Meet this year’s Freshies at a pub near you; Science Week briefings; Eureka finalists and more

Science stakeholder bulletins

A million Australians got involved in Science Week last year.

We’re working with the Inspiring Australia team to build the impact further over the next four years.

And we want to share the stories of exciting happenings around the country with the science world, the media, and the general public.

So, if you’re doing things and/or want to do more, please come to one of our briefing events in the coming weeks in:

  • NSW on Tuesday 21 July at Business Events Sydney
  • ACT on Friday 24 July at Canberra Innovation Network
  • VIC on Thursday 30 July at the Royal Society of Victoria
  • And we’ll do other States and Territories by demand.

If you’re holding an event, don’t forget to register it: www.scienceweek.net.au/event-holder-registration. Also tell your local media what you’re up to – they love local stories.

If there’s a national media angle let me know. And keep in touch with your state Science Week committee – contacts details at: www.scienceweek.net.au/contacts.

Also over the next two months:

We’ll be introducing you to our 2015 Fresh Scientists, and the Eureka Prize finalists.

We received over 170 nominations for Fresh Science this year, and you can meet our finalists at pub events around the country – more below.

The finalists for the 2015 Eureka Prizes will be announced next Friday. Keep an eye on Twitter #Eureka15 or @eurekaprizes for the announcement.

Also in this bulletin:

Kind regards,

Niall

Wearable technology on the runway; knitting
neurons; and can science save humanity?

National Science Week is quickly approaching, with less than one month before it all kicks off.

Find out what’s happening in your state by coming along to one of our briefing events in the coming weeks in:

science week
  • NSW on Tuesday 21 July at Business Events Sydney
  • ACT on Friday 24 July at Canberra Innovation Network
  • VIC on Thursday 30 July at the Royal Society of Victoria

Register to attend via Eventbrite.

We’d like to share information on the wide range of activities and promotions you can tap into for the Week, and hear about your organisation’s plans.

Some highlights of Science Week 2015 include:

Drinks, food, fireworks & science at the Fresh Science pub nightsfresh science

Melbourne, Townsville, Perth, Adelaide, Brisbane and Sydney

Come and watch as ten fresh, young scientists present their work at the pub. And help them put their story in haiku and limerick.

These up-and-coming scientists will describe their scientific discoveries in the time it takes a sparkler to burn out. It’s about a minute – sparklers vary.

Book via Eventbrite  (or click here for Brisbane).

Fresh Science is a national competition that helps early-career researchers share their stories of discovery and gain national media coverage for their work. Over 170 early-career scientists around Australia nominated for Fresh Science 2015.

We’re holding pub events in in: Melbourne 29 July, Townsville 3 August, Brisbane 17 August, Perth 19 August, Adelaide 24 August and Sydney 31 August. If we’re not coming to your city talk to us about 2016.

Melbourne is the first leg – with the support of Biomedical Research Victoria and Victoria’s Lead Scientist. Then Townsville with thanks to James Cook University and AIMS, the Australian Institute of Marine Science.

Stories of Australian Science 2015 – out nowstoriewe

  • From the underground hunt for dark matter to 3D-printed jet engines
  • From printed body parts to insulin in plant seeds
  • From better tasting bread for China to the underlying genetics of epilepsy

This collection features more than 50 stories and celebrates the best of the past year’s Australian science. And there’s a special feature on Australia-Japan collaboration.

We’ve also included the winners of many of Australia’s science prizes: people whose discoveries and inventions are transforming mining, medicine, maths and more.

And we’ve got the best young researchers from Fresh Science.

We’ve already presented the collection to the World Congress of Science Journalists in Korea and over the coming months we will distribute 15,000 copies to journalists, embassies, schools, MPs and others in Australia and around the world.

You can view and search the stories online at stories.scienceinpublic.com.au along with our previous collections. And please use them in your own publications.

If you’d like some hard copies drop me a line.

Science prizes – now open and being announced soon

Some of the nation’s major science prizes will be announced over the coming months.

  • Here are some dates to remember:
  • L’Oréal for Women in Science Fellowships – 8 September, Sydney
  • The Eureka Prizes – 26 August, Sydney
  • Prime Minister’s Prizes for Science – 21 October, Canberra
  • CSL Florey Medal – 11 November, Canberra

And applications are now open for:

CSL Florey Medal (nominations extended)

Nominations for the $50,000 CSL Florey Medal have been extended until next Friday 24 July.

The Florey Medal is awarded biennially to an Australian biomedical researcher for significant achievements in biomedical science and/or human health advancement.

The prize is named for Sir Howard Florey took penicillin from an idea to a drug that has saved literally hundreds of millions of lives – and past winners include Ruth Bishop, Graeme Clark, Ian Fraser, and Colin Masters.

Nominations close Friday 24 July 2015
www.aips.net.au/news-events/the-florey-medal

Veski Inspiring Women Fellowships

Up to $150,000 to help Victorian #womeninscience though a career-break.

Early to mid-career female researchers planning for, experiencing, or returning from a career break are encouraged to apply for the new Veski Inspiring Women Fellowships, which are supported by the Victorian Government.

The fellowships provide the opportunity for these women to remain competitive in their field; enhancing the current talent pool and affecting cultural change.

Applications open now, until 6 August 2015
www.veski.org.au/inspiring-women-criteria

The Australian Innovation Challenge

The Australian Innovation Challenge is helping Australian’s to commercialise some of our best ideas with $65,000 in prize money.

Entries are open to those with an idea which will progress the fields of minerals and energy, agriculture, health or education; as well as in the Backyard Innovation and Young Innovator categories.

The awards are supported by The Australian and Shell and the federal Department of Industry and Science.

Entries open now, until 17 August 2015
www.theaustralian.com.au/innovationchallenge

Media training for scientists – more training dates

Improve the way you tell your science story at our one-day media training workshops.

We’ve just opened up new courses in September and October – Canberra, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney.

Spend the day with two experienced science communicators and working journalists from TV, print, and radio to workshop your science and find out how to make it work for the media whilst staying true to the science.

Courses are $800 (ex. GST) and include morning and afternoon tea, and lunch at a local restaurant.

More information at: www.scienceinpublic.com.au/training

To book, or for more information, contact Ellie on ellie@scienceinpublic.com.au or myself on niall@scienceinpublic.com.au.

More about Science in Public

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