Explore the future of scholarly monographs with Springer Nature’s Chief Book Strategist at a forum hosted by ANU this Tuesday 31 July. More on that below.
Make sure your National Science Week events are registered so we can promote them. It kicks off 11 August. Read on for some of the highlights amongst the 2000+ events.
How can researchers and policy makers work better together – we want your views for an ANU research project.
Meet the people who put science in front of billions of people, this November in Brisbane.
Vitamania – health revolution of expensive pee – on SBS and around the country.
Pitch and communication training courses in Perth, Sydney, Adelaide and Melbourne.
And
- Are you, or do you know someone in stem cell research? If so, nominate them today for a Metcalf Prize worth $50,000.
- CSL Centenary Fellowships are also open, worth $1.25m for two early to mid-career Australian biomedical researchers.
The future of the scholarly book
Scholarly monographs are in a period of considerable change.
What place do they have for PhD graduates, are blogs replacing the traditional book for scholars, is there a crisis in peer review, and is the metrics tide sweeping over the higher education sector relevant or distracting debate of scholarly communication?
Speakers from the University of Illinois, Springer Nature, Macquarie University, ANU, the Australian Book Industry, the Australian Scholarly Press Managers and the ARC will debate these topics on Tuesday 31 July in Canberra at an event sponsored by Springer Nature and organised by ANU Library.
The full-day event will discuss the challenges, issues and trends in the modern scholarly monograph—particularly in the social sciences and humanities.
Register for the event here, or tell your ACT contacts about it: www.eventbrite.com.au/e/the-future-of-the-scholarly-book-tickets-46277528333
Neuroscience, NASA scientists and knitted neurons set for National Science Week
- Take a dive through your computer screen into the Great Barrier Reef to help scientists
- Meet NASA’s space scientists and planet hunters, touring the country
- Illusions, music and memory, dinosaurs versus superheroes, and supermassive black holes at the Sydney Science Festival
- The science of wine, politics and cancer, in Adelaide
- Cook your way to healthy gut bacteria in Perth
- Coral reef science in outback Queensland
- The future of humanity at ‘Humans 2.0’ in Melbourne
- The beauty of Tasmania’s slime moulds
- A HealthLAB on wheels tours the Territory
This is a taste of the 2000+ events expected for National Science Week, coming up on 11 to 19 August.
We are the national publicists for the Week. We will be flagging the big stories with media and putting them in touch with the people promoting Science Week on-the-ground locally. We’re posting media releases here.
Register your National Science Week event here, if you haven’t already, so that we, the media and your audience can find you. If you’re running an event that has strong media potential, let us know – email tanya@scienceinpublic.com.au.
You can find events near you on the National Science Week website—come to an event just for the fun of it or to get inspiration for your own future science engagement events.
Improving the working relationship of researchers and policy makers
If you’ve had any interaction with a politician, political staffer or public servant working at the local, state or federal level, a science communication researcher is keen to hear.
While there are some studies looking at how policymakers access evidence and work with researchers, there is little research conducted from the researcher’s perspective.
A short survey and results will be compiled into a strategy to improve the working relationship of researchers and policy makers.
Complete the survey here: https://anu.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_3q1IUK2UeKWJ5Up
Contact person: Lucy McPherson, Master of Science Communication Student, Centre for the Public Awareness of Science, ANU, Lucy.McPherson@anu.edu.au
Creating future TV stars of science
Could your stories engage billions of viewers through science and factual TV?
The people who create, fund and broadcast science will be meeting in Australia in November at the World Congress of Science and Factual Producers.
They deliver big audiences. Discovery Channel alone has over 440 million viewers. Animal Planet has over 350 million. China Central Television has 50 channels and a billion viewers.
We helped bring Congress to Melbourne in 2009. After nearly ten years it’s back, this time in Brisbane thanks to the support of the Queensland Government, the ABC and SBS.
Last year’s Congress included commissioners and producers from the BBC, Netflix, NHK, PBS, Discovery, Canada’s CBC and dozens of other networks from national broadcasters to cult YouTube channels.
How can you reach this community? The options include:
- presenting your researchers via exhibition booths
- holding your own presentations or group meetings at breakfast and lunch events
- hosting post-Congress tours
- supporting Australian researchers who are potential TV stars of the future
- supporting producers from emerging countries
- and usual range of sponsorships.
If you’d like to know more give me a call.
Vitamania: Health revolution or expensive pee?
This year the world will spend over $100 billion on vitamins and supplements. Are we wasting our money?
Canadian-Australian science communicator Dr Derek Muller and Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Sonya Pemberton find out in their new documentary feature film Vitamania.
Derek and Sonya will be live on stage for special Vitamania screening events in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth next week.
Vitamania explores the lucrative industry of vitamin science and history, and what they discover will confound opinions on all sides.
Buy tickets here: thinkinc.org.au
More about Vitamania: www.vitamaniathemovie.com
Need to talk about your research but unsure how? Join our media training courses.
Melbourne: Tuesday 9 October
Adelaide: Wednesday 14 November
Sydney: September date TBC
Perth: Friday 7 December
Other cities & dates 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 for all courses via EventBrite.
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.