complex biomedical stories is a must. Experience in and/or aptitude for editing, audio journalism and the development of interactive web projects will be an advantage.

This position is based in our offices in Crinan Street (near King’s Cross).

To apply please send no more than three clips, your CV and a covering letter, quoting reference number NPG/LON/876, to Geetika Juneja at londonpersonnel@macmillan.co.uk

All candidates must demonstrate the right to live and work in the UK to be considered for the vacancy.

Closing date: 28th May 2008

Scientific spin-outs

Invitation to come on an ABSW site visit, 18 June 2008

An invitation to visit the labs of two spin-out companies based in Milton Park near Abingdon.

Milton Park near Abingdon in Oxfordshire is home to a number of successful scientific spin-outs. Two of these, Oxford Catalysts and Oxford Diffraction, are inviting science writers to a visit their labs on Wednesday, 18 June to witness some of the science behind the 'spin', and explore the latest innovations in catalyst development and x-ray diffraction. For those of an entrepreneurial bent, business development directors at both companies will be available and happy to discuss the challenges involved in building up a science-based company.

Milton Park is located 12 miles south of Oxford, just off the Milton Interchange on the A34. The nearest mainline station is Didcot Parkway. The two companies have offered to provide morning coffee, a sandwich lunch, afternoon tea and transport to and from Didcot station for those travelling by train. There is also parking available on site.

For space reasons, the visit will be limited to no more than 10. It's first come, first served. For further information or to reserve your place please contact Nina Morgan, telephone 01608-676530; e-mail: ninamorgan@lineone.net

Oxford Catalysts

Oxford Catalysts (www.oxfordcatalysts.com), is a spin-out from the Chemistry Department at Oxford University. The company was founded by Professor Malcolm Green and Dr Tiancun Xiao in October 2004, and its technology draws on almost 20 years of research at the Oxford University's Wolfson Catalysis Centre. Oxford Catalysts works to design speciality catalysts for creating the next generation of clean fuels from both conventional fossil fuels and renewable sources such as biomass. The company has two key platform technologies: a novel class of metal carbide catalysts for applications such as Fischer-Tropsch (FT) and hydrodesulphurisation (HDS); and catalysts to produce steam at temperatures between 100ºC and 800ºC+ instantaneously starting from room temperature. Instant Steam could have important applications in a areas ranging from cleaning and disinfection, to food packaging and green energy in the form of motive power or electricity.

Oxford Catalysts has recently expanded its lab facilities. During the visit scientists working in the company will explain catalyst development, offer tours of its newly expanded labs – which house two new high throughput experimentation (HTE) rigs – and demonstrate the production of Instant Steam.

Oxford Diffraction

Oxford Diffraction (www.oxford-diffraction.com) designs and manufacturers innovative scientific instruments for single crystal X-ray diffraction. Founded in March 2001, Oxford Diffraction was created as a spin out of Oxford Instruments plc following a successful alliance with Kuma Diffraction, a dynamic Polish company based in Wrocław, which was itself spun out from the Polish Academy of Sciences in 1993. Oxford Diffraction has recently been acquired by the US-based company, Varian Inc., a leading worldwide supplier of scientific instruments and vacuum technologies for life sciences and industrial applications.

Oxford Diffraction's instruments are typically employed by academic and industrial scientific research groups working in the disciplines of chemistry, biology, geology and physics, where an understanding of the shape and three dimensional molecular structure of materials is essential. Its products encompass a vast array of diffractometers, X-ray sources and CCD detectors, and include its revolutionary PX Scanner, which is designed specifically to carry out identification and X-ray diffraction analysis of protein crystals in situ within multi-well crystallisation plates.
Scientists at Oxford Diffraction will demonstrate and explain the technology behind the machines, and discuss the theory and practice behind x-ray crystallography along with some of its applications.

Programme

• 10:30 – 10: 45 Arrive at Oxford Catalysts (Oxford Catalysts have offered to provide transport from Didcot station for anyone travelling on the 9:30 or 9:48 train from Paddington (10:12 and 10:33 arrivals)
• 10: 45- 11:15 The visit begins with coffee at Oxford Catalysts
• 11:15 – 11:45 Discussion of the science and business rational behind Oxford Catalysts
• 11:45 – 12:45 Tour of the new labs at Oxford Catalysts, including demonstrations of the new high throughput experimentation rigs and the Instant Steam technology.
• 12:25 – 13:45 Sandwich lunch at Oxford Catalysts, followed by a short walk to Oxford Diffraction
• 14:00 – 15:15: Discussion of the science and business rational behind Oxford Diffraction, and demonstrations of its award winning technology.
• 15:15 – 15:30 Tea at Oxford Diffraction
• 15:30 Visit ends. Oxford Catalysts will provide transport for anyone wishing to catch the
• 15:47 or later trains from Didcot.

MRC recruits science writer

It is surprising that more science writers have not joined the handful who have taken on appointments on the bodies that oversee various research organisations. After all, writers have to spend more time getting to know more of what goes on than many of the people who get grants from Research Councils, for example.

Writers don't even have to sit back and wait for someone to summon them on to these bodies. The RCs even invite people to apply for seats in their council. We don't know if this is how Vivienne Parry, an ABSW member, came to be a new members of the council of the Medical Research Council. But we can think of a number of drawbacks to applying for such a job.

The income, a grand total of £6570 per year can hardly make up for the work that you might have to forego when you have this sort of appointment. There are just too many opportunities for aggrieved outsiders to scream loudly about potential conflicts of interest. Fortunately, Vivienne, who has, among other activities, made some neat radio programmes in recent years, isn't the sort of person to be intimidated by such accusations.

If nothing else, having a "back" on board at a Research Council should help them to improve their media relationships. Some Research Councils, those I have to deal with, seem to take this aspect of their work seriously enough to allocate adequate resources to the work. They end up with small, hard working teams that really do not have the resources it takes to do an effective job.