Ethical investing for science communicators

All interested professionals and students are invited to register for the upcoming, free #SciWriRoundtable webinar “Ethical investing for science communicators” scheduled for Thursday, August 13, at 1 p.m. Eastern.

For many of us, navigating personal finance investing can feel confusing and overwhelming. These decisions involve carefully evaluating real or perceived conflicts of interest depending on the beats we cover, and guidance is often limited or specific to a particular outlet, creating additional complications for freelancers who work for several clients. In this session, we’ll talk about best practices, gray areas, and ethical considerations when it comes to investing money as a journalist or PIO.

Science Writers Roundtable: Ethical investing for science communicators
Presented by the NASW Board of Directors
Date: Thursday, August 13, 2026
Start time: 1 p.m. Eastern / 10 a.m. Pacific

Event registration link You will need to use an email associated with a Zoom account to register.

Registration is free and open to all interested professionals and students. NASW membership is not required.

Recording will be made available to NASW members.

Moderators:

Amanda Heidt Amanda Heidt is the southwest national parks editor at SFGATE as well as an award-winning freelance science journalist based in Moab, Utah. Her bylines have appeared in The New York Times, National Geographic, NPR, Nature, and Science, among other outlets. She has decreed to herself that 2026 is the year of fiscal responsibility, and she’s putting it here, publicly, to keep herself honest.

Priyanka Runwal Priyanka is an award-winning freelance science, health, and environment journalist based in New York City. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, National Geographic, C&EN, and Scientific American, among other outlets.

Invited speakers:

Kara Perez Kara Perez is a published author and founder of Kara Explores Money, where she studies money, policy, and sustainability. She focuses on bringing actionable, intersectional and accessible financial education to people who never learned the language of money. Kara has been featured in the New York Times, Good Morning America Forbes, NPR, Glamour, ABC Nightline News, and US News and World Report as a financial expert.

Larry Swedroe Larry Swedroe is the head of financial and economic research for Buckingham Wealth Partners. A prolific writer, he has authored eight books, co-authored nine others, and was among the first to publish a book explaining the science of investing in layman’s terms. In addition to publishing his own scholarly articles, Larry also shares practical finance advice through his Substack column and has appeared as a speaker on NBC, CNBC, CNN, and Bloomberg Personal Finance.

Sheeva Azma Sheeva Azma is CEO of Fancy Comma, LLC, a science communications and policy consulting company focusing on the health, science, business, technology, and finance spheres. In the pandemic, she also taught herself finance and economics. Sheeva has leveraged her love of math and creative problem-solving to pay off about 30k of debt in the past three years and frequently speaks about her own finances.

#SciWriRoundtable

Curated by the Board of the National Association of Science Writers, the Science Writers Roundtable series is the organization’s main virtual events series dissecting and responding to the evergreen and emerging forces that shape the business of science news. Each event is moderated by an NASW Board Member in conversation among colleagues with experience and expertise relevant to journalists, writers, PIOs, and other communicators. No matter your role and identity within the science writing enterprise, we hope you will take away invaluable insights and information from our #SciWriRoundtable to become a more prepared, better equipped professional, educator, trainee, leader, or ally.

Founded in 1934 with a mission to fight for the free flow of science news, NASW is an organization of ~2,400 professional journalists, authors, editors, producers, public information officers, students and people who write and produce material intended to inform the public about science, health, engineering, and technology. To learn more, visit www.nasw.org and follow NASW on LinkedIn and Bluesky.