The Access to Understanding science-writing competition 2014 attracted over 260 entrants. As an international competition we were thrilled to receive entries from 14 different countries. This map pinpoints the different cities around the world from which we received entries.
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Over 80% of our entrants were from the United Kingdom- with entries coming from as far north as Aberdeen. This map highlights the range of entrants from throughout the nation.
There were nearly 4 times as many PhD students (205) than post-doctoral researchers (57) who entered this year. This is an almost identical proportion to last year’s entrants.
Are women more interested in science communication? The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) reported that in 2012/2013 there were nearly equal numbers of males and females who graduated with postgraduate science degrees across the UK (43,455 females and 45,150 males). Our entrants did not reflect this, nor the current issue around women in science positions, as we had more than double the number of female entrants relative to male entrants:
Our entrants also really liked leaving things to the last moment! We received 69% of our entries during the last 24 hours of the competition, and 20% of our entries in the final hour.
The Access to Understanding 2014 winner will be announced at the awards ceremony held at The British Library on 24 March 2014. Book your free ticket online here. Be sure to check back after the ceremony to access the competition programme which will feature the 10 shortlisted entries, our 3 prize winners, these statistics and more!
Stay tuned to the blog for an exciting update about our competition coming soon!
This post is by Rebecca Withers (Science Engagement Intern for Europe PMC).
To stay up-to-date with Europe PMC news you can also follow us on Twitter @EuropePMC_news
This post is by Rebecca Withers (Science Engagement Intern for Europe PMC).
To stay up-to-date with Europe PMC news you can also follow us on Twitter @EuropePMC_news