It’s time to nominate

Bulletins, Science stakeholder bulletins

Prizes

Yes, I know it’s only the second week of February. But it’s time to start thinking about nominations for the big prizes.

The $750,000 Prime Minister’s Prizes for Science open on 21 February. Across the Prizes, it would be great to see more nominations of innovators, more women for the science prizes, and more men for the teacher prizes. And Victorian teachers as Victoria has only one teacher recognised to date.

Read on for more information on changes to the Prime Minister’s Prizes.

We’ve also updated our Science Prizes Calendar to help you track all the opportunities we’re aware of. The Eurekas, FameLab and CRC Innovation awards are open now, and the Academy of Science’s honours open soon. More below.

Australians of the Year

It was a great start to 2018 seeing quantum physicist Michelle Simmons, photosynthesis guru Graham Farquhar, and superstar maths teacher and YouTube sensation Eddie Woo recognised as Australians of the Year.

We also counted 11 scientists in the Australia Day Honours.
Our list is below. Let us know who we missed.

Nominations are now open for the 2019 Australian of the Year, and details of how to nominate someone for an Order of Australia are on the Governor General’s website.

Outreach training

Train your scientists in how to talk to the media, government and other stakeholders at one of our courses around Australia.

We’ll be in Melbourne (12 April, 5 June), Sydney (7 March, 4 July), Adelaide (8 May), Perth (10 May) and other cities by demand.
Details below.

And Science Meets Parliament kicks off tomorrow. Look out for Tanya Ha, our engagement director and a member of the STA executive. And I’ll be there for the big Parliament House dinner.

In this bulletin:

Australia Day Honours
Changes to the Prime Minister’s Prizes for Science
Fresh Science winners and 2018 dates announced
Other science prizes and other opportunities
Shaping the future for early-career researchers
Communication training dates
Dates for the big events – World Science Festival, National Science Week and others
Kind regards,

Niall

Australia Day honours 
This year’s Australia Day Honours included:

  • Past Royal Australian Chemical Institute (RACI) president David Wood (AM)
  • Polymer guru and 2011 PM Prize winner Ezio Rizzardo (AC)
  • Physicist, and Questacon Board member, Gregory Clark (AC)
  • Women in STEM champion Jenny Martin (AC)
  • Plant growth hormone pioneer Lewis Mander (AC)
  • Neurosurgeon Jeffrey Rosenfeld (AC)
  • Gastroenterologist Nicholas Talley (AC)
  • Substance abuse researcher Maree Teesson (AC)
  • Aerospace engineer Rhys Jones (AC)
  • Clinician-researcher David Kissane (AC)
  • Ocean thermodynamics guru Trevor McDougall. (AC)

Let us know who we missed and we’ll publish a full list.

Details of how to nominate someone for an Order of Australia are on the Governor General’s website.

Prime Minister’s Prizes for Science – open soon

Nominate a deserving scientist, like Jenny Graves; promising early-career researcher, like Dayong Jin; unsung innovator; like Eric Reynolds; or your favourite science teacher; like Neil Bramson for national recognition.

The Prime Minister’s Prizes for Science will open for nominations on 21 February – with a total prize pool of $750,000 across seven prizes.

The prizes are:

  • $250,000 Prime Minister’s Prize for Science
  • $250,000 Prime Minister’s Prize for Innovation
  • $50,000 Prize for New Innovators
  • $50,000 Frank Fenner Prize for Life Scientist of the Year
  • $50,000 Malcolm McIntosh Prize for Physical Scientist of the Year
  • $50,000 Prime Minister’s Prize for Excellence in Science Teaching in Primary Schools
  • $50,000 Prime Minister’s Prize for Excellence in Science Teaching in Secondary Schools

There are several changes to the Prizes in 2018.

Nominees for the Prize for New Innovators don’t need to have changed the world (yet)… but they do need to have made good progress towards successful commercialisation, which has the potential to enhance our economy.

Maths and Technology teachers, as well as those teaching part-time are also now eligible for the Prime Minister’s Prizes for Excellence in Science Teaching. And the individual teacher will receive the full $50,000 prize, instead of sharing it with their school.

For eligibility, selection criteria, and nomination guidelines, visit: www.business.gov.au/scienceprizes

Fresh Science winners: Chickens feeding 100 million, predicting volcanic eruptions and more


The winners of Fresh Science 2017 have been announced, they are:

  • Deepti Aggarwal, The University of Melbourne
  • Amy Moss, The University of Sydney
  • Tracey Kreplins, Murdoch University
  • Katharina Richter, The University of Adelaide
  • Teresa Ubide, The University of Queensland (People’s Choice)
  • Annalena Wolff, Queensland University of Technology (Judges Choice)

We’ll be helping them share their stories in the coming weeks, keep an eye out on @ausscistories and #FreshSci on social media.

The first three are out already:

Nominations for Fresh Science 2018 will open in April.

Fresh Science events will be held mid-year in all capital cities where we can secure funding. If you’d like to partner with Fresh Science in 2018, please get in touch.

Other prizes and other opportunities

Open now:

2018 Awards for Excellence in Innovation are open to members of the CRC Association. The awards recognise outstanding outputs from the CRC Program. Applications close 16 February.

If you think you can explain a scientific concept to a general audience in just three minutes, FameLab is the competition for you! You could become the new face of science, represent your country at the FameLab International final in the UK and open doors to global opportunities in science communication! Nominations close 16 February. 

The CRC Association’s Early Career Researcher Showcase; an opportunity to tell the world about your research and potentially win $6,000. Open to members of the CRC Association. Nominations close 20 February.

Nominations for the 2018 Australian Museum Eureka Prizes are now open. The 16 prizes reward excellence in the fields of research & innovation, leadership, science engagement and school science. Nominations close 4 May.

Opening soon:

Nominations and applications for the Australian Academy of Science’s 2018 honorific awards, research conferences, research awards and travelling fellowships will open in February 2018.

Prime Minister’s Prizes for Science – nominate a deserving scientist, promising early-career researcher, unsung innovator, or your favourite science teacher from 21 February.

The L’Oréal-UNESCO for Women in Science Fellowships – $25,000 each for four outstanding early-career women in science. Opening Monday 19 February.

Help shape the future for early-career researchers


The Theo Murphy (Australia) Initiative is currently accepting proposals for activities to support early-career researchers. This can include meetings, conferences, training opportunities, incentives or mechanisms to engage EMCRs in existing activities or events, etc. Applications close 18 February.

Science Pathways 2018: Diversify your Thinking – registrations are now open for the Academy of Science ECMR Forum’s fifth annual meeting, to be held in Brisbane on 23-24 April 2018. The event offers a highly interactive program with a strong professional development focus for EMCRs and with opportunities to network with other future leaders from different backgrounds. Travel grants availableclosing 25 February.  

The 2018 NHMRC Career Development Fellowships funding is now open. The four-year fellowships provide support for the most outstanding early to mid-career health and medical researcher. Applications close 7 March.

Communication training—book now for 2018


We offer a flexible range of training programs to help your researchers understand their audiences, the essence of their story, and how to build their profile with the audiences and stakeholders that matter for their projects and for their long-term career development.

Our offerings include:

  • Meet your audience: from government, business, and/or the media
  • Make your pitch: what’s the essence of your story
  • Build your profile: websites, media, social media
  • Make your story work for mainstream media
  • Presentation training: make your story come to life
  • Photography and videography for scientists.

For more information on a bespoke course, visit www.scienceinpublic.com.au/training or call us on (03) 9398 1416.

We also hold regular media and communication training workshops around Australia, for scientists and those who communicate science.

In 2018, our media and communication training course for scientists will be in:

  • Melbourne: Thursday 12 April, Tuesday 5 June
  • Adelaide: Tuesday 8 May
  • Sydney: 7 March 4 July
  • Perth: Thursday 10 May
  • Other cities & dates on demand.

Registration is now open for all courses via EventBrite.

In these courses, we’ll help you shape the story of your research into a form that works for the media, as well as for government, industry and other stakeholders. The day’s insights and training will help you feel more comfortable in dealing with journalists when media opportunities arise.

Events

The Science of Us at the Shine Dome

Reproduction, embryo development, personalised medicine, addiction, mental health, aging and more. This public lecture series will investigate the science of our lives and our health, from the moment of conception through to death, focusing on some of the issues we face during our lives and what science is doing to resolve them. Starting 13 February.
www.science.org.au/news-and-events/events/public-speaker-series/science-us

Science in the Soul – Richard Dawkins & Lawrence Krauss

Evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins and theoretical physicist Lawrence Krauss have long been at the forefront of pushing back against tsunamis of irrationality in the public sphere and take no prisoners in their takedowns. They’ll be together on stage in Australia in May.
www.thinkinc.org.au/dawkins.html

For the diary:

 

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