BU Research Blog

You might have heard of “The Conversation” which is an outlet for research that covers a very wide range of topics and subject areas with the common theme linking them is that they are topical pieces and it attracts academics as well as the public. If you haven’t come across this yet I thought I would bring it to your attention! It is run by fairly well established journalists from an eclectic bunch of newspapers ranging from The Independent and The Observer to the Big Issue. Starting life in Australia there is now a UK edition of The Conversation. They source material from academics (Warwick, King’s, Liverpool, Imperial etc).

A couple of weeks ago late on a Friday afternoon they contacted me to ask if I would write a short piece (800 words) on the current issues in Egypt and how they affected tourism which I did with John Fletcher (http://theconversation.com/egypt-still-on-the-holiday-map-but-is-it-risky-and-is-it-right-17177) it was read by more than 600 people in the first week!!! So although these short pieces don’t take the place of academic journals you actually feel that your piece is not gathering dust on a shelf or waiting to be cited! They also asked John to write a piece on Gibraltar (http://theconversation.com/a-booming-gibraltan-economy-helps-both-sides-of-the-border-17083) and this too was quickly and widely read so yes, they may be short pieces but they can have a rapid and wide impact! It all helps to raise the profile of our research and BU and it is a breath of fresh of air for those who wants to see a bridge between academic writing and public reading!!!