Clare is a freelance journalist and fact-checker specialising in science, health, and the environment.
Most recently, Clare has been selected for the Oxford Climate Journalism Network. Her work has also featured in four Best Australian Science Writing anthologies, 2021-2024.
I have a background in biomedical research but traded my pipettes for a pen after a series of close encounters with an astronomer, a turtle conservation project, and an MRI machine.
Now, my reporting covers everything from seafood fraud and energy deficiencies in elite athletes, to the hype about green hydrogen and stem cell therapies.
I’ve reported stories for Undark (republished in TIME and Smithsonian Magazine), The Guardian, Nature News, Nature Medicine, Australian Geographic, New Scientist, Hakai Magazine, and more.
I also write regularly for ScienceAlert and Cosmos Magazine, two of Australia’s leading science news outlets.
Based on the east coast of Australia, in a steel-making university town, I’m drawn to stories where science interacts with communities, the law, policy, and everyday life. In other work I’ve been pulling back the curtain on how science operates, the biases academia perpetuates, and initiatives trying to change that.
In 2020, I completed the MIT Knight Science Journalism Fact-Checking Workshop, which included best practices for fact-checking online news and print features.
In 2024, I joined the Oxford Climate Journalism Network, completing their six-month global training program for journalists covering climate change, run by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at the University of Oxford. It’s led to stories like this one, on how heatwaves and hot days impact early births.
Underneath it all, my work is shaped by people’s lived experiences and grounded in my experience learning from and working with people and families involved in clinical trials and medical research.
Awards
Best Australian Science Writing 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021
Winner, 2024 Universities Australia Award For Excellence In University Research Reporting
Finalist, 2022 UNSW Press Bragg Prize for Science Writing
Finalist, 2022 UK Medical Journalists Association’s Feature of the Year (Specialist Audience)
Professional affiliations:
Science Journalists Association of Australia, 2020 — present
Committee member, 2023 and 2024
Professional guidelines That I follow:
MIT Knight Science Journalism Science Editing Handbook
Sydney Morning Herald Guidelines for reporting medical research
Cancer Institute of NSW Writing about cancer guidelines
Croakey Health Media Talking Terminology for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples
Follow me on Twitter @clarewhatson or better yet, on Bluesky