This week we’ve got a host of opportunities for rising stars in science including our own Fresh Science competition and the $50,000 Metcalf Prizes for stem cell research.
In my experience, most award winners were encouraged to nominate by a trusted supervisor or peer. So do Australian science a favour – and push the rising stars you know into the limelight.
Fresh Science is a great entry point that involves media training, pub and school talks, and press coverage. Nominations are open now.
Other prizes currently open include: the Australia Museum’s Eureka Prizes, Tall Poppies, the Victorian Premier’s Award for Health and Medical Research, the L’Oréal For Women in Science Fellowships, the Australian Academy of Science Awards, and BioMelbourne Network’s Women in Leadership Awards. We’re waiting for a date for the Prime Minister’s Prizes for Science.
#ideasboom and citizen science
The Innovation Agenda is rolling out with briefings around the country through March (www.innovation.gov.au/content/event). The citizen science components include a new Eureka Prize, support for the Australian Citizen Science Association, and the National Science Week ABC Citizen Science Project. Our latest Inspiring Australia bulletin has more on these, as well as the Science Week grants announced last week.
Gravitational waves and the Multiverse – free tickets for Brian Greene for university science students
Last week Brian Greene was on the Late Show with Steve Colbert. Next week he starts an Australian tour. We have some tickets for your best students in Melbourne, Sydney and Perth. More below.
Media and communication training for scientists
Our first courses for 2016 are in Melbourne on Monday 21 March and Tuesday 19 April, and in Sydney on Tuesday 12 April. We’d also be happy to come to your city/campus if you book six or more places. More below.
Science Meets Parliament
If you’re in Canberra for the Science Meets Parliament dinner, I’ll see you there. The event has become an important date in the science advocacy calendar. Look out also for our new Chief Scientist live at the National Press Club on ABC TV on Wednesday.
Kind regards,
Niall
In this bulletin:
- Fresh Science in four states and counting; nominate now
- Two $50,000 Prizes for early-career stem cell researchers
- Calling all Tall Poppies around Australia
- $40,000 for biomedical researchers in Victoria
- Academy of Science Awards – help recognise Australia’s science leaders
- Australia’s most comprehensive science prizes – the Eureka Prizes
- Plus a few more prizes just for Women in Science…
- Explore the Multiverse with Brian Greene in Sydney, Melbourne, and Perth
- What will you do for National Science Week?
Media and communication training in Melbourne and Sydney
Fresh Science in four states and counting; nominations now open
We’ve added New South Wales to the list of states where we’re running Fresh Science this year, so we’re now heading to four states with space for forty early-career researchers.
We’re extending the deadline for all nominations to 23 March to give NSW researchers enough time to get theirs in.
Fresh Science is a national competition that selects researchers with research results, an invention, or a discovery; trains them in how to tell their story; and helps them share their findings with the media and the public.
We’re looking for:
- early-career researchers (from honours students to no more than five years’ post-PhD)
- with a peer-reviewed discovery that has had little or no media coverage
- and with some ability to present their ideas in everyday English (something we can build on).
Nominate now at freshscience.org.au. It’s relatively pain-free.
Or, come and share a beer with this year’s Fresh Scientists. We’re bringing Fresh Science to pubs in Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide and Sydney. There’ll be more details at freshscience.org.au soon.
Now in its 19th year, Fresh Science has trained over 300 scientists to share their science, and generated hundreds of news stories via TV, print, radio and online. You can read past Fresh Scientists’ stories online at freshscience.org.au/stories
Fresh Science South Australia is supported by the South Australian Museum, Flinders University, the University of Adelaide and the University of South Australia.
Fresh Science Western Australia is supported by the Western Australian Museum, Curtin University, Edith Cowan University, Murdoch University, the University of Western Australia and Notre Dame.
Fresh Science Victoria is supported by Museum Victoria.
Fresh Science New South Wales is supported by the University of New South Wales and the Australian Museum.
Two $50,000 Prizes for early-career stem cell researchers
Are you an up-and-coming stem cell researcher? Or do you know one?
There’s just three weeks left until applications close for the Metcalf Prizes for Stem Cell Research.
The prizes are awarded to one male and one female mid-career researcher, five to 10 years past their PhD or MD (research-based), working in stem cell research in Australia. They could be working in medicine or agriculture, government or a university.
Applications close Monday 21 March. For more information head to stemcellfoundation.net.au/researchers/metcalf-prizes.
The prizes are an initiative of the National Stem Cell Foundation of Australia.
Calling all Tall Poppies around Australia
The Young Tall Poppy Science Awards recognise excellence in early-career research, alongside a proven ability and passion to engage the community with science.
Run by the Australian Institute of Policy & Science, these awards are often a stepping stone to other science awards.
Nominations are now open for all states and close 11 April . More at: aips.net.au/tall-poppies/nominations
$40,000 for biomedical researchers in Victoria
Do you know an up-and-coming postgraduate health or medical researcher in Victoria?
Encourage them to apply for the Premier’s Award for Health and Medical Research.
These $40,000 annual prizes are administered by VESKI and recognise exceptional contributions made by early-career health and medical PhD researchers.
Applications are open now and close 2 pm 10 March. Apply at veski.org.au/pahmr
Academy of Science Awards – help recognise Australia’s science leaders
The Academy of Science is seeking nominations for awards in support of outstanding contributions to Australian science.
The Academy’s honorific awards are open to scientists of all levels of experience across physical and biological science.
The Academy are also offering funds for research, conferences funding, and travel.
The closing date for award nominations is 30 April and the closing date to apply for research, conference, and travel support is 15 June.
For details see science.org.au/opportunities.
Awards will be presented at Science at the Shine Dome in Canberra in May as part of three days of science including the awards, introduction of the new Fellows and talks. This year, discussions will include the blurring lines between machine and human (led by Nick Opie), 3D printing of body parts (Gordon Wallace), hearing aids and brain plasticity (Rob Shephard) and artificial hearts (John Fraser).
Australia’s most comprehensive science prizes – the Eureka Prizes
The $160,000 Australian Museum Eureka Prizes, recognise research, science communication and journalism, leadership, and students.
This year there are two new prizes: innovation in medical research and innovation in citizen science.
The 16 prizes will be announced and presented at a gala dinner on 31 August.
Nominations close 6 May. More at australianmuseum.net.au/eureka
Plus a few more prizes just for Women in Science…
L’Oréal For Women in Science Fellowships
Nominations for the four $25,000 L’Oréal For Women in Science Fellowships Australia and New Zealand opened last week.
The Fellowships recognise outstanding early-career, female scientists and assist them in consolidating their careers and rising to leadership positions in science. We’re not currently assisting with the Fellowships this year so visit forwomeninscience.com.au for more.
BioMelbourne Network’s Women in Leadership Awards
Nominations are open for the 2016 BioMelbourne Network Women in Leadership Awards – celebrating outstanding women in biotech, medical tech and health innovation.
The awards recognise candidates exhibiting strong leaders and innovators who serve as role models and mentors in the Melbourne biomedical community.
Recognising leadership at different stages of careers are the ‘Women in Leadership Award’ for senior corporate leadership and directorship, the ‘Most Valuable Women in Leadership Award’ recognising leadership of teams, projects and initiatives, and the ‘Emerging Women in Leadership Award’ recognising rising stars.
If you have a female colleague, business partner, or collaborator in biomedicine who deserves recognition, please nominate them.
Applications close 31 March. More information at biomelbourne.org/moxiefiles/files/Women_in_Leadership_Awards_Kit_2016.pdf
Explore the Multiverse with Brian Greene in Sydney, Melbourne, and Perth
Last week Steve Colbert was discovering gravitational waves on the Late Show, with the help of physicist Brian Greene.
Brian will soon be in Australia discussing gravitational waves, string theory, and more at public events in Melbourne, Sydney and Perth for Think Inc, the team who brought Neil deGrasse Tyson to Australia for Science Week last year.
We have two tickets to give away to each university in Melbourne, Sydney and Perth to reward science students. Get your Dean of Science or Research Office to contact us for more info. In return we’ll ask for some internal promotion of the tour.
More about the tour at www.thinkinc.org.au/events/briangreene. Brian is also appearing at the World Science Festival in Brisbane.
What will you do for National Science Week?
This year’s National Science Week will take place from 13-21 August. It’s the key week for science on Australia’s cultural calendar.
How will you use the broad reach of Science Week to your advantage?
Last year’s program saw an estimated 1.3 million people participate in over 1,700 registered events around the country. Millions more were reached through over 4,300 media stories that mentioned ‘Science Week’.
Forty federal politicians went ‘back to school’ in their electorates to jointly launch the event.
Astro-stars Neil deGrasse Tyson and Chris Hadfield toured the country, and also talked science on ABC’s show Q&A two weeks running.
National Science Week 2016 is still six months away, but now is the time to plan events and activities that bring science to the people, raise the hot topics, challenge the stereotypes, and inspire the next generation. Consider getting involved.
More at scienceweek.net.au
Media and communication training in Melbourne and Sydney
Conveying the complexity of your research, your life’s work, into a 30-second grab for the media can be hard.
The solution is to shape the essence of your science into a story.
Our full-day media and communication training course will help you with all your non-scientific communication with stakeholders, customers and the media. It will help you feel comfortable with the media and give your media advisors confidence that you will be a good performer when media opportunities arise.
We’ve got courses coming up in:
- Melbourne: Monday 21 March and Tuesday 19 April
- Sydney: Tuesday 12 April
We can also hold courses in other locations or on other dates if there’s sufficient demand, and we welcome expressions of interest for possible future courses.
If you have at least four participants, we can probably find others in your area to make a course viable. If you can guarantee six participants, then we’re happy confirm a course in your city/campus. Or if you want a brief introduction to the media for a larger group, talk to us about our meet the press sessions.
More at: www.scienceinpublic.com.au/training
Science in Public – planning, mentoring, communicating
Contact me to find out more about our services to train, mentor, plan and deliver media and communication strategies for science. We offer:
Communication plans, mentoring and training
We can review your stakeholders, messages and tools and help you and your communication team refine your plans. We offer this service for individual announcements or for a whole program or institute.
Media releases, launches, and campaigns
We can help you develop an outreach program, from a simple media release through to a launch, a summit, a conference, or a film.
Publications and copy-writing
From a tweet to a newsletter; from a brochure to a Nature supplement, we can write compelling and accurate science-driven copy which captures the essence of your story and purpose.
Kind regards,
________
Niall Byrne
Creative Director
Science in Public
82 Hudsons Road, Spotswood VIC 3015
PO Box 2076 Spotswood VIC 3015
03 9398 1416, 0417 131 977
niall@scienceinpublic.com.au
twitter.com/scienceinpublic
www.scienceinpublic.com.au