Writing for The Conversation
The Conversation (theconversation.com) is a daily independent news and analysis online publication, delivering expertise from the academic and research community directly to the public. In a not-for-profit collaboration, its small team of professional editors works directly with academics and researchers to publish articles for a wide audience.
Currently, The Conversation site attracts 4.8 million users per month, and reaches 35 million through Creative Commons republication. Over 22,000 media outlets around the world use content from The Conversation, including The Washington Post, Maclean’s, Le Monde, The Guardian, Time Magazine and The Hindu.
Can you write for the Conversation?
To write for The Conversation, you need to be currently employed by or associated with a university as faculty, post-doctorate fellow or PhD student/candidate. Master's students can also write for The Conversation, but must have their supervisor as a co-author.
Registering with The Conversation
- Go to https://theconversation.com/become-an-author.
- Verify your institution by supplying your Western email.
- Fill in your education history.
- Agree to the terms and start writing your pitch.
Why write for the Conversation?
Knowledge exchange
Canada’s national funding agencies, CIHR, SSHRC, and NSERC, as well as other funding agencies are emphasizing and in some cases requiring as part of funding applications, rich knowledge mobilization and translation plans highlighting who engages within research, what are the research outputs and outcomes, who benefits from these outputs and outcomes, and what impact is made by the research. Writing for The Conversation can be an active part of your knowledge exchange program.
Find new ways and words to communicate your research
The Conversation’s seasoned editors work with hundreds of researchers to help translate their work from the bench to the soapbox. Their experience will you help find new and varied approaches to how you speak about your work to those unfamiliar with your field.
Bring niche ideas to light
Often, researchers feel like their work is toospecific for the general public to care, but The Conversation is a great vehicle to show how your research in the ‘niche’ ideas offers new perspectives on people’s lives and the world they live in.
Real-time advocacy
As a researcher you have expert insight in the events and concerns of Canadian life and life in the world at large. The Conversation allows you to advocate for the issues and solutions have found within your research on a platfor with international reach.
Reach thousands of people for a few nights’ work
Once a pitch is accepted, The Conversation’s editors and writing tools facilitate quick and easy article creation. Depending on the article and its place in the news cycle, you can complete an article—from pitch to publication—in an evening’s work.
Resources
- Writing for The Conversation Canada Webinar [Office 365 login required] — hosted by the Faculty of Information & Media Studies, the Faculty of Law, the Don Wright Faculty of Music, and Western Research.
- A Quick Guide to Writing for the Conversation Canada — a one-pager PDF created by the Conversation Canada.
- Finally, Western Research can help you with articles ideas, story pitches and your bio. You can reach us at research.comms@uwo.ca.