For one week in June, two Italian science journalists crisscrossed the HMS Quad and the City of Boston, interviewing faculty experts in fields that included molecular genetics, microbiology, neurobiology and neurology. David Knipe, Sandeep Bob Datta and Martha Herbert were among the experts interviewed by the reporters, Giulia Belardelli and Luca Dello Iacovo, from Rome and Milan, respectively, who were selected from among 48 applicants as Armenise Science Writer Fellows for 2011.
The Giovanni Armenise-Harvard Foundation has sponsored a Science Writers Fellowship Program in conjunction with the Italian Science Writers Association since 2000, with a mission of fostering collaboration between Italy and the United States. Each year, two early-career writers are invited to spend a week at HMS interviewing researchers, touring laboratories, meeting with editors at the Boston Globe and talking with other members of the HMS community.
Belardelli and Iacovo freelance for online and print newspapers, including La Repubblica, Galileo, Nòva and Radiocor. The pair were matched with researchers working in their various areas of interest by the HMS Office of Communications and External Relations.
“Not only does this experience offer Italian writers a chance to interview foremost scientists, it gives them a valuable look at how scientific journalism is done in another country,” said Lisa Mayer, executive director of the Giovanni Armenise-Harvard Foundation.
For a description of the Science Writer Fellowship Program application process and a list of previous recipients, visit the Armenise-Harvard Foundation website.
