Interview: Feriel Mélaine – Ph.D. candidate, Nanobioscience, INAC-SPrAM

Feriel Mélaine – Ph.D. candidate, Nanobioscience, INAC-SPrAM
Editor of student newspaper Chercheurs d’horizons for the 2012–2013 school year

Ph.D. students produce their own newspaper

Your student newspaper Chercheurs d’horizons is written entirely by Grenoble University Ph.D. students. Can you tell us more about it?
The newspaper was launched in 2010–2011 following a workshop given under the school’s Professional Training & Job Support Program for Ph.D. students. I worked on it in 2012–2013 with three other Ph.D. students. We did everything ourselves: writing, editing, translation, photography, and page layout. We published the third issue in September 2013, with a print circulation of 500 plus an online version.*

What type of subjects do you cover?
We decided that we did not want to focus solely on our research; we wanted to make the newspaper interesting for students by addressing the challenges they face, with articles on topics like studying abroad and balancing Ph.D. research with teaching activities. The newspaper does include a review of the latest research news, however, and an arts & culture section. We also feature puzzles—including one that’s a real brainteaser! This year we published the newspaper in both French and English for the first time.

Is it intended only for Ph.D. students?
They are our main target audience. We wanted to give them more concrete information than what’s typically published by research institutes, with articles relevant to their specific concerns. For example, we wrote an article on the Doctoriales seminar to help Ph.D. graduates find jobs. We do include articles for a wider audience, like a recent one on the French government’s summit on research and higher education.

Contact: feriel.melaine@cea.fr

* Read online at : http://chercheursdhorizons.wordpress.com/

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