Since it was founded in Milan seven years ago, the non-profit Center for Ethics in Science and Journalism has sought to foster “better science and better journalism for a healthier democracy.” Now the center, led by former KSJ Fellow Fabio Turone (‘17) will be helping to deploy journalists to many of Europe’s top universities. The center is part of a consortium that won a 1.5 million euro grant from the European Research Council to establish science journalists in residence at research institutions across the continent.
Over the next four years, the project — called FRONTIERS (Fellowship Residencies Offering science News professionals Tools and training for Independent and Ethical Reporting on Science) — is expected to provide 40 fellowships to early-career, mid-career, and established science journalists, giving them the opportunity to spend 3 to 5 months as journalists in residence at institutions of their choice.
“This is the first EU-funded project specifically aimed at supporting independent science journalism,” Turone said in a press release. “We hope that it will demonstrate how institutional support can change the landscape of science journalism in Europe by promoting capacity building and lifelong learning opportunities for the many professionals who aim for the highest qualitative and ethical standards.”
KSJ will be well-represented in the FRONTIERS project. In addition to Turone, former fellows Mićo Tatalović (’18) and Andrada Fiscutean (’20) — and current fellow Wojtek Breszinski — serve on the project’s advisory board.
Among the fare in the New Yorker’s latest special issue on climate, “Bottlenecks,” were features by former KSJ Fellows Pagan Kennedy (‘11), who wrote about a curious potential solution to the problem of cargo vessel emissions, and Meera Subramanian (‘17), who did a deep dive on India’s Pavagada Ultra Mega Solar Park, the world’s third-largest solar farm.
The park “covers a staggering 13,000 acres in southern India,” Subramanian said of the engineering feat that formed the subject of her reporting. “What does that mean for the local people and the land they once farmed on?” The award-winning environmental journalist went to India to find out, and while she was there, she also traveled to Nepal on a National Geographic Explorer grant to report on vulture conservation efforts.
Meanwhile, Subramanian continues her work as a contributing editor of Orion, where she has a column called Off the Map, and as co-director of the Religion & Environment Story Project, which just finished up with its second round of journalism fellows.
Tasmiha Khan (‘22) has been named to receive one of the five reporting grants awarded this year by the Columbia Journalism School’s Lipman Center as part of its Initiative in Reporting on Race and Criminal Justice. Also among the recipients were the California Newsroom, Mother Jones, AL.com, and independent journalists Daniel Moritz-Rabson and Lauren Gill. The Lipman Center grants total $180,000, and are designed to support year-long reporting projects on law enforcement, prosecutorial, judicial, incarceration, racial, and human rights abuses.
In April, KFF Health News’ Tony Leys (‘20) published a deeply reported feature story on the challenges that adults with Down Syndrome face as they navigate the health system. The story was years in the making, stemming from a project Leys began as a KSJ fellow in 2020. “I shelved the whole thing for a couple of years, while focusing on COVID coverage,” he said. “But I went back after it this year, with fresh angles and interviews for KFF Health News.”
Leys says he’s hoping to follow up with a related story about efforts to include people with disabilities in clinical trials.
And now, a compendium of what other KSJ alumni are writing:
Rebecca Boyle (‘22): “The Death of the Moth Would Be Just Fine By Me, Thanks,” The Last Word on Nothing.
Jeremy Hance (‘22): “World’s ‘largest’ tropical reforestation project slowed by Covid, Bolsonaro, fires,” Mongabay.
Emily Mullin (‘22): “The Secrets of Aging Are Hidden in Your Ovaries,” Wired.
Jared Whitlock (‘22): “Families raised millions and handed rare disease therapies off to biotechs. But companies have backed out,” Endpoints News.
Carrie Arnold (‘21): “‘Patients are not hot potatoes’: How the fight over dialysis coverage is putting kidney failure patients at risk,” STAT.
Sarah Gilman (’21): “On Winthrop Pond, Part I and Part II,” The Last Word on Nothing.
Amy Maxmen (‘21): “These 7 radical changes would fortify the U.S. against the next pandemic,” The Washington Post.
Bethany Brookshire (’20): “NYC’s Rat Czar Needs Much More Than ‘Killer Instinct’ to Succeed,” Slate.
Teresa Carr (‘18): “Will New FDA Rules Help Dial Back Expedited Drugs?” Undark.
Federico Kukso (’16): “Los titanosaurios invaden el mundo,” Agencia SINC (in Spanish).
Rod McCullom (‘16): “Why Some Mass Shootings — And Their Victims — Go Uncounted,” Undark.
Kathleen McLaughlin (‘15): “The Giants of Local Journalism Are Not Being Replaced,” The Nation.
Julia Belluz (‘14): “The pregnancy risks of Ozempic and Wegovy need more attention,” Vox.
Dan Falk (‘12): “The Complicated Legacy of Herbert Spencer, the Man Who Coined ‘Survival of the Fittest,’” Smithsonian Magazine.
Chris Mooney (‘10): “Seas have drastically risen along southern U.S. coast in past decade,” The Washington Post.
Sabin Russell (‘09): “Peripheral neuropathy: When having no pain is a big problem,” Fred Hutch News Service.
Valeria Román (’05): “La historia de una especie de tiburón en peligro crítico en el Mar Argentino,” Infobae (in Spanish).
Annalee Newitz (‘03): “Ben Franklin Would Have Loved Bluesky,” The Atlantic.
Barbara Moran (‘02): “Study: Toxic contamination at Joint Base Cape Cod could persist for centuries,” WBUR.
Vivien Marx (‘98): “Tuning in to epigenetic cross-talk,” Nature Methods.
Lori Valigra (’93): “A nonprofit’s quest to buy Maine newspaper empire began a year ago,” Bangor Daily News (subscription required).
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