Are you working on a piece of writing and feel like everyone else has already written about the same thing? Are you looking for a way to make the topic fresh? Stop for 5 minutes and tune into Jen and Michael’s top tips on how to find a new approach to writing about a popular topic. You can find more great advice on writing here: https://www.theopennotebook.com/2018/11/27/finding-the-science-in-any-story/ https://www.fromthelabbench.com/from-the-lab-bench-science-blog/blogging-tips-for-science-bl...
Jun 12, 2025•6 min•Season 14Ep. 8
Have you got a group project coming up? Maybe you’ve had some bad experiences of working in a team before and you’re wondering how to make it better this time? Drop everything for 5 minutes and tune in. In this week’s episode, Jen and Michael share their top tips on how to work harmoniously and productively in a group. You can find more great advice here: https://students.unimelb.edu.au/academic-skills/resources/communicating-in-class/communicating-with-peers/working-in-groups https://learningce...
Jun 05, 2025•6 min•Season 14Ep. 7
Have you lost your motivation? Do you need to get lots of things done, but you’re finding it hard to get started? Wondering how to get your mojo back? Stop for five minutes and tune into this week’s episode of ‘Listen To This If….’ for Jen and Michael’s advice on how to rediscover your motivation. You can find more great advice here: https://jamesclear.com/motivation https://www.ifocusandwrite.com/post/how-to-get-your-motivation-back-as-a-scientist https://www.sciencefocus.com/the-human-body/lev...
May 30, 2025•6 min•Season 14Ep. 6
Are you graduating soon, or have you recently graduated? Are you looking for ways to get ahead in your career? Take a five-minute break to listen to Jen and Michael’s top tips on how to kickstart your career. You can find more great advice here: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/networking-tips-early-career-scientists-lessons-from-science-tpfke/ https://conductscience.com/10-networking-tips-to-kickstart-your-graduate-career/ https://www.uopeople.edu/blog/12-networking-tips-for-students-who-want-to-...
May 22, 2025•6 min•Season 14Ep. 5
Is your writing too formal? Too boring? Or too hard to read? Have you been given the feedback that you need to make your writing more conversational? Take five minutes to tune into Jen and Michael’s top tips on how to make your writing easier to read. You can find more great advice here: https://www.masterclass.com/articles/how-to-write-conversationally https://www.ukri.org/what-we-do/developing-people-and-skills/mrc/the-secrets-of-science-writing/ https://entomologytoday.org/2014/11/25/5-ways-t...
May 15, 2025•6 min•Season 14Ep. 4
It's that time of year when many of us are feeling overwhelmed by our to-do lists. If you have a big task on your list that you’re struggling to make headway with, it’s time for your 5-minute Friday pep talk. Join Jen and Michael for their top tips on how to manage a sense of overwhelm and get stuff done! You can find more great advice here: https://www.calm.com/blog/what-to-do-when-you-feel-overwhelmed https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/12/well/mind/task-paralysis.html https://www.linkedin.com/pul...
May 08, 2025•6 min•Season 14Ep. 3
Got a talk coming up? Worried your powerpoint slides are boring? Think your audience might get distracted or even doze off while you’re talking? Stop for 5 minutes and tune into Jen and Michael’s top tips on how to improve your Powerpoint slides. You can find more great advice here: https://pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/articles/how-to-avoid-death-by-powerpoint https://www.student.unsw.edu.au/design-tips https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iwpi1Lm6dFo https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/this-working-lif...
May 01, 2025•6 min•Season 14Ep. 2
Keen to start a new habit? Maybe you want to exercise regularly, read more papers or get more writing done? Well, if you’ve got 5 minutes, Jen and Michael are back with a new season of Listen To This If…. This week they’re giving you a quick Friday pep talk with their top tips on how to get started with a new habit. Listen now! You can find more great advice here: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-long-does-it-really-take-to-form-a-habit/ https://jamesclear.com/three-steps-habit-cha...
Apr 24, 2025•6 min•Season 14Ep. 1
Three years later and we couldn’t be more excited to be sharing Episode 100 of Let’s Talk SciComm with you. We are so proud to still be creating this podcast and couldn’t be more grateful to YOU, our fabulous listeners, for continuing to support us. To celebrate reaching episode 100 and the end of Season 13, Jen and Michael decided to turn the spotlight inwards and ask each other some of our favourite quick-fire questions, with a few new questions thrown in for good measure. We hope the result i...
Dec 16, 2024•37 min•Season 13Ep. 8
It’s hard to believe this is the 99th episode of Let’s Talk SciComm! As you can imagine, we are very excited to still be producing our podcast three years and 99 episodes later. To celebrate, we invited the rest of our fabulous teaching team - Dr Catriona Nguyen-Robertson, Dr Linden Ashcroft and Dr Graham Phillips back to the podcast. The five of us spend half an hour reflecting on the highs and lows of our science communication experiences and what we’ve learned along the way about how to be mo...
Dec 10, 2024•36 min•Season 13Ep. 7
This week we had a fascinating conversation with speech pathologist and science communicator Dr Georgie Johnson. Georgie is a clinical researcher with an interest in childhood stuttering treatment and addressing the psychological impact of stuttering for children. Georgie completed her PhD in 2024 investigating management of stuttering during the school years. Part of this program of research was a treatment trial of an intervention to support 6-12 year old children who stutter from across Austr...
Dec 02, 2024•32 min•Season 13Ep. 6
This week we had the most wonderful conversation with wildlife scientist, woman in STEMM/STEAM, science communicator, author and vessel operator, Dr Vanessa Pirotta. You’re going to love hearing Vanessa’s infectious enthusiasm for all things science and science communication. Vanessa’s research uses innovative technologies for wildlife conservation. Vanessa works collaboratively across both marine and terrestrial environments merging cutting edge technology to access animals in unique ways. Most...
Nov 25, 2024•35 min•Season 13Ep. 5
This week we are lucky enough to chat with Linh Do, an incredible sustainability leader, educator, and climate justice advocate based in Melbourne, Australia. As Director of the Wattle Fellowship at the University of Melbourne, she cultivates the next generation of sustainability leaders through an innovative year-long program. With over a decade of experience across advocacy, media, and social enterprise sectors, Linh has worked globally to drive climate action and community engagement. Linh ho...
Nov 18, 2024•32 min•Season 13Ep. 4
This week we had the wonderful pleasure of catching up with one of our very own alumni! Rachael Vorwerk studied science communication with us many years ago and has gone on to forge an incredible career in the field. Rachael is a science communicator and freelance consultant who has been published in The Conversation, Cosmos Magazine and Eingana. She has helped scientists to share their research in BBC World News, The Independent, ABC and The Age, among others. Currently Rachael works at RMIT Un...
Nov 11, 2024•30 min•Season 13Ep. 3
This week it is a huge honour for us to speak with our long-time scicomm colleague Nancy Longnecker who is Emerita Professor of Science Communication at the University of Otago. She has collaborated in the production of communication resources and assessment of their effectiveness in work that is often multidisciplinary and cross-cultural. In a career spanning four decades, Nancy has produced both physical and virtual resources, including exhibitions, displays, podcasts, websites, and teaching r...
Nov 04, 2024•31 min•Season 13Ep. 2
Welcome to Season 13 of Let’s Talk SciComm. We’re so thrilled to be kicking off another season as we head towards our 100th episode! To get the season off to a fabulous start, this week we’re thrilled to talk with the incredible Sarah Firth (she/ her). Sarah is based on Wurundjeri Country in Melbourne, Australia. She is an artist, writer, cartoonist, graphic recorder and animator, originally trained as a classical sculptor. She has received a Talking Difference Fellowship from the Immigration Mu...
Oct 28, 2024•34 min•Season 13Ep. 1
You NEED to listen to this. In this week’s episode of ‘Listen to This If…’ Jen and Michael explore how to grab your audience’s attention. In just five minutes Jen and Michael will discuss everything you need to know to turn heads and captivate your audience. https://hbr.org/2023/07/3-ways-to-keep-your-audience-focused-during-a-presentation https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/7-ways-hook-your-audience-first-60-seconds-jaimie-abbott-mba-gaicd/ https://thespeakerlab.com/blog/attention-grabber-examples/ ...
Oct 17, 2024•6 min•Season 12Ep. 6
Upcoming presentation got your palms sweaty, knees weak, arms heavy? Don’t worry, forget mum’s spaghetti, because we’re not going to let you miss your shot. Tune in to this week’s episode of ‘Listen to This If…’ where Jen and Michael give you all the tips and tricks to turn those shaky hands into a killer mic drop. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXHivnWyZyo https://hbr.org/2016/10/how-to-calm-your-nerves-before-a-big-presentation https://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/discover-ucl/top-tips-overcoming-dreaded-...
Oct 10, 2024•6 min•Season 12Ep. 5
Doomscrolling getting in your way? Don’t worry! Jen and Michael have some great tips to break the scrolling cycle and get you back to your task. In this week’s episode of Listen to This If, we’re discussing addictive algorithms and what strategies you can employ to get off your phone and back on track! https://hai.stanford.edu/news/psychiatrists-perspective-social-media-algorithms-and-mental-health https://www.uhhospitals.org/blog/articles/2024/07/doomscrolling-breaking-the-habit https://www.ucl...
Oct 03, 2024•6 min•Season 12Ep. 4
Over the word count on an assignment? It can be stressful trying to trim the writing you’ve put so much effort into. Luckily in this week’s episode, Jen and Michael have some handy tips to wriggle down those words while keeping your writing sharp and relevant to the task. Tune in now! https://www.brandeis.edu/writing-program/resources/faculty/handouts/reverse-outlining.html https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/reading-aloud/ https://crosstalk.cell.com/blog/how-to-reduce-word-count-withou...
Sep 26, 2024•5 min•Season 12Ep. 3
Got an interview coming up? Don't worry, Jen and Michael are here to help! In this five-minute episode, they'll give advice to make sure you're prepared for a perfect interview. From putting your mind at ease to carefully studying the job posting, Jen and Michael will provide you with practical tips that will boost your confidence and help you land the perfect job. Listen now and get ready for your interview! https://www.proclinical.com/blogs/2021-6/3-ways-to-make-a-good-impression-in-a-scientif...
Sep 19, 2024•5 min•Season 12Ep. 2
We're thrilled to launch an exciting new series of our podcast, 'Listen To This If...'. Jen and Michael will deliver a speedy, five-minute Friday fix packed with practical hot tips to tackle your toughest science communication challenges. Next Friday, we're starting with something we all want to know: how to ace a job interview! An enormous thank you to the University of Melbourne Science Communication students who form the production team for Listen To This If: Madeleine Kelly, Riccardo Petroni...
Sep 12, 2024•1 min•Season 12Ep. 1
We’re ending Season 11 with a fabulous conversation with climate change communicator Dr Simon Torok. Simon is CEO and Director of Scientell, a science communication company that seeks to maximise the impact of scientific information. He distils technical information for non-scientific audiences to communicate the importance of science in our lives and its role in understanding the environment. Simon has a Graduate Diploma in Science Communication from the Australian National University, and comp...
Aug 26, 2024•30 min•Season 11Ep. 8
This week we absolutely loved speaking with highly skilled communications coach David Crisante. David has had a career in journalism, political speechwriting - including for Australia's Foreign Minister - and science communications. These days he helps professionals to master storytelling techniques so that they’re more effective when communicating with stakeholders. David is founder of the Sydney Comedy School, where students discover their unique communication styles and how they can be more c...
Aug 19, 2024•32 min•Season 11Ep. 7
This week we were incredibly fortunate to speak with Dr Catherine Richards Golini in Switzerland. Catherine is a Healthcare Publications Editor at Karger Publishers, specializing in creating, developing, and editing resources for patients and HCPs. Holding a PhD in Applied Linguistics from Swansea University, and with published research on patient communication, she is also a skilled plain language writer and reviewer of plain language summaries and patient materials. With expertise in health di...
Aug 12, 2024•33 min•Season 11Ep. 6
This week we had the wonderful opportunity to talk with Sara Garfield - a true expert in communicating about science in English as a non-native language. Sara is a dedicated educator with a diverse academic and teaching background that spans multiple countries and disciplines. Raised in Italy speaking English at home, her early fascination with languages and literature has paved the way for her academic interests and teaching career. Her undergraduate studies led her to earn a Bachelor's Degree ...
Aug 05, 2024•29 min•Season 11Ep. 5
This week we were absolutely thrilled to speak with one of our favourite people: Tilly Boleyn. Tilly (she/her) is the Head of Curatorial, Science Gallery Melbourne, University of Melbourne. Basically, she’s a massive nerd, curious about the world and everything in it. She is a collaborative creature at heart and heads the team with a mixture of organisation, chaos, humour and sassy backtalk. She loves connecting people, making space for thought, and challenging people to back up their opinions i...
Jul 29, 2024•32 min•Season 11Ep. 4
This week we had a fabulous conversation with multi-award winning science journalist Dr Jackson Ryan. Jackson is a former molecular biologist and current freelance science journalist with a focus on longform and narrative non-fiction science writing. He served as the Science Editor at CNET.com between 2018 and 2023 and was the 2022 winner of the Eureka Prize for Science Journalism. In 2024, he is co-editing the Best Australian Science Writing anthology -- and you should buy it! His longform writ...
Jul 22, 2024•34 min•Season 11Ep. 3
This week we were privileged to have a wonderful conversation with Dr Rachel Nowak who is a consultant, an advisor, a scientist and a journalist. She has been working in science, technology and innovation on three continents. Her specialities include science journalism, knowledge mobilisation, research and technology assessment, and stakeholder engagement. She has been Washington Bureau Chief and Australasian Editor of New Scientist magazine. She was Director of Research Marketing and Communicat...
Jul 15, 2024•30 min•Season 11Ep. 2
We’re so thrilled to be back with you for Season 11 of Let’s Talk SciComm. And to get the season off to a brilliant start, we had a wonderful conversation with Sara Phillips. Sara is an award-winning science writer and editor based in Melbourne, Australia. She edited the 2020, 10th-anniversary edition of the Best Australian Science Writing . Previously, she was Asia-Pacific bureau chief for Nature News, executive editor for the Asia-Pacific region of Nature Research Group’s custom publishing arm...
Jul 08, 2024•34 min•Season 11Ep. 1
