Training of science information and communication professionals through fellowships at the Science Media Centre Spain.
The Science Media Centre España (SMC España) is an independent journalism bureau that provides the media with resources, reliable content and expert sources to cover science-related news. SMC España is offering an internship for students, with a training programme in science journalism tutored by the SMC team, which is made up of specialised journalists.
It will be necessary for the student's institution to sign a collaboration agreement with FECYT. This call will be published on the web portals (24 hours after publication on the FECYT website and its corporate social networks) of the internship and employment services of those universities that already have a collaboration agreement in force with FECYT. Applications can be submitted from there.
Those entities with students interested in these internships and which have not yet established a collaboration agreement with FECYT may contact the foundation: formacion@fecyt.es
- Students in their final year of a bachelor's, master's or postgraduate degree in communication. Applications will also be accepted from students in the final year of a bachelor's, master's or postgraduate degree in science and humanities, provided they have a demonstrable background in communication or journalism.
- Have a demonstrable high level of English, minimum level B2 or equivalent.
- Knowledge of social media management.
- Demonstrable skills in journalistic writing.
Only students who meet the above academic requirements will be invited to take part in the selection process.
The deadline for submitting applications is 10 calendar days from the date of publication of the call for applications on www.fecyt.es
Stage 1: Assessment of curriculum vitae (40 points)
- Internships or experience in journalism and science communication will be valued. Maximum 15 points.
- Practices or experience in the management of social networks; photo and video editing; and audiovisual communication will be valued. Maximum 10 points.
- Complementary training related to journalism and science communication will be valued. Maximum 15 points.
In this phase, the four students who obtain the best curricular assessment with a minimum of 25 points out of 40 will pass to the interview phase. If, of all the students who apply, there is no student with a minimum curricular evaluation of 25 points, the scholarship will be offered again at a later date.
2nd Phase: Interview (60 points)
Of the four students interviewed, the two students who obtain the best total evaluation in the two phases of the process (minimum 40 points in the interview phase) will be the selected students.
The training programme will be blended.
- Learning to select scientific information with journalistic criteria and to choose an appropriate approach to make it known to the public.
- To develop a critical point of view on information and learn to select the appropriate independent sources to contrast them in a rigorous way.
- Learning to develop content and to choose one format or another depending on the subject to be covered: reactions, what we know, expert voices, resources, etc.
- Learning to manage social networks for science journalism. -
- Learn to work as part of a team in a newsroom.
- Teamwork, in person or remotely.
- Use of web tools.
- Use and management of databases.
- Creation of content to provide agile and effective news coverage on science topics that generate controversy or form part of the social conversation.
- Reading and understanding scientific texts in English.
- Research and selection of news information on science, technology, health and the environment.
- Writing articles (explainers or 'what we know') and conducting interviews in English.
- Ability to gather documentation and cross-check information with appropriate sources.
- Ability to find approaches that bring information on science, technology, health and the environment closer to the general public.
- Fluency in the use of communication tools and remote teamwork (Teams).
- Ability to create content aimed at social networks, network management and analysis.
- Use of digital tools for editing and publishing content.
- Drafting of daily news content.
- Database management.
- Daily updating of content on SMC's website and social networks.
- Search for potentially newsworthy events for news coverage.
- Monitoring the media impact of SMC content.
- Selection of sources and interviews with people related to science, technology, health and the environment.
- Participation in the weekly meetings of the SMC editorial team where the topics to be covered are discussed, ideas and improvements are proposed, and the work is divided among the team members.
- Management of social networks and creation of specific content for social networks.