Fresh Science now open; $3.8M for young researchers and students; ARC Linkage grants announced; Science Week and science prizes

9 July, 2019
Fresh Science, Science stakeholder bulletins

Encourage your early-career researchers to talk about their results and discoveries by getting them to nominate for Fresh Science – a national competition that helps emerging scientists who have results that deserve attention.

Fresh Science, now in its 22nd year, provides a day of media training, followed by a traditional pub test. More below.

Westpac has endowed a new perpetual suite of fellowships and scholarships. Nominate your top early-career researchers, social innovators and students now. Read on for details.

Other prizes and opportunities:

Corporate partners, including Safran, Powercor, EPA Victoria, PwC, Thales Australia and Lockheed Martin are supporting the latest ARC Linkage grants, which have just been announced. Congratulations to the recipients. Read Minister for Education Dan Tehan’s media release and the full list of Linkage Projects.

National Science Week is a little over a month away. Now is the time to register your event and plan your promotional activities. More information and publicity resources below. If you’ve got something special in mind, let us know.

Lisa Harvey-Smith has astronomy bedtime stories for adults and children. Her publisher, Melbourne University Press, has special offers for bulk orders of her first book When Galaxies Collide (order now for Science Week delivery) and her up-coming children’s book Under the Stars. Read on for details.

Finally, we have a couple of places left in our communication and media training workshop coming up this Wednesday in Sydney. It’s a great opportunity for scientists to improve their interviewing skills. And there are more workshops coming up in Melbourne, Canberra, Adelaide, and Perth. Cities and dates below.

In this bulletin:

Kind regards,

Niall

Fresh Science now open

The national competition helping early-career researchers find, and then share, their stories of discovery

If you know any early-career researchers who have results or a discovery but haven’t received any media attention, then get them to nominate for Fresh Science.

The program takes up-and-coming researchers with no media experience and turns them into spokespeople for science, with a day of media training, learning how to pitch to business and government, and finishing with the traditional talk down the pub.

Nominations for Fresh Science are now open.

Fresh Science runs in each state where we can secure support. This year it will run in Western Australia, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, South Australia and Queensland with events in October and November.

Find out whether you’re eligible, nominate or find your local pub night at www.freshscience.org.au Got something specific to ask? Email Sarah Brooker.

Big thanks to the University of Melbourne, Monash University, RMIT and The Royal Society of Victoria for confirming their support already for Victoria. In WA, thanks to the Western Australian Museum, University of Western Australia and Murdoch University. In Canberra, Questacon is hosting the event – thank you. And in Adelaide, the South Australian Museum are hosting us again, and thank you to Flinders University for your support.

Westpac Scholars: $3.8 million for ERCs and students

Westpac has set aside $100 million to endow a scholarship fund in perpetuity. There’s more than $3.8 million in this year’s round, with 100 scholarships in five categories, aimed at supporting technology and innovation, driving positive social change, and strengthening Australia-Asia ties.

Research Fellowships: $400K+ over 3 years
Two Fellowships are awarded annually to early-career researchers who have demonstrated high academic achievement in at least one of the Foundation’s focus areas.

As well as financial support, the fellowships help recipients build their profile, develop leadership skills and expand networks.

The fellowships are open for applications from Australian residents and permanent citizens awarded a PhD between 1 September 2013 and 1 September 2016.

Applications close Monday 26 August 2019. More information.

Future Leaders Scholarships
Seventeen scholarships of up to $120,000 over 2-3 years are on offer to support full-time Master or PhD candidates studying at one of nine partner universities.

The scholarships also provide a nine-month leadership development program.

Applications close on Wednesday 4 September. There will be an information webinar on Wednesday 7 August. More information.

Social Change Fellowships
Does your research or work involve social innovation and changing the world? There are 10 Social Change Fellowships per year, each valued at up to $50,000.

Applications close Friday 2 August. More information.

Asian Exchange Scholarships
Forty Scholarships of up to $12,000 are available for full time undergraduate students for up to two semesters in Asia.

Applications close 20 January 2020. More information.

Young Technologists Scholarships
$5,000 per year over three years for high school graduates enrolled in an approved technology-related degree at one of five partner universities.

Applications close February 2020. More information.

2 x $50K Metcalf Prizes for Stem Cell Research

Applications are now open for the 2019 Metcalf Prizes for Stem Cell Research from the National Stem Cell Foundation of Australia.

The Metcalf Prizes are open to mid-career researchers, 5 to 10 years past their PhD or MD (research based), working in Australia with a focus on stem cell research.

Two prizes, worth $50,000 each, will be awarded to one male and one female scientist in recognition of their leadership and achievements in stem cell research.

Entries close Monday 29 July. More information.

Life on Mars, cocktail chemistry, and the state of our oceans: register and promote your National Science Week activities

Universities, museums, medical research institutes and government agencies are using National Science Week to share their science with new audiences. This year’s program runs from 10 to 18 August.

Last year, 1.2 million Australians got involved in more than 2,100 registered National Science Week events around the country. More than 3,000 media stories mentioned National Science Week, with many more covering the events and science in general. How will you get involved?

Among the events and activities already registered for 2019 are:

  • ‘Her Deepness’ Sylvia Earle—US marine biologist and National Geographic explorer—and Australia’s marine ecology star Emma Johnston discussing the state of our oceans at Sydney Science Festival
  • Life on Mars, with NASA Mars 2020 rover mission scientist Mitch Schulte, author and physicist Paul Davies and former Catalyst host Graham Phillips
  • The science (and sips) of cocktails, at CSIRO Discovery Centre
  • Online thinking and insight tests to reveal how the brain works—part of ‘The Aha! Challenge’, ABC’s National Science Week project.

Now is the time to plan how you’ll promote your activities. The following resources are available for download on the National Science Week website:

Importantly, make sure you register your event(s) on the Science Week website: scienceweek.net.au/event-holder-registration. Read our guide to writing a great event description.

Science in Public is again providing publicity support, so if you’re planning an event or speaker with strong media appeal, let us know—email scienceweek@scienceinpublic.com.au and we’ll consider including it in highlights media releases.

More information at: www.scienceweek.net.au

Lisa Harvey-Smith astronomy book offers for children and adults

Astrophysicist, Australia’s Women in STEM Ambassador and author of When Galaxies Collide Lisa Harvey Smith has a new children’s book coming out in October, called Under the Stars.

Under the Stars has forty-six individual bedtime stories aimed at children aged 6-12 years, each one tackling a question about our fascinating Universe, from ‘why is the sky blue?’ to ‘what gave Jupiter its stripes?’

Melbourne University Publishing has a special offer for pre-orders: 15% off RRP ($39.99) for orders of a minimum of 10 copies, with free shipping and five free copies of Backyard Insects by Paul Horne and Denis Crawford.

There is also a special offer for Lisa’s 2018 book When Galaxies Collide, which reveals what will happen to Earth when our galaxy collides with Andromeda in 6 billion-odd years’ time. This offer is 15% off RRP ($29.99) for orders of a minimum of 10 copies, with free shipping.

Orders for When Galaxies Collide placed before 30 July will arrive in time for National Science Week (10-18 August).

How to place an order
Email orders directly to Dominika Greinert at MUP via dominika.greinert@unimelb.edu.au. Dominika will send you an invoice.

Please provide:
• Delivery address
• Contact person at the address

Can media help you boost your research impact? Find your story and your audience

Upcoming media and communication training workshops

“I really appreciated the encouragement to own my research. These are great for confidence,” said marine scientist Paige Kelly.

The course is for researchers looking to gain confidence in talking to the media and specifically in how to talk about their work in a way that the media reports it accurately.

It’s a full day hands-on workshop where researchers will meet, chat with, and question journalists from television, print and radio. They will also do practice interviews.

Two experienced science communicators will work with them to find the story in their science. Each person will walk away with their key messages and a draft communication plan.

While the workshop focuses on media, researchers will also learn how to effectively communicate about their work to the public, stakeholders, government and industry.

If you’re looking for something more tailored, I’m happy to have a chat. For example, we run 90-minute introductory forums for 20-200 people that introduce researchers to the media, government and other audiences; as well as pitching sessions.

Courses coming up:

“It was amazing to see the process behind the science to media relations,” said John Paul Fuller Jackson, a PhD student who attended our media training course last year.

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.