On 26 June 2025, King’s College London (KCL) hosted the Association of British Science Writers (ABSW) Summer School 2025 on Guy’s Campus.
The Summer School was aimed at science writers across the country, and was largely attended by those looking to enter the field of science writing and communication.
Workshops at the event featured renowned science writers and communicators including Jonathan O’Callaghan, last year’s British Science Writer of the Year, YouTuber and Oxford mathematician Tom Crawford, and Alok Jha, science and technology editor at The Economist.
From workshops on how to effectively study and report on scientific papers, to those on how to become a science YouTuber, the ABSW catered its events to the wants and needs of all science writers in the early years of their careers.
In one particular workshop, Alok Jha explained how to successfully interview someone for an article, and moreover, the importance of interviews with scientists, as they allow the public to better understand that funding is going toward important research.
Eight of KCL’s own scientists got involved, volunteering as interviewees in break-out groups before polished interviews in front of the whole room. The scientists included senior lecturers spanning prosthetic research and development, to theoretical physics.
As each group came and went, noticeable progress was made as one team took on the advice given to the previous team at the end of their interview.
After the workshops, attendees had the opportunity to speed-network with the panellists and speakers at the Summer School. During these five-minute one-to-one sessions, I asked Tom Crawford what advice he would give to current students on STEM courses. He explained that 40 hours a week is all you should need to pass your course:
“Treat it like your minimum wage job”
Tom Crawford
He also highlighted that writing and communication are valuable skills for scientists, and even his own students sometimes struggle.
Andy Extance, the chair of the ABSW was pleased with the outcome of the event, stating “I’ve been really pleased with the quality of sessions” and “we’ve had such great feedback from everybody who’s been here”.
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