Let's Talk SciComm

This week it is a huge honour for us to speak with our long-time scicomm colleague Nancy Longnecker who is Emerita Professor of Science Communication at the University of Otago. She has collaborated in the production of communication resources and assessment of their effectiveness in work that is often multidisciplinary and cross-cultural. In a career spanning four decades, Nancy has produced both...

Welcome to Season 13 of Let’s Talk SciComm. We’re so thrilled to be kicking off another season as we head towards our 100th episode!  To get the season off to a fabulous start, this week we’re thrilled to talk with the incredible Sarah Firth (she/ her).  Sarah is based on Wurundjeri Country in Melbourne, Australia. She is an artist, writer, cartoonist, graphic recorder and animator, originally tra...

You NEED to listen to this. In this week’s episode of ‘Listen to This If…’ Jen and Michael explore how to grab your audience’s attention. In just five minutes Jen and Michael will discuss everything you need to know to turn heads and captivate your audience. https://hbr.org/2023/07/3-ways-to-keep-your-audience-focused-during-a-presentation https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/7-ways-hook-your-audience-f...

Upcoming presentation got your palms sweaty, knees weak, arms heavy? Don’t worry, forget mum’s spaghetti, because we’re not going to let you miss your shot. Tune in to this week’s episode of ‘Listen to This If…’ where Jen and Michael give you all the tips and tricks to turn those shaky hands into a killer mic drop.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXHivnWyZyo https://hbr.org/2016/10/how-to-calm-yo...

Doomscrolling getting in your way? Don’t worry! Jen and Michael have some great tips to break the scrolling cycle and get you back to your task. In this week’s episode of Listen to This If, we’re discussing addictive algorithms and what strategies you can employ to get off your phone and  back on track! https://hai.stanford.edu/news/psychiatrists-perspective-social-media-algorithms-and-mental-heal...

Over the word count on an assignment? It can be stressful trying to trim the writing you’ve put so much effort into. Luckily in this week’s episode, Jen and Michael have some handy tips to wriggle down those words while keeping your writing sharp and relevant to the task. Tune in now! https://www.brandeis.edu/writing-program/resources/faculty/handouts/reverse-outlining.html https://writingcenter.u...

Got an interview coming up? Don't worry, Jen and Michael are here to help! In this five-minute episode, they'll give advice to make sure you're prepared for a perfect interview. From putting your mind at ease to carefully studying the job posting, Jen and Michael will provide you with practical tips that will boost your confidence and help you land the perfect job. Listen now and get r...

We're thrilled to launch an exciting new series of our podcast, 'Listen To This If...'.  Jen and Michael will deliver a speedy, five-minute Friday fix packed with practical hot tips to tackle your toughest science communication challenges. Next Friday, we're starting with something we all want to know: how to ace a job interview! An enormous thank you to the University of Melbourne...

We’re ending Season 11 with a fabulous conversation with climate change communicator Dr Simon Torok. Simon is CEO and Director of Scientell, a science communication company that seeks to maximise the impact of scientific information. He distils technical information for non-scientific audiences to communicate the importance of science in our lives and its role in understanding the environment. Sim...

This week we absolutely loved speaking with highly skilled communications coach David Crisante. David has had a career in journalism, political speechwriting - including for Australia's Foreign Minister -  and science communications. These days he helps professionals to master storytelling techniques so that they’re more effective when communicating with stakeholders.  David is founder of the...

This week we were incredibly fortunate to speak with Dr Catherine Richards Golini in Switzerland. Catherine is a Healthcare Publications Editor at Karger Publishers, specializing in creating, developing, and editing resources for patients and HCPs. Holding a PhD in Applied Linguistics from Swansea University, and with published research on patient communication, she is also a skilled plain languag...

This week we had the wonderful opportunity to talk with Sara Garfield - a true expert in communicating about science in English as a non-native language. Sara is a dedicated educator with a diverse academic and teaching background that spans multiple countries and disciplines. Raised in Italy speaking English at home, her early fascination with languages and literature has paved the way for her ac...

This week we were absolutely thrilled to speak with one of our favourite people: Tilly Boleyn. Tilly (she/her) is the Head of Curatorial, Science Gallery Melbourne, University of Melbourne. Basically, she’s a massive nerd, curious about the world and everything in it. She is a collaborative creature at heart and heads the team with a mixture of organisation, chaos, humour and sassy backtalk. She l...

This week we had a fabulous conversation with multi-award winning science journalist Dr Jackson Ryan. Jackson is a former molecular biologist and current freelance science journalist with a focus on longform and narrative non-fiction science writing. He served as the Science Editor at CNET.com between 2018 and 2023 and was the 2022 winner of the Eureka Prize for Science Journalism. In 2024, he is...

This week we were privileged to have a wonderful conversation with Dr Rachel Nowak who is a consultant, an advisor, a scientist and a journalist. She has been working in science, technology and innovation on three continents. Her specialities include science journalism, knowledge mobilisation, research and technology assessment, and stakeholder engagement. She has been Washington Bureau Chief and...

We’re so thrilled to be back with you for Season 11 of Let’s Talk SciComm. And to get the season off to a brilliant start, we had a wonderful conversation with Sara Phillips. Sara is an award-winning science writer and editor based in Melbourne, Australia. She edited the 2020, 10th-anniversary edition of the Best Australian Science Writing . Previously, she was Asia-Pacific bureau chief for Nature...

We’re ending Season 10 on a high, chatting with Brendon Bosworth in Cape Town, South Africa. Brendan is a communications specialist and science communication trainer who runs Human Element Communications. Brendon’s goal is to make research on topics of global concern, such as climate change and sustainable development, more accessible to non-specialists. After working as a communications officer o...

This week we have the immense pleasure of speaking with the brilliant Alicia Sometimes. Alicia is a multi-award winning poet and broadcaster who is deeply passionate about both art and science. She has performed her poetry at many venues, festivals and events around the world. Alicia is director/co-writer of the art/science planetarium shows , Elemental and Particle/Wave. In 2023 she received ANAT...

This week we had the great privilege of speaking with Dr Craig Cormick OAM. Craig is the Creative Director of ThinkOutsideThe. He is one of Australia’s leading science communicators, with over 30 years’ experience working with agencies such as CSIRO, Questacon and Federal Government Departments. In 2014 he was awarded the Unsung Hero of Science Communication by the Australian Science Communicators...

This week we had such a wonderful time speaking with Laura Bibiana Ospina-Rozo, who joined us all the way from her home in Columbia. Laura is a scientist who finds joy in tackling research questions in the field of biophotonics: where light and living matter interact. She completed her undergraduate and masters degrees at the University of Los Andes in Colombia and her PhD in 2022 investigating be...

This week we had a wonderful time speaking with Dr Jen Payne about her amazing initiative STEMpals. Jen grew up in a small country town, where the closest thing to scientists she saw was her teachers. She had no idea really what a scientist was or could be. Fast forward to now, where Jen is a research scientist, minimising deadly infections due to antimicrobial resistance. She is an award-winning...

What a treat this week’s episode is! We had a blast catching up with one of our brilliant former science communication students, Milly Formby. Milly is a qualified zoologist, pilot and illustrator of the children's book, A Shorebird Flying Adventure . In 2022-23 she was the first woman to fly a microlight aircraft around Australia. The aim of the adventure was to promote protection of wetland...

This week we had the great pleasure of speaking with Brian Lin in Washington DC. Brian oversees EurekAlert!, a non-profit news release distribution platform operated by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). He has more than two decades of experience as a science communicator, having interned at a national daily technology TV show in Canada before serving as a press office...

Welcome back to Season 10 of Let’s Talk SciComm! We’re thrilled to be back with you for another season of fantastic conversations exploring how we can all communicate about science in more effective and engaging ways. To get the season off to an amazing start, we’re thrilled to have caught up with science tourism and dark skies guru, Marnie Ogg. With over 17 years of experience as a Managing Direc...

To finish Season 9 of Let’s Talk SciComm, we had a truly wonderful conversation with Dr Samantha Grover, who leads the Soil-Atmosphere-Anthroposphere Lab at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia. Sam’s team explores the interconnections between food, climate change and people. They collaborate with farmers, NGOs, industry, government and other researchers around the world to more sustainably man...