Past Recipients | 2019
The Johns Hopkins-sponsored 2019 EurekAlert! Fellowships for International Science Reporters saw another talented class of five early-career science reporters from India, Egypt, Slovenia and China picked by an independent panel of judges to travel to Washington, D.C., for the 2019 AAAS Annual Meeting held February 14-17, 2019. Congratulations to the recipients!
Mohamed Elsonbaty Ramadan (@ElsonbatySciCom)
Freelance | Egypt
Mohamed Elsonbaty Ramadan is a freelance science journalist from Egypt. He received his Bachelor’s degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences from Alexandria University in 2011, before obtaining a Master’s degree in Science Communication and Public Engagement from the University of Edinburgh in 2016. Since 2014, Ramadan has worked as a freelance science journalist where he has published articles in outlets such as Scientific American Arabic Edition, SciDev.Net MENA Edition, MIT Technology Review Arabic Edition and the Scientific Arabi magazine. In addition, he was the author of a series of articles for children about homemade scientific experiments titled “The Young Arabi Laboratory,” published in The Young Arabi magazine. As a previous science communication consultant and trainer, Ramadan helped implement various science communication and engagement projects with organizations such as the British Council, 1001 Inventions, and the American University in Cairo. In 2017, he was selected as the first winner of the Mijbil Al-Mutua Award for young science communication professionals in the MENA region. According to FameLab 2010, Ramadan is one of Egypt’s top 10 Science Communicators. Additionally, Ramadan has received several grants and fellowships that have allowed him to attend international events such as the Lindau Nobel Laureates meeting 2017, Falling Walls Conference 2017 and EuroScience Open Forum 2018. He is a member of “Public Communication of Science and Technology” (PCST) network.
Spoorthy Raman
Research Matters | India
Spoorthy Raman is a science writer based in Bangalore, India. After spending her early years in Mysore and Bangalore, she obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and a Master’s degree in Information Technology. She worked in the software industry for a few years before deciding to pursue science writing as a profession. Over the past three years, Raman has focused her writing on a wide range of topics, spanning physics, engineering, ecology, geology and environmental disciplines. Her articles have been published in many media outlets, including Deccan Herald, FactorDaily and American Geophysical Union blogs. In addition to participating in several workshops and panels, Raman had the opportunity to appear on the “Last Word” on BBC Radio 4. She was the recipient of the Merit Prize in the Asian Scientist Writing Prize in 2017 and currently works as the Managing Editor at Research Matters. Apart from writing, she loves photography, reading, nature, wildlife and just being out in the sun. A learner for life, she loves to dabble with anything new, whether it is a technology, skill, or a hobby.
Jyoti Singh (@ashajyoti11)
India Science Wire | India
Jyoti Singh is a science journalist and social media manager at the India Science Wire (ISW). ISW, a science news and feature service funded by India’s Department of Science and Technology, was established to promote science, technology, health and environment coverage in Indian media. Singh, a science communicator, journalist and science enthusiast, has work published in newspapers, magazines and e-portals like The Hindu, Scroll, Deccan Herald, Outlook, Down to Earth, Firstpost, Meghalaya Guardian, Indian Science Journal, and Invention Intelligence. She has contributed material for books, brochures, documentary films and radio jingles on topics such as nuclear energy. In addition, Singh has written science serials for All India Radio on various topics like chemistry, grass root innovations and mathematics. These serials have been translated into 19 languages and telecast from all the regional radio stations of India. Singh has a Master’s degree in Mass Communication (Science and Technology).
Lea Udovč (@LeaUdovc)
Slovenian Press Agency | Slovenia
Lea Udovč is a journalist at the Slovenian Press Agency (STA), the leading Slovenian provider of media content for domestic and foreign audiences. She started her journalism career as a presenter and editor at Souvizija, a web-based student TV network and Radio Student, an independent radio station. Since 2017, Udovč has been a full-time employee of the STA, focusing mainly on science, technology, and innovation. She has produced several dozen interviews and stories on different scientific topics ranging from microbiology, zoology, astrophysics, nuclear and theoretical physics, climate change, material science, genetics, neuroscience, and more. She is the author of a series of multimedia stories on the work of Slovenian scientists and researchers, and an author of a multimedia series of articles and video interviews with exceptional and outstanding personalities from Slovenia. Udovč has attended several international excursions and summer schools for science journalists and was nominated for the 2018 European Science Writer of the Year Award, which is coordinated by the Association of British Science Writers (ABSW) and supported by Johnson & Johnson.
Li Zheng (@elise901)
Freelance | China
Li Zheng (Elise) is a freelance journalist with Guokr.com. With a background in international politics and sociology, Zheng transitioned her career to science journalism at Guokr.com after finishing her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees at Peking University and London School of Economics. As a science writer, she focuses her writing on sociology and the human aspects of science and technology. She connects recent discoveries and cutting-edge technologies with the life of individuals and communities in the fast-changing society of China and around the globe. She has written in-depth reports about algorithms, technology ethics, and gender in science and technology. To promote public understanding of science to the public, she would journey through universities, institutions and museums, telling the inside stories of science and technology and how it is connected to the human intellectual world. Over the last few years, she has lived in China and the U.K., and was a volunteer at the Natural History Museum and Science Museum in London. Zheng is currently pursuing a degree in Science and Technology Studies at Georgia Tech while freelancing for Guokr as a staff writer. In her free time, she enjoys learning languages, visiting museums and strolling in random urban streets.
2019 EurekAlert! Fellowship Judges
Dalia AbdelSalam is an award-winning journalist based in Cairo, Egypt. She currently works for Springer Nature as a chief editor of - For Science للعِلم , the Arabic Edition of Scientific American. For 22 years, she was the Environment and Water Editor at Al Ahram Hebdo Newspaper, an Egyptian weekly newspaper in French language. AbdelSalam was a board member of the Arab Science Journalists Association (ASJA) from July 2009 to June 2011 and she co-directed the 7th World Conference for Science Journalists held in Doha, Qatar, in 2011. She also acted as a media consultant for national, regional and international organizations and as an environmental reporting trainer.Since 2006, AbdelSalam has been acting as coordinator for Northern Africa for the African Network of Environmental Journalists (ANEJ) and was chosen in October 2015 to represent the Middle East and North African region in the Orientation Council of "L'Institut de la Francophonie pour le Developpement Durable" (IFDD), based in Quebec City, Canada.
Nehal Lasheen is the deputy editor of the Arabic edition of SciDev.Net for the MENA region. She is the president of the Arab Science Journalists Association and was a mentor in the World Federation of Science Journalists' mentoring project for science journalism SJCOOP2. She has a background in science journalism especially on the Internet and was the Health & Science Editor at IslamOnline.net Arabic website for several years.
Malathy Iyer is a senior editor (health) with The Times of India, Mumbai, with over 20 years of experience. When not chasing the big outbreaks of bird flu and swine flu or tracking the emergence of total drug-resistant tuberculosis, she focuses on issues of urban health care systems and women and children with special needs.
Milica Momčilović is a science journalist, author, and TV anchor at Radio Television of Serbia. She holds the position of editor in science programming and writes science articles for Politika, the oldest daily newspaper in Serbia. As a journalist in TV and print media, she has developed a special interest in establishing partnerships with scientists and their institutes as one of the models for successful reporting on science and mutual capacity building. She is the Vice-President of the World Federation of Science Journalists.
T. V. Padma is a Delhi-based science journalist, who has written extensively on science policies in India, South Asia, and developing countries. She currently writes for Nature, Nature India, New Scientist, Physics World, Chemistry World, BioWorld and The Wire. Padma began her career as a science correspondent at the Press Trust of India, where she reported on science daily and handled the production of the fortnightly PTI Science Service bulletin. She later ran development communication projects at the South Asia office of Panos Institute. In 2005, she joined SciDev.Net as its first South Asia Regional Coordinator to set up the first South Asian network of science writers. She was part of SciDev.Net's award-winning team in 2005 that won the Association of British Science writers prize for best science reporting on the web, for their coverage of the Dec 2004 Asian tsunami. She is also a recipient of the FAO's World Food Day prize for best reporting on health and nutrition issues in India.
Jane Qiu is an award-winning independent science writer in Beijing, regularly contributing to publications such as Nature, Science, Scientific American, and The Economist. A recipient of many prestigious fellowships and travel grants, she has covered a wide range of topics from the Arctic, the Antarctic, and the peaks of the Himalayas. She is passionate about the Tibetan Plateau and surrounding mountain ranges -- a vast area half the size of the US known as the Third Pole because it boasts the largest stock of ice on Earth outside the polar regions -- and strives to highlight its increasing fragility and pressing environmental issues. Qiu has won awards for her writings from the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Association of British Science Writers, the South Asian Journalists Association, and the Asia Environmental Journalism Awards. She recently completed the Knight Science Journalism Fellowship Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology-- the world's premier mid-career fellowship program for science writers, editors, and multimedia journalists.
Dr. Zixue Tai is an associate professor in the School of Journalism & Media at the University of Kentucky, where he is the Sequence Coordinator of the Media Arts and Studies program. His primary area of research pertains to the various aspects of the social, political, and cultural ramifications of the blossoming new media sector, as well as social media activism and collective action in China. The author of The Internet in China: Cyberspace and Civil Society (Routledge, hardcover released in 2006 & paperback published in 2012), Dr. Tai has published in journals such as the Journal of Communication, Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, New Media & Society, Psychology & Marketing, Sociology of Health & Illness, International Communication Gazette, and Tobacco Control, among others. Additionally, he has contributed numerous chapters to edited volumes focusing on various aspects of new media and Chinese society.
Mićo Tatalović is a science journalist from Rijeka, Croatia (European Capital of Culture 2020). He was a Knight Science Journalism fellow at MIT in 2017/2018. Before that, he worked as a news editor at New Scientist and SciDev.net. He is the chairman of the Association of British Science Writers and sits on the board of the Balkan Network of Science Journalists.