It is crucial that scientists are able to communicate their science. These tools and instructions were used by FLEET researchers to develop and distribute stories about new papers. We see this as a three step process:

• Step 1: Answer these prompts to help you frame your article
• Step 2: Write the article
• Step 3: Distribute the article

Send a copy to the following:

• Publicity officers at the relevant uni/other collaborating organisations (see below)
• All your co-authors
• Lots of online platforms like Phys.org, Science Daily, Nanowerk, AZO
• Social media

Use your ‘teaser’ paragraph (see hints and tricks) to pitch the article to each, with tweaks for some of the platforms (eg, if pitching to your home uni comms team, mention your home uni in the first sentence). Then give them a URL pointing to the story, to make it as easy as possible for them to publish.

Offer to help rewrite the article if necessary, for their news page.

Don’t forget your home university comms team: Make sure you alert your home uni communications team first.

Always let your home comms office know you have a story to share, before you begin sharing it. Ask them if they’d like to share it on their news page, newsletter or social media, and if not, whether they could support your story on social media (ie, tag their accounts and ask them to repost).

Below are listed the best “generic” contact email addresses, as well as some of the home-uni options available for sharing your science (news pages, newsletters, social media pages).

Humans are the best people. If you have the name and email of an actual person in these comms offices, always email them as well as these generic contact addresses.

Send them a good, considered “pitch”:

• explain what’s happened/happening (eg, paper coming out)
• in a nutshell what have you done/discovered
• address “why should people care” (impact on community)
• emphasise their uni’s role (eg, lead author)
• mention anything additional the uni team might like (eg, in line with uni strategy), such as industry collaborations or cool images.

(Context: there are many competing priorities for uni comms teams and not all stories will be able to be published on their news feed. But if you write it for them, and make it ‘easy’ for them, you will improve your chances. And even if they can’t share it, they’ll generally support on socials.)

If it’s ARC funded, tell the ARC: Email the article to ARC-Communications@arc.gov.au; ARC-Information@arc.gov.au with “suggested news for Research Highlights”. (Even if they don’t publish it, it’s helpful for them to know what you are doing.)