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Tuesday, 22 October 2013

If you were under the impression that work experience only involved stamping brochures, endless filing and simply observing...think again! How about interviewing top UWA researchers one-on-one, compiling articles for a University newsletter and seeing your work published? For five aspiring science journalists from Shenton College and St Hilda's Anglican School for Girls, that's exactly how they spent their week.

The Year 10 and 11 students took part in the School of Physics' ‘Science Journalist Work Experience Programme' last month, and one of their primary tasks was to produce articles for the School's newsletter. This gave them the opportunity to develop and showcase their journalistic skills by interviewing some of UWA's top academics about their current research projects, photographing their ‘subject' and submitting the results to the Editor.

One student's article covering UWA physicist, Associate Professor John McFerran's current research project was so well received, in fact, it was developed into a University media release . This in turn generated a significant amount of interest in Dr McFerran's work; the student's story is also due to be published in an upcoming edition of UWANews .

Other newsletter articles produced by students in the most recent placement include:

  • "A Centenary's Worth of Stories" (cover story) - a discussion with Professor John Robins', author of the " History of the Physics Department of the University of Western Australia ", which was recently published for the University's Centenary.
  • "UWA's ‘Mag'icians" - an exploration of Research Professor Mikhail Kostylev and his group's work ‘unravelling the mysteries behind magnetism and spintronics.'
  • "Hammond Hammers Inspiration in Teaching" - a discussion with Professor Peter Hammond, and how his philosophy and teaching practice earned him a 2013 Award for University Teaching.
  • "It's a Nano World After All" - investigating the research and outreach efforts of the Biomagnetics and Medical Physics Research group, led by Professor Tim St Pierre
  • "Bridging the Gap" - a report on the efforts of Professor Jeff Shragge in bringing together Physics and the Earth Sciences

For further information regarding the Science Journalist Work Experience Programme, contact Jay Jay Jegathesan , UWA School of Physics.

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