What is The Conversation?
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign partners with The Conversation, a nonprofit, independent news organization dedicated to bringing the knowledge of experts to the public. Researchers author every story, working alongside editors from The Conversation to craft an article with broad public appeal to increase its reach.
Illinois’ partnership with The Conversation is a pilot program that is jointly funded by the University of Illinois System, the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation, and Strategic Communications and Marketing.
What kind of stories does The Conversation publish?
Articles written for The Conversation should be fact-based and grounded in research. Researchers can submit story ideas through The Conversation Pitch Portal. The Conversation does not publish opinion pieces or articles written specifically for academic journals. Some of the story types published by The Conversation include:
- Analysis of current events through research
- New research and discoveries
- Significant terms
- Significant figures
- Curiosity pieces (research that elicits curiosity and wonder)
- Picture in 500 words
- Curious kids
Who can write for The Conversation?
Anyone who is a current faculty member or researcher at Illinois can write for The Conversation. In the spirit of our interdisciplinary culture, scholars are also welcome to co-author articles with their fellow faculty and researchers. However, The Conversation recommends no more than three authors for one story.
Why write for The Conversation
The Conversation reaches millions of readers around the world through a Creative Commons (CC) license, making its content free to read and free to republish. Thousands of news outlets, including the Associated Press, CNN, The Washington Post, PBS, and more, partner with The Conversation to republish stories to their own sites, reaching readers where they already are. Articles have also been republished by over 200 newspapers around the country.
The CC license does not allow any of these publications to change any of the content in these stories. As the author, you have final approval before any alterations are allowed.
After a story has been published with The Conversation, 86 percent of scholars reported an impact on their careers:
- 57 percent were contacted for interviews with radio, television, and newspaper outlets
- 36 percent received opportunities for academic collaboration
- 16 percent reported influencing policymakers
- 14 percent used The Conversation metrics for funding or grant applications
Want to write for The Conversation?
Scholars must pitch story ideas to The Conversation’s editors through the online pitch portal. As a partner university, pitches from Illinois scholars are accepted at a rate four times higher than non-member universities. Editors at The Conversation will also work with Illinois scholars to take a good story idea and craft a strong story pitch.
These pitches are not fully written articles; The Conversation is looking for story concepts under 100 words that are interesting to a general audience. If they wish to pursue it, editors from The Conversation will reach out to you to further develop that idea.
The role of campus communications professionals
As researchers develop a pitch, they’re encouraged to notify their unit’s communications team. Communications leaders at the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation and Stratcom coordinate with The Conversation and with unit Chief Communications Officers to amplify the stories that are published.
Communicators in a researcher’s home unit may be able to help with pitch crafting and developing a story angle, but The Conversation will only work with researchers while the story is being written.
Still have questions?
Reach out to stratcom@illinois.edu to learn more about how our partnership with The Conversation works, and how we might be able to help you amplify your research.