The Conversation publishes academic news from affiliated universities and interprets current events and developments in the world from the perspective of your academic expertise. Its articles are well read around the world, including by other major news media. As a scholar, publishing on the site can be a stepping stone towards the international press.

Pitch ideas for articles

We are inviting Leiden scholars to pitch ideas for articles to The Conversation. Note that your proposal must be:

• An article for a wide audience; not a scientific article, and
• An idea for an article you want to write yourself, in collaboration with an editor from The Conversation. Existing articles, news items and blogs are not eligible.
• An article written by up to 3 researchers. Each author must be affiliated to a university.

Got an idea for a pitch? Contact the editor at your institute or faculty. You can also contact the science communication team in the Strategic Communication & Marketing Department (SC&M, Jan Joost Aten).

Experts wanted

As a member of The Conversation, Leiden University receives daily requests for academic expertise in response to current events. These requests come in to the faculties’ communication departments and SC&M’s science communication team. You may receive a request to share your expertise through one of these channels. If you are interested and have time, you will be paired with an editor from The Conversation to produce an article. These items have a short lead time, from a few days to a week.

Online training

The Conversation offers free training (in PDF format and online videos) for all university staff. This covers topics including:

• Getting to know The Conversation
• Successfully pitching articles
• Journalistic writing

You can find more information and PDFs here. The online training can be found here. You can access the training by creating an account with your university email address.