How The Conversation’s journalism made a difference in November

Every month, we ask The Conversation authors what happened after we published their articles. Here are some of their stories from November 2020.

Industry leaders, bureaucrats and politicians are all talking about The Conversation’s journalism

After RMIT’s Leonara Risse wrote That advice to women to ‘lean in’, be more confident… it doesn’t help, and data show it, she was invited to present a seminar at Australian National University’s Centre for Social Research and Methods and to write a consultancy report for the Victorian Government’s Equal Workplace Advisory Committee.

She was also interviewed by Forbes and invited to speak at a Human Resources virtual conference. She is in discussions with other women’s leadership organisations about potential collaborations. The article has been shared more than 9,300 times on Facebook.

Tim Watts MP continues to cite Clare Wright’s article We have enough electorates named after dead white men. It’s time we chose a woman instead. Here he is delivering a speech on the issue in federal parliament:

After University of Queensland’s Kate Power wrote Supporting trans people: 3 simple things teachers and researchers can do, she was contacted by the Uniting Church NSW and asked to supply academic articles to inform a submission on a recent bill introduced by Mark Latham in the NSW Parliament.

After University of Newcastle’s Mark Maund, Kim Maund, SueAnne Ware and Thayaparan Gajendran wrote 90% of buildings in bushfire-prone areas aren’t built to survive fires. A national policy can start to fix this, Mark was interviewed on ABC Radio National and ABC Radio SA. The article was republished by industry media outlets ArchitectureAU and Architecture & Design. Mark was contacted by the Planning Institute of Australia and the Australian Institute for Disaster Resilience, who said, “congratulations on your excellent article”.

After Edith Cowan University’s Pi-Shen Seet co-wrote Jobs are changing, and fast. Here’s what the VET sector (and employers) need to do to keep up, the article was selected for inclusion in a new book, Essentials of Economics, to be published by Pearson Australia.

After Western Sydney University’s Jed Montayre co-wrote Should all aged-care residents with COVID-19 be moved to hospital? Probably, but there are drawbacks too, he was interviewed on radio to comment on the long-term effect of COVID-19 to older people in relation to Trump contracting the virus. He was also interviewed by Insite Aged Care to talk about his research on older people living alone during COVID-19.

Setting the agenda across TV, radio and digital

After QUT’s Gary Mortimer co-wrote The suburbs are the future of post-COVID retail, he was interviewed by Channel 10’s The Project and ABC Brisbane. He was also interviewed by ABC Melbourne on the back of his article, How COVID all but killed the Australian CBD.

After Flinders University’s Alice Gorman co-wrote How to live in space: what we’ve learned from 20 years of the International Space Station, she was approached for a number of radio interviews including ABC Radio Sydney Breakfast, Radio National Drive, Radio New Zealand and Sputnik UK. The article was republished by 17 other media outlets including The Guardian, Space.com, Cosmos Magazine, Gizmodo and Science Meets Business. It has been read more than 308,000 times, with 88% of readers from countries outside Australia.

After University of South Australia’s Adrian Esterman wrote South Australia’s COVID outbreak: what we know so far, and what needs to happen next, he was approached for three live-to-air TV interviews including ABC TV news and Channel 9; nine live radio interviews, and several interviews with journalists including from news.com.au and Crikey. The article has been read over 227,000 times and republished by the ABC and seven other media outlets.

After University of Wollongong’s Markus Wagner wrote What’s behind Trump’s refusal to concede? For Republicans, the end game is Georgia and control of the Senate , he was interviewed by the Illawarra Mercury. The article has been read more than 137,000 times and republished by Stuff.co.nz and 10 other media outlets.

After Swinburne’s Ivan Maksymov wrote We vibrated earthworms to learn about safely connecting human brains to computers, he was interviewed on 2SER Sydney radio. He received this feedback from the producer: “Thanks again for doing the interview. It is probably one of my favourite stories I’ve produced so far. All the producers on the show are talking about it.” The article was republished by ScienceX and Australasian Science.

In an email to editor Noor Gillani, Ivan wrote, “Working with you on my first article in The Conversation, combined with the high interest in the Ig Nobel Prize, introduced me to the world of science communication. Since then I have given more than 10 live radio interviews, became a frequent guest on the local radio Seymour FM and also I plan to be involved in their science show next year.”

Achieving impact from regional Australia to around the world

After University of Southern Queensland’s Rachael Wallis wrote It seemed like a good idea in lockdown, but is moving to the country right for you?, she was invited to do a number of print and radio interviews including with ABC Sydney Breakfast, ABC Western Queensland, Fassifern Guardian Newspaper, 4LG Charleville, Resonate Radio and more. The article was republished by a number of media outlets including the ABC and Domain.com.au and has been read more than 98,000 times.

After Griffith University’s Duncan McDonnell and Stefan Ondelli wrote We compared the language of populist leaders with their mainstream opponents – the results were unexpected, it was republished by a number of other media outlets including SBS, the Mandarin, DE 24 News, News Now (UK), Overview of Sign Language. Duncan was interviewed on Newstalk (Ireland) and ABC Radio Australia.

After La Trobe University’s Dennis Altman wrote Even if Biden has a likely win, leading a deeply divided nation will be difficult, he was interviewed on Radio Sputnik UK and ABC News Radio. The article was republished by a number of other global media outlets including Rappler (Philippines) and The Quint (India).

After Massey University’s Elspeth Tilley wrote Mask or no mask? This simple ethical approach can help with your pandemic etiquette, the article was republished by Stuff (NZ), Scoop (NZ) and Flipboard (USA). The article was cited in Psychology Today. Elspeth was interviewed for the Tick Tick Election podcast and Radio Rhema podcast.

She was also interviewed by Science Media Centre, leading to articles in The NZ Herald, Timaru Herald, Taranaki Daily News, Manawatu Standard, The Press, Dominion Post, Waikato Times and Southland Times (all using info from Science Media Centre output). She was also quoted in Restaurant & Cafe NZ Newsletter and in an article on Psychologytoday.com, and interviewed for One Metro (the world’s largest international free daily newspaper) about Halloween mask use.