Water Under Pressure: How water systems are changing and being challenged by global climate change
June 3-7, 2024
University of Rhode Island
As climate change has become a more frequent issue of concern, newsrooms have adjusted by incorporating more coverage of environmental change and its impacts. Unfortunately, many reporters and editors lack the background, sources, and confidence to cover these stories with the depth and nuance they require. Metcalf Institute’s Annual Science Immersion Workshop for Journalists is a fellowship designed to address this gap and be a valuable resource for journalists working in a wide variety of beats. It’s the 26th anniversary of this immersive program, and this year will have a special focus on water issues and climate change. Fellows will dive deep into issues such as water quality and public health, climate impacts on ecosystems and coastal communities, restoration and adaptation, and more, all through a social justice lens.
The Metcalf Institute fellowship is for full-time journalists working in all media who want learn more about research and topics relating to climate change science, impacts, adaptation, and justice. It’s designed to bolster your understanding of the methods, norms, and culture of science, with hands-on activities, field trips, and opportunities to develop relationships with scientific experts and journalist colleagues. We welcome journalists from all beats, including not only environment but also general assignment, arts & culture, business, technology, policy, and politics, as climate change shapes all of these areas with ever-increasing urgency.
The Annual Workshop is designed to help Fellows gain new insights, sources and resources to aid their reporting, expand peer networks with journalists from around the globe, and produce accurate and contextualized reporting on globally relevant environmental issues. Metcalf Fellows will gain a solid foundation in the fundamentals of research practice, climate science, and adaptation measures from leading researchers and policy makers.
The 2024 Workshop will be conducted in person at the University of Rhode Island in Kingston, RI. on June 3-7, with supplementary asynchronous preparation. The application cycle for the 2024 Metcalf fellowship is now closed.
The Fellows also:
- Gain a deeper understanding of how scientists conduct research and handle scientific uncertainty.
- Develop the skills and confidence to interpret and translate the language of scientific journals for news audiences
- Build confidence in their abilities to discern the credibility of scientific sources
- Discover new ways to write about water systems and climate change to build audience understanding and engagement
- Cultivate new sources by interacting with leading researchers and policy experts in an informal, off-deadline atmosphere
- Network and develop lasting relationships with journalists from a wide range of media and backgrounds
As a result of participating in the Annual Science Immersion Workshop, Fellows will:
- Be able to identify important climate change and water stories that are relevant to their news audiences.
- Understand how academic scientists plan, fund, conduct, and publish their research
- Be better prepared to understand and communicate scientific uncertainty
- Be better prepared to translate scientific findings for news audiences
- Recognize and understand the interactions between climate change, the environment, and society, and how climate change disproportionately affects communities of color and low-income communities.
Thanks to Metcalf Institute’s endowment and the generosity of private donors, the fellowships include full tuition, lodging, meals, as well as a travel stipend paid after travel.
View Recent Annual Science Immersion Workshops:
2023 |2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015