How can you increase the visibility of your work by engaging with social, print, online and news media? By raising your profile as a researcher, you can also increase public awareness of your discipline or areas of work, promoting a wider discussion of the issues you are trying to address with your research.
Media coverage can support Early Career Researchers (ECRs) in bringing their contributions to a different level of engagement, including the general audience and specific communities, to attract policy makers’ attention.
In this interactive workshop, the facilitators will share their experiences working with the mainstream media, providing useful strategies for ECRs who wish to start working with the media or gain new knowledge to establish more effective relationships with journalists. Subtopics discussed will include:
- Benefits of working with the media
- Pitfalls of working with the media
- Identifying the right media
- Tips for working with journalists
- Answering media enquiries
Facilitators:
Dr Shareena Hamzah-Osbourne (FHEA), member of LSW Advisory Group for Researcher Development.
Dr Shareena Hamzah-Osbourne completed her PhD in English Literature at Swansea University, specialising in contemporary women’s writing and gender & sexuality studies. She has peer-reviewed numerous articles for the Contemporary Women’s Writing journal, and her book, Jeanette Winterson’s Narratives of Desire was published in June 2021, with the paperback editor released in April 2023. Prior to her career in Higher Education, she worked in corporate communications in Malaysia. She has extensive experience in HE teaching and gained FHEA status in 2020, having taught full-time undergraduate and part-time mature students at universities in Malaysia, Iran, and the UK.
As a Florence Mockeridge Fellow at Swansea University in 2019-20, Dr Hamzah-Osbourne participated in various interdisciplinary research activities. She is currently completing Advanced Higher Education’s “Diversifying Leadership Programme”, funded by Swansea University. She works as the IT Service Desk Coordinator at Swansea University, leading a team who are the first line of contact for IT incidents and requests.
In addition to her professional achievements, Shareena is an ardent advocate for promoting diversity and inclusivity among Early Career Researchers in Wales, believing it to be of utmost importance.
Professor Stefan Doerr (FLSW), Director of the Centre for Wildfire Research (Swansea Univeristy) and Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Wildland Fire (CSIRO Publishing)
Stefan Doerr is Professor of Wildland Fire Science at Swansea University (UK), Director of its Centre for Wildfire Research and Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Wildland Fire (CSIRO publishing). He has carried out research on wildfires over three decades across all fire-affected continents and has held collaborative research positions in Australia (Australian National University, Deakin University, University of Melbourne and CSIRO Canberra), Spain (Universitat de València), and the USA (Geological Survey, Denver).
His work focuses on wildfire impacts and their mitigation, as well as global fire patterns, the role of climate change, trends and social perceptions of fire. He is a member of OECD’s Task Force on Climate Change Adaptation, a fellow of The Learned Society of Wales, and works closely with academics, natural resources managers, firefighters and industry partners in the UK and overseas. Frequently engages with TV, printed and online news in the UK and internationally, and acts as a fact checker for Climatefeedback.org, a global coalition of scientists working to improve the accuracy of climate media coverage.
