Science Journalism Fund – new 2019 round now open

The Aotearoa New Zealand Science Journalism Fund will award a second round of funding this year, with projects due mid-2020.

Grants up to $5000 are available to fund reporting linked to the themes below, with preference given to projects that would otherwise be unlikely to attract resourcing.

Media professionals working for online, television, radio, newspapers and magazines, including freelancers for all of the above, are welcome to apply.

Projects will be allowed a longer turnaround time than previous years, with stories required to be published before 1 July 2020.

Funding is available under the following themes:

Living on the edge? – $5000
Volcanoes, floods, tsunami, land slips, earthquakes — risks from a range of natural hazards are a defining feature of life in Aotearoa NZ. Decisions made every day by families, businesses, and communities addressing or ignoring these risks have consequences that may not be apparent for years or decades. This category invites projects focused on any aspect of natural hazard risk and resilience, including consumer, economic and outcomes from recent research.
Funded by EQC. EQC is on a mission to reduce the impact of natural disaster on people and property.

Surviving (and thriving after) the next big quake – $5000
Earthquakes are an ever-present hazard that NZ can’t afford to ignore. What lessons have been learned from major quakes like Kaikōura and Canterbury and how are these being applied on the ground in communities the length and breadth of New Zealand? What has actually changed when it comes to the
country’s infrastructure, attitudes and outlook? How far is there still to go before the next big one hits?
Funded by QuakeCoRE. QuakeCoRE is transforming the earthquake resilience of communities and societies through innovative world‐class research.

Could soil carbon save the world? – $5000
As well as providing nearly all our food and helping to regulate the earth’s atmosphere, soils are one of the main global stores of carbon. We invite proposals relating to the science of soil carbon, investigating how
New Zealand’s soil carbon is now being measured, monitored and managed – and what the future effects of changes in soil carbon might be on our changing climate.
Funded by Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research. Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research is the Crown Research Institute for our land environment, tasked with helping New Zealanders understand and care for our land and the rich biology that shares this land with us.

Apply here – closing date 10 Nov 2019

This is the fifth round of grants announced since the fund’s launch in 2017.

Topics awarded in previous rounds have ranged from climate change and sea level rise, to data privacy and robots in healthcare, to fisheries science and gene editing. You can read more about completed projects here.

About the Aotearoa New Zealand Science Journalism Fund

The Aotearoa New Zealand Science Journalism Fund is the first independent journalism fund dedicated to furthering coverage of the science-related issues that impact New Zealanders. The fund was set up by Rebecca Priestley, winner of the 2016 Prime Minister’s Science Communicator’s Prize, in association with the Science Media Centre, to support journalism that highlights the science that underpins, or informs, major issues facing our society.

More information about the fund is available here.

Visit Press Patron to make a contribution. Any organisations wanting to support the fund, please contact: sciencejournalismfund@gmail.com.