Part VII: Resources and professional development

Professional development opportunities

Take advantage of any media training opportunities that are available to you through your institution or other professional organizations. With each workshop or lecture, you will learn something new and helpful.

APA resources

APA has online media training videos and webinar recordings:

• Media training for scientistslogin required
• Give a TEDx talk as a psychologist
• Give a great research talk
• Supercharge your slides
• Public speaking
• Writing for the web

External training resources

• SciLine media trainingopens in new window
• Alda Center for Communicating Scienceopens in new window
• SciDev.net media skills for scientistsopens in new window
• Compass science communicationopens in new window

Media referral service

APA has long been journalists’ go-to source for psychology experts on hundreds of subjects. The Public Affairs Office maintains a Media Referral Service (MRS), a database of some 2,000 psychologists who can speak knowledgeably on about 1,000 aspects of human behavior and psychology. Thousands of journalists call APA each year and the Public Affairs Office uses the service to recommend sources for them to speak with.

If you want to apply to be a member of the service, fill out the MRS application form. The form asks for your professional background, areas of expertise, and relevant publications, as well as any previous experience working with the media, all of which are reviewed before APA staff add psychologists to the database.