Sharing Content

The SFU Communications & Marketing team can help share compelling stories about how SFU and our people are making an impact. Contact us at MediaRelations@sfu.ca to discuss the possibilities listed below.

Contribute to The Conversation

SFU is one of the founding partners of The Conversation Canada, one of the world’s most trusted independent sources of news and views from the academic and research community, delivered directly to the public. Its global reach is 42 million readers a month and growing exponentially.

Articles published on its Canadian network can get exposure on a growing list of editions around the world, including the US, the UK, Australia and Africa, giving experts direct access to those media markets. Along with becoming a trusted international news source in itself, The Conversation content is regularly republished by world-leading media outlets. The Canadian Press also regularly picks up articles from The Conversation to pitch to Canadian media.

How much does it cost?

The Conversation is free to read and free to share or republish under Creative Commons.

Who should join?

The Conversation model is based on authors who have expertise in the subject they write about. To submit an article, you must be:

A current researcher or academic with a Canadian university. This includes professors, associate, adjunct, post-doctoral and honourary roles (emeritus positions).
A PhD or master's student (MA students must have a professor as a co-author).

Why join?

SFU is committed to providing sustained resources to support researchers in sharing their findings with wider communities in meaningful ways. This commitment to knowledge mobilization is intended to facilitate wider public engagement with research and deepen connections between researchers and knowledge users.

Academics and researchers who publish articles through The Conversation Canada gain access to a robust analytics dashboard that provides data they can’t get from traditional academic publications. The researchers can in turn use this data to demonstrate knowledge mobilization, an increasingly important element in grant applications.

Once registered, you’ll be able to:

Pitch stories and publish articles related to your field of expertise, with the help of an experienced editorial team at The Conversation
Join their database of over 50,000+ academics and experts around the world

Researchers who publish in The Conversation get quoted or called to comment by key international media outlets. For example, the 2019 SFU Newsmaker Award winner from the Emerging Thought Leaders program, postdoctoral researcher Fatemeh Torabi Asr, appeared in The Guardian, Salon, Daily Cos, National Post, PBS and other media, after publishing articles in The Conversation. The estimated reach of her media mentions in 2019 was 178 million.

How to join?

To register as a potential author, create an account. You will need to verify your institution, as well as your education history.

Process for story pitching

Ask yourself these questions before pitching an idea to The Conversation Canada:

Would your story idea work for a broad Canadian and international audience, written and edited in plain language?
Is this your area of expertise?
Can you translate complex issues for the general public?
Do you have a “news hook” that makes the article timely or relevant?

For more information, visit The Conversation Canada’s Pitch an article idea.

Communicators Toolkit