Clare is a freelance journalist and fact-checker specialising in science, health, and the environment.

A member of the Oxford Climate Journalism Network, Clare is currently a journalist in residence at the Institute of Science & Technology Austria. Her work has also been featured in the Best Australian Science Writing four times, 2021-2024.

Image: ISTA/Mathias Klötzler

Like all good stories, my career has taken a few twists and turns. I started working in biomedical research labs 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 written for Undark (republished in TIME and Smithsonian Magazine), The Guardian, Nature, New Scientist, Australian Geographic, Hakai Magazine, and more. I also write, fact-check and edit stories for ScienceAlert, helping to enlighten and entertain millions of readers each month with the latest science news.

 

Based on the east coast of Australia, I’m drawn to stories where science interacts with communities, the law, policy, and everyday life. I also report on science policy, funding and initiatives changing the way science is done.

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.

In 2025, I’m spending three months in Vienna as a journalist in residence at the Institute of Science & Technology Austria (ISTA) where I’m exploring the fundamental physics and mathematics that underpin climate models and help explain biological phenomena in ways we’re only just beginning to appreciate.

Through 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

Professional affiliations:

Science Journalists Association of Australia, 2020 — present
Committee member, 2023 — 2024

Professional guidelines That I follow:

Follow me on Twitter @clarewhatson or better yet, on Bluesky

2019 Frankin Women Wikipedia Edit-a-thon (Tim Levy)

2024 Universities Australia Award For Excellence In University Research Reporting (Fernanda Pedroso)

2023 World Conference of Science Journalists