We’re ending Season 10 on a high, chatting with Brendon Bosworth in Cape Town, South Africa. Brendan is a communications specialist and science communication trainer who runs Human Element Communications. Brendon’s goal is to make research on topics of global concern, such as climate change and sustainable development, more accessible to non-specialists. After working as a communications officer on a large international climate change adaptation project in 2018, and as a journalist for more than...
May 27, 2024•32 min•Season 10Ep. 8
This week we have the immense pleasure of speaking with the brilliant Alicia Sometimes. Alicia is a multi-award winning poet and broadcaster who is deeply passionate about both art and science. She has performed her poetry at many venues, festivals and events around the world. Alicia is director/co-writer of the art/science planetarium shows , Elemental and Particle/Wave. In 2023 she received ANAT’s Synapse Artist Residency and co-created an art installation for Science Gallery Melbourne’s exhib...
May 20, 2024•33 min•Season 10Ep. 7
This week we had the great privilege of speaking with Dr Craig Cormick OAM. Craig is the Creative Director of ThinkOutsideThe. He is one of Australia’s leading science communicators, with over 30 years’ experience working with agencies such as CSIRO, Questacon and Federal Government Departments. In 2014 he was awarded the Unsung Hero of Science Communication by the Australian Science Communicators, and in 2011 was a co-winner of the International Association of Public Participation’s national be...
May 13, 2024•32 min•Season 10Ep. 6
This week we had such a wonderful time speaking with Laura Bibiana Ospina-Rozo, who joined us all the way from her home in Columbia. Laura is a scientist who finds joy in tackling research questions in the field of biophotonics: where light and living matter interact. She completed her undergraduate and masters degrees at the University of Los Andes in Colombia and her PhD in 2022 investigating beetle colours at the University of Melbourne. As a postdoc at the Stuart-Fox lab at the University of...
May 06, 2024•30 min•Season 10Ep. 5
This week we had a wonderful time speaking with Dr Jen Payne about her amazing initiative STEMpals. Jen grew up in a small country town, where the closest thing to scientists she saw was her teachers. She had no idea really what a scientist was or could be. Fast forward to now, where Jen is a research scientist, minimising deadly infections due to antimicrobial resistance. She is an award-winning science communicator who is passionate about real-world STEM in the classroom. This led to becoming ...
Apr 29, 2024•30 min•Season 10Ep. 4
What a treat this week’s episode is! We had a blast catching up with one of our brilliant former science communication students, Milly Formby. Milly is a qualified zoologist, pilot and illustrator of the children's book, A Shorebird Flying Adventure . In 2022-23 she was the first woman to fly a microlight aircraft around Australia. The aim of the adventure was to promote protection of wetland habitats for endangered migratory shorebirds. Milly took 160 hours of flight time over 365 days covering...
Apr 22, 2024•30 min•Season 10Ep. 3
This week we had the great pleasure of speaking with Brian Lin in Washington DC. Brian oversees EurekAlert!, a non-profit news release distribution platform operated by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). He has more than two decades of experience as a science communicator, having interned at a national daily technology TV show in Canada before serving as a press officer for 13 years at the University of British Columbia, where he helped communicate scientific and med...
Apr 15, 2024•30 min•Season 10Ep. 2
Welcome back to Season 10 of Let’s Talk SciComm! We’re thrilled to be back with you for another season of fantastic conversations exploring how we can all communicate about science in more effective and engaging ways. To get the season off to an amazing start, we’re thrilled to have caught up with science tourism and dark skies guru, Marnie Ogg. With over 17 years of experience as a Managing Director at Dark Sky Traveller, Marnie has seamlessly combined a passion for astronomy, tourism, and cons...
Apr 08, 2024•32 min•Season 10Ep. 1
To finish Season 9 of Let’s Talk SciComm, we had a truly wonderful conversation with Dr Samantha Grover, who leads the Soil-Atmosphere-Anthroposphere Lab at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia. Sam’s team explores the interconnections between food, climate change and people. They collaborate with farmers, NGOs, industry, government and other researchers around the world to more sustainably manage landscapes. They focus on high carbon systems such as peatlands, regenerative agriculture and co...
Nov 27, 2023•31 min•Season 9Ep. 8
This week Jen and Michael had a wonderful conversation with Professor John Besley about strategic science communication. John studies public opinion about science and scientists’ opinions about the public. His goal is to help science communicators be more effective by helping them consider evidence-based and strategic communication choices. He also does research aimed at understanding how peoples’ views about decision-makers and decision processes (i.e., trustworthiness and fairness beliefs) aff...
Nov 20, 2023•31 min•Season 9Ep. 7
What a wonderful conversation we had with Jessie Panazzolo this week! Jessie is the founder of Lonely Conservationists, a global online community working to help conservationists thrive by providing a platform to be heard, a strong community foundation and educational resources about caring for conservationists. Lonely Conservationists has become a pioneering platform in creating a space for environmentalists across the globe by giving them a safe space to share and normalise their lived experie...
Nov 13, 2023•31 min•Season 9Ep. 6
This week we had a fascinating conversation with visual science communicator extraordinaire Dr Sarah Treit. With a PhD in Neuroscience, ~25 peer-reviewed publications, and a 5-year H-index of 16, Sarah combines a strong research track record with a passion for communicating science through visuals. Through her company, Figures First, Sarah provides grant application support, including peer-review style feedback, writing, editing, and creation of visually appealing and impactful figures to help I...
Nov 06, 2023•28 min•Season 9Ep. 5
We know many of our listeners are keen to get more experience in science communication but don’t know where to begin. Have we got the episode for you! This week we had a fantastic chat with Dr Donovan Garcia-Ceron about how he got started in science communication and the things he’s doing to build his scicomm profile. As you’ll hear, Donovan is kind and curious. He works in research to protect crops from pests, with the aim of increasing food security and enabling healthier communities. He has w...
Nov 05, 2023•32 min•Season 9Ep. 3
This week we had the great pleasure of speaking with Alfred Deakin Professor, Jo Salmon about the importance of effective science communication in research, especially when it comes to co-designed research. Jo is the Director of the Institute for Physical Activity and Nutrition (IPAN) at Deakin University and currently holds a NHMRC Level 2 Investigator Grant. She has spent the last 20 years conducting research on the development of effective programs to promote children’s physical activity and ...
Oct 30, 2023•31 min•Season 9Ep. 4
Welcome to Season Nine of Let’s Talk SciComm! We’re thrilled to be back with another season, chatting each week about our very favourite topic – how we can all be more effective when it comes to communicating about science. We’re kicking off the season talking with our good friend Dr Shane Huntington OAM (@DrShaneRRR) – in case you haven’t listened yet, you can get to know Shane on episode 9 of Let’s Talk SciComm! Shane is currently the Chief Executive Officer of Little Big Steps; a charity help...
Oct 23, 2023•32 min•Season 9Ep. 1
This week we are so delighted to chat with Olly Dove. Living up to her bird name, Olly Dove is a marine ecology PhD candidate researching the foraging behaviour of little penguins and short-tailed shearwaters in lutruwita/Tasmania. Olly’s favourite part of working in zoology is undoubtedly the exciting fieldwork it leads her to, and she loves sharing stories about the natural world with others. When not hanging out with critters, Olly is an incredible science communicator. She is the weekly host...
Oct 23, 2023•32 min•Season 9Ep. 2
This week we have the enormous pleasure of speaking with Dr Jenny Gray who is the Chief Executive Officer of Zoos Victoria, charged with the operation of the Melbourne Zoo, Healesville Sanctuary, Kyabram Fauna Park and Werribee Open Range Zoo. Over the last decade Zoos Victoria has transformed into a Zoo Based Conservation Organisation, committed to fighting extinction and creating a future rich in wildlife. Working closely with 27 critically endangered species and engaging with over 2.6 million...
Oct 22, 2023•35 min•Season 8Ep. 2
This week we were thrilled to have the opportunity to chat with Emily Denniss who is a PhD Candidate at the Institute for Physical Activity and Nutrition at Deakin University. Her research is focused nutrition communication and misinformation on social media and how social media is used by young adults to seek information about food and nutrition. Emily also teaches into undergraduate public health and nutrition science units at Deakin and gave us lots of food for thought about understanding onl...
Aug 28, 2023•31 min•Season 8Ep. 8
This week we had the great pleasure of chatting with Joshua Tinner who is full of fantastic advice about how to build your professional networks. Josh currently the Country Manager of the UK team at InternMatch, a company that helps students and graduates find internships as a step towards employment. Previously Josh has worked in a variety of businesses including managing the administration of a migration consultancy, helping run the division of Melbourne for two federal elections, assistant-co...
Aug 21, 2023•34 min•Season 8Ep. 7
This week we were thrilled Executive Recruiter and Scientist Marilyn Jones was able to make time to chat with us. Marilyn has over 25 years’ experience in resourcing staff for companies and assisting individuals with their career aspirations and we learned so much from her about how to get your dream job. Marilyn undertook research in cancer and immunology, leading to managing an R&D project for the commercialisation of the purified components of snake venom for human therapeutic purposes. C...
Aug 14, 2023•33 min•Season 8Ep. 6
This week we had a wonderful conversation with Dr. Bruce Kirchoff who is a scientist, improviser, and storyteller. He teaches young scientists to speak clearly and intelligibly about their research. His book Presenting Science Concisely ( https://presentingscienceconcisely.com/book ) draws on the relation between the scientific process and story structure to present science with impact. Bruce is also Emeritus Professor of Biology at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro where he taught ...
Aug 07, 2023•34 min•Season 8Ep. 5
This week we were so lucky to have the opportunity to chat with Professor David Dunstan about being a research supervisor. David holds a joint appointment at the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute and Deakin University in Melbourne, Australia with the positions of: Head – Baker/Deakin Department of Lifestyle and Diabetes and Chair, Lifestyle and Diabetes (Institute for Physical Activity and Nutrition, Deakin); and Deputy Director/Physical Activity Laboratory Head (Baker). His research focuses on...
Jul 31, 2023•29 min•Season 8Ep. 4
This week we had the best time chatting with Belinda (Bel) Smith, science writer extraordinaire. Belinda became a science journalist after realising she wasn't going to cut it as a scientist. Based in Melbourne, she's currently science reporter at the ABC. Her work appears on the ABC News website and has featured in the Best Australian Science Writing 2016 and 2018. You can also hear her talking about science on local ABC radio and Radio National. In her spare time, Bel's a GPS artist who runs r...
Jul 24, 2023•31 min•Season 8Ep. 3
Welcome to another season of Let’s Talk SciComm! We’re very excited to be back with Season Eight, podcasting about our very favourite topic – science communication. We’re kicking off the season talking with the brilliant Julia Cleghorn about approaches to getting kids excited about science. Julia is an extroverted science geek, science communicator, project manager and performer at heart. Her career combines science and the arts to promote engagement and curiosity in science. She has communicate...
Jul 10, 2023•30 min•Season 8Ep. 1
It’s the end of another season of Let’s Talk SciComm and it’s the moment we’ve all been waiting for. It’s the end of our countdown of our most popular how-to episodes and coming in at number one is…… How to get your thesis written. Writing a thesis is hard! It’s probably the longest document you’ve ever had to write, and the experience is often accompanied by a tendency to procrastinate and feelings of overwhelm and imposterism. This episode will help! Jen and Michael briefly talk about their th...
Jun 05, 2023•28 min•Season 7Ep. 6
We’re continuing our countdown of our most listened-to episodes and this week we’ve made it to number two. It came as no surprise to us that science writing is a topic so many of our listeners want to learn more about – being able to write clearly is such an essential skill! In 2014, Steven Pinker published a piece in The Chronicle of Higher Education titled ‘ Why academic writing stinks’ . While we might take offence at the notion that our writing ‘stinks’, there’s no question that the way many...
May 29, 2023•37 min•Season 7Ep. 5
We’ve hit the middle of Season 7 and we’re continuing to explore our 6 most listened-to episodes. Each episode has a new introduction in which Jen and Michael reflect on why the topic resonated so much with our listeners and what we’ve learned about the topic in the interim. Coming in at number 3 is ‘How to NOT be boring’ and the title pretty much says it all. We’re sure you can all remember sitting through an incredibly boring science talk or struggling to read a boring piece of science writing...
May 22, 2023•31 min•Season 7Ep. 4
This is Season 7 and we’re excited to be revisiting our 6 most listened-to episodes. Each episode has a new introduction in which Jen and Michael chat about why we think the topic resonated so much with our listeners and what we’ve learned about the topic since it was first published. Coming in at number 4 is ‘How to tackle imposter syndrome’. On the outside you appear confident, composed and on top of your game. But on the inside, you are wracked with self-doubt. You feel like a fraud and as th...
May 15, 2023•32 min•Season 7Ep. 3
We’re very excited to hit episode 50 today!! This is Season 7 and for something a bit different, we’re excited to be revisiting our 6 most listened-to episodes. Each episode has a new introduction in which Jen and Michael reflect on why the topic resonated so much with our listeners and what we’ve learned about the topic in the interim. Coming in at number 5 is ‘How to give a better science talk’. All scientists need to give talks but being able to give a brilliant talk takes skill. Are you wond...
May 08, 2023•39 min•Season 7Ep. 2
Welcome to Season 7: for something a bit different, we’re excited to be revisiting our 6 most listened-to episodes. Each episode has a new introduction in which Jen and Michael reflect on why the topic resonated so much with our listeners and what we’ve learned about the topic in the interim. Coming in at number 6 is ‘How to tackle procrastination’. It comes as no surprise that many of us want advice on how to procrastinate less! It’s one of the biggest challenges many of us come up against in o...
May 01, 2023•36 min•Season 7Ep. 1
