HITS: Call for “Journalist in Residence” in 2024

Are you an experienced science journalist? Would you like to delve into new areas of research and deepen your technical knowledge? Or learn more about machine learning and methods of data-driven science in Germany? The “Journalist in Residence” program at the Heidelberg Institute for Theoretical Studies (HITS) offers a stay of three to six months. Acceptance into the program is compensated with € 6,000 per month, the deadline for the 2024 applications is 28 September 2023.

The program

The “HITS Journalist in Residence” program is geared towards freelance and staff science journalists with at least five years of experience and a focus on the natural sciences and technology. It is open to all media (print, online, radio, TV), one of its goals is to encourage dialogue between journalists and researchers, thus providing journalists with a better understanding of the way research works and how researchers think. Journalists are not expected to publish anything related to HITS in return. Instead, the program supports free and independent journalism.

A good command of spoken and written English is mandatory. More information on the program, application requirements and FAQ, are available at https://www.h-its.org/en/press/journalist-in-residence-program/.

Please use the application website: https://www.h-its.org/hits-job/call-for-journalist-in-residence-m-f-d-in-2024/

The Institute

HITS is a private, non-profit basic research institute where about 140 scientists from 20 countries work in 13 research groups. Research is conducted along three main topical threads: complex simulations across scales, data structuring and analysis, and enabling software and tools. The fields of research range from molecular biology and carbon chemistry to statistics and astrophysics. An essential characteristic of the Institute is interdisciplinarity, implemented e.g. in the “HITS Lab”, an internal program that fosters cross-group and cross-disciplinary projects at HITS.

One aim of the institute is to raise public awareness of the importance of computer-aided, data-driven research. The institute is located in Heidelberg, Germany, a city with a leading university and many other top-tier research institutions.

Since 2012, there have been eleven “Journalists in Residence”– from the U.S., Canada, Spain, Germany, Australia and India – many of them utilized their stay for long-term projects. For example, science journalist Volker Stollorz developed a concept for a German Science Media Center during his stay at HITS. In 2016, the “Science Media Center Germany” was established. The current Journalist in Residence, Anil Ananthaswamy (USA/India), has just delivered a public talk on “ChatGPT” in Heidelberg (see YouTube Video). He will stay at HITS until late October.  

Hashtag on Twitter: #HITSJIR2024

Media contact:
Dr. Peter Saueressig
Head of Communications
HITS, Heidelberg Institute for Theoretical Studies
+49 (0)6221 533 245
peter.saueressig@h-its.org