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Insights is The Conversation’s award-winning longform and investigations series.
Since launch in 2019, we have covered an array of topics from a wide range of academic disciplines, but what joins them together is a distinct storytelling style that employs rounded characters and compelling narrative arcs.
We’ve been inspired by newly published investigative research that has uncovered shocking truths that most of us knew nothing about. For example, our investigations into the scandals of UN peacekeepers fathering children in Haiti and the DRC, or our story about the unmasking of “the lonely incel” who designed the world’s most popular 3D-printed firearm.
But you can also think of Insights stories in the context of a profile – whether that’s of a person, a specific research project or a moment in history.
Sometimes our academics tell stories from the frontline to give our readers the inside story behind the big issues of the day, or tell more personal stories that intersect with their own research.
And although we are based in the UK and Europe, we have a global outlook and welcome stories which share that view.
As part of the Insights project, we have collaborated with high-profile media partners like the Times, the Guardian, the BBC, Apple News, the New Statesman, the i, the Independent, and the Smithsonian.
And like other content found on The Conversation, our stories are free to read and republish under a creative commons license.
What do we mean by a narrative arc?
Longform articles need to hold the reader’s attention, so we need to figure out the best way to structure a piece to keep the reader hooked. We work with our authors to figure out how to describe their work in a way that tells a riveting human interest story.
Case studies with real people can bring a piece of research to life and grab the reader’s attention.
A life-long passion or even a deeply personal journey that inspired an academic career can give our authors an authentic and moving “voice” – these can be amazing stories that we definitely want to tell.
Sometimes it’s the fieldwork that took our authors to bizarre places, or through many twists and turns that propels the narrative.
Award-winning stories
For three consecutive years Insights stories have won The Dr Katharine Giles Award for best popular article written by a scientist or engineer. In 2022, a piece written by three climate scientists which set out the problems inherent in the idea of net zero was recognised with a journalism award from Covering Climate Now for best commentary.
The judges said the piece was a “thought-provoking argument about an issue that too often goes unexamined in mainstream discourse”, adding: “Although grounded in an abundance of scientific data, this commentary makes a technical, evidence-heavy argument accessible to the average reader.”
If you are an academic working at one of member institutions and you think you have a story for Insights, please get in touch. To pitch a feature, send a few paragraphs with an overview of your story to:
[email protected].
And if you want to gain more skills in longform writing, check out our writing for Insights online training course here for further information.
