Many researchers continue to struggle to get their research heard and to have impact.
But the pressure is on: government and funders are pushing, and there are warnings that the public is disengaging.
We can you help you and your organisation reach the right audience: with specialist support for your in-house communication team, and training for everyone from HDRs to senior researchers.
Every few weeks I’ll write to you with a heads-up on opportunities to promote your research: through our services, and other projects that we think are making a difference.
In this bulletin:
- Celebrating French-Australian innovation: The French Ambassador launches our latest story collection this Thursday evening in Canberra; please join us if you’re in town.
- Science prizes: The Eurekas, Prime Minister’s Prizes, L’Oréal and others open nominations; plus 60 Superstars announced.
- Media training coming up in Cairns, Townsville, Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Perth, or design your own course.
- Have you seen a sawfish, our warped Milky Way, and other stories: take a look at our work.
Have you seen a sawfish?
Sharks and Rays Australia wanted the public to report their sightings of sawfish—to know how many there used to be, how many remain, and how we can help them recover.
After a media call at Cairns aquarium, they went from an average of 10 reported sightings a year to more than 200 within a week: fish, saws, and archival photos.
Today we’re talking about our warped Milky Way, with a story for Macquarie University and the Chinese Academies of Science. 
If you want to see what can be done with your science, talk to us.
Aussie-European science collaboration
Last year we asked for your help to identify successful EU collaborations. If you’re in Canberra this Thursday 7 February, please join us at the French Embassy for the launch of the French collection. Email me for details.
The Australian-French stories will go online later this week, with the EU collection soon after—follow me on Twitter to see them rolling out. Also on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. More below.
Need to get your research out there? Find your story and your audience
Media and communication training workshops for researchers:
- Melbourne: Wednesday 27 February, Tuesday 9 April, Wednesday 29 May
- Sydney: Thursday 28 February, Wednesday 3 April, Tuesday 21 May
- Townsville: Thursday 7 March
- Adelaide: Monday 18 March, Tuesday 4 June
- Perth: Tuesday 26 March
- Canberra: Tuesday 16 April, Thursday 6 June
- Darwin: Thursday 9 May
- Tasmania: To be confirmed
- Cairns: To be confirmed
- Other cities on demand.
Conveying the complexity of your research, your life’s work, into a 30-second grab for the media, or one-minute elevator pitch can be hard. The solution is to shape the essence of your science into a story.
Join our one-day media and communication training workshop and get some help.
We will help you find the right words to explain your research in a way that works for the media, as well as for government, industry and other stakeholders.
Two experienced science communicators will work with you to find the story in your research.
Over the years we’ve helped Monash launch the world’s first printed jet engine, revealed the loss of half the coral on the Great Barrier Reef, helped CERN announce the Higgs boson, and revealed the link between CSIRO’s Wi-Fi patent and Aussie astronomy.
Working journalists from television, print and radio will join us over the course of the day to explain what makes news for them. And you’ll get the chance to practice being interviewed in front of a camera and on tape.
The day’s insights and training will help you feel more comfortable in dealing with journalists when media opportunities arise.
Registration is now open via EventBrite.
Science prizes and opportunities
- 2019 Veski innovation fellowships: Veski brings overseas research talent to Victoria. Successful individuals may receive up to AUD$50,000 per year, for up to three years. For info on selection criteria, visit www.veski.org.au/vif-criteria.
- Prime Minister’s Prizes for Science: nominations for the seven prizes opens tomorrow—they range from the Prize for Science to a prize for New Innovators, and prizes for science teaching excellence. More information available on the website.
- 2019 L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Australia & New Zealand Fellowships are now open for nominations. There are four Australian Fellowships and one NZ Fellowship available at $25,000 each. Find out more here.
- The Australian Museum Eureka Prizes are now open. More here.
- The Royal Society of Victoria Medal for Excellence in Scientific Research opens 31 March.
The Medal is awarded to a scientist from one of four fields, which rotate annually. In 2019 the category is Earth Sciences.
Read more here. - 60 new Superstars of STEM were announced on December 11. Their work includes a ‘key-hole surgery’ inspired approach to mining, training reptiles not to eat cane toads, and exploring the personality of volcanoes and how to predict their behaviour. Read more about them here.
Europe-Australia research collaboration stories
We’re helping the European Union Delegation and the French Embassy in Canberra to pull together a list of collaborative research involving Australia and EU countries.
The stories highlight a full suite of research from basic science right through to research that’s close to a commercial application or has achieved a practical outcome here and in Europe.
The stories will go online early February at Stories of Australian Science and print copies will be available soon after. They will be presented to a meeting of EU and Australian science agencies soon.
While collaborations with research powerhouses such as France and Germany are important, we’re also showcasing the full breadth of Europe’s ties with Australia by including examples of some of the smaller member states leading the way with innovation and technology.
We’ve also written about Indonesian-Australian collaboration and a collection of Japan and US stories at stories.scienceinpublic.com.au.
Science in Public—planning, mentoring, communicating
Contact us 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 that captures the essence of your story and purpose.