Monthly Archives: November 2017

Official notice of the ASC AGM, Canberra, 19 December 2017

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The ASC AGM is coming up in Canberra (and also online) on Tuesday 19 December 2017.

The 2017 AGM is an opportunity for members to hear about the year’s events at the national level, and to have their say about what should happen in the year to come. It also includes reports from the President and Treasurer.

When:
Tuesday 19 December 2017, 6.00pm AEST

Where:
Whisky Room, upstairs at the Civic Pub, 8 Lonsdale Street, Braddon, Canberra ACT
Doors open at 6pm for a 6:30pm start. Food and drinks available. If in Canberra and coming to the pub, reserve your seat here: https://www.trybooking.com/TDXL (seats are limited!) May include: meeting, drinking, socialising, games, etc

Virtual:
A Skype (or other) meeting will be set up for those unable to attend in person.
We will also be able to Livestream the event. More details to follow.

RSVP:
secretary@asc.asn.au

Only financial ASC members are eligible to attend the AGM.

Agenda

Proposed agenda items, notices of motion and treasurer nominations must be received by 6pm AEST Friday 8 December 2017, and can be sent to Teresa Belcher, National Secretary (secretary@asc.asn.au).

Treasurer vacancy

Members also have the chance to elect a new National Treasurer. Due to family commitments, our current treasurer Pete Wheeler is resigning after 5 years of service. We’d like to thank Pete for being such a stalwart contributor in the engine room of the ASC, overseeing the association finances and related compliance and reporting in times of change, and keeping the national executive up to date on all things finance during this time.
Nominations for Treasurer should be accompanied by a nomination statement (<400 words) of skills/experience in relation to the position. Note that notices of motion require a proposer and a seconder, and nominations for Treasurer need to be agreed by the nominee.

Proxies

Members unable to attend the AGM in person can give proxies to other members attending the meeting. This means that unless members are at the physical meeting in Adelaide, you will need to designate a proxy to vote.

To designate your proxy:

  • Download and complete the proxy form, and ensure a copy of this form is with your proxy to take to the AGM (Word and PDF)
  • Notify the National Secretary, Teresa Belcher (secretary@asc.asn.au) – this must be done or the proxy and vote is not considered valid
  • Ensure that the proxy form is completed prior to 6pm AEST Friday 15 December 2017

Please note that votes will remain confidential. All proxy forms will be collected and destroyed after the AGM.

The following items are current as of 22 November 2017:

Position vacant: Scope Editor

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Have your finger on the pulse, gain new skills, make a difference to ASC

Location: anywhere in Australia with broadband internet access

Honorarium: $150 (+GST if you are registered) per issue, with the expectation of 11 to 12 issues produced per year.
Scope is the monthly online newsletter of the Australian Science Communicators (ASC), a network of 450 + professional science and technology communicators across Australia and overseas.

The current Co-Editors, Tara Roberson and Jessica Scholle, are resigning after 2 years and 3-4 months in the role*, so ASC is looking for a new Editor (or two co-editors) effective from the February 2018 issue (prepared in advance for sending to members on Wednesday 7th February). Tara and Jess will be available to handover to the new Editor/s to ensure a smooth transition into the role.The role includes the following activities:

  • Sourcing content from ASC branches, members and web editors (usually in the first two weeks of the month)
  • Occasionally interviewing people (members and non-members) for profile pieces
  • Listing recent news items or summarising topical stories to keep members up to date on current science communication issues
  • Editing content for consistency of style and formatting including permalinks, extracts and tagging
  • Working with the executive officer to ensure the member distribution list is current
  • Formatting the month’s material into short ‘teaser’ formats with click-throughs
  • Managing images and checking we have rights to use images in newsletter
  • Circulating (via Mail Chimp) to the membership on the first Wednesday of the month
  • Responding to feedback from members, the National Executive
  • Attending the monthly ASC Communication team meeting and providing input (or driving) Scope planning
  • Liaising with a team of volunteer contributors to gather and create newsletter stories/content
  • Liaising with the webmaster, executive officer, web editors and the national president as needed.

The key selection criteria for this role are:

  • Established interest in science communication
  • Computer and internet literacy, in particular familiarity (or can quickly get familiarity) with WordPress, MailChimp, Dropbox, Word/Pages, PowerPoint, image editing software
  • Excellent time management skills
  • Capacity to commit ~15 hours per month to ASC activities.
  • Applicants must be current financial members of the ASC

Applications are invited by email no later than 5 pm on Friday 15 December 2017 for the attention of Kali Madden (ASC Executive Officer) at: jobs@asc.asn.au

Please include a link to your current LinkedIn profile (and/or a current CV) along with a brief statement about why you think you’d be great for the role.

* Victoria Leitch also spent 2 years and 4 months in the role before handing over to Jess and Tara. Here is what she said about it.

2017 ASC Grants Program recipients

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After another year of high quality applications and a rigorous review process, we are pleased to announce the following winners of the 2017 grants program:

The ASC Professional Development Grant worth $600 was awarded to student member Shanii Austin.

Shanii will be using the grant to assist in attending the 2018 Public Communication of Science and Technology (PCST) Conference in Dunedin, NZ. The conference will run from 3-8 April, 2018, and is hosted by the University of Otago.

This will be her first conference that discusses current science communication research, which will give her valuable insight into the latest developments in my field, as well as the opportunity to network with the global science communication community. She has also submitted an abstract to speak at the conference, so is hoping to share some of her ongoing Masters research about live science shows.

We look forward to hearing all about it when she returns. So keep an eye out for her article in Scope come May.

How did Shanii sum up SciComm in one tweet? #scicom: how to take complex info, make your audience excited by it, and empower them to share it with the world

The Peter Pockley Grant for Professional Development in Investigative Journalism worth $600 was awarded to Viki Cramer.

Viki will be using this grant to attend the Monthly Masterclass “The secrets of good science writing” presented by Jo Chandler, 24 November 2017 in Melbourne.

Viki specialises in writing about the environment, and is excited to spend a day learning from an award-winning journalist who also writes about the environment.

She hopes to gain from the class how to write great pitches for Australian publications that run science-based pieces. She expects to learn how to better balance science, character and context for both short articles and features. Her ultimate outcome is that she successfully pitches to The Monthly.

We wish her all the best and also look forward to hearing how the Masterclass went in December.

How did Viki sum up SciComm in one tweet? #SciComm: telling clear and compelling stories about science that capture the imagination, challenge ideas and create momentum for change.

The MD Writing and Editing ‘Writing a Journal Article’ e-Course was awarded to student member Ravindra Palavalli Nettimi.

Ravindra is a PhD candidate at Macquarie University (and one of two new national web editors for the ASC) and is excited to hone in on his journal writing skills through undertaking this new e-course led by Malini from MD Writing and Editing. The timing is good as he is currently preparing three manuscripts for scientific journals and believes the training could be a great help.

How did Ravindra sum up SciComm in one tweet? #Scicomm is an art that uses stories & emotions to make #science and its process accessible to everyone while engaging more people in it 

Read about Ravi’s grant experience here.

A big congratulations to all the 2017 grant recipients and we can’t wait to hear all about your professional development and possibly entice other members to undertake similar courses in the future.

Thanks again to everyone who took the time to submit an application, and we wish you all the best for future years.

Ian and Miriam

ASC Grants Program co-managers

President’s Update

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With thanks to Dr Craig Cormick, President, Australian Science Communicators

So it was pretty awesome watching Dr Jenny Graves win this year’s Prime Minister’s Prize for Science at Parliament House. Not only because she is the first female to win the prize in her own right, not only because she is still being busily active at 75, and not only for her erudite and playful approach to science (and not only for the elegant way host Dr Jonica Newby threw a subtle same-sex marriage line to the PM – ‘Yes, Prime Minister!’).

Dr Graves is a science communicator’s dream, as she shares not only her passion for science but knows how to tell a good story. And her work has covered some great stories. She has

  • Told us that the Y chromosome is slowly disappearing (sorry fellahs),
  • determined the relatively recent origin of the human XY sex chromosome system;
  • collaboratively shown how temperature increases can lead to the bearded dragon lizard changing sex.
  • Been a pioneer of our understanding of genomic and epigenetics.

In addition to her scientific achievements Dr Graves has been the Secretary of Education at the Australian Academy of Science, promoting science education, and has been a role model for girls and women in science, promoting gender equity.

It would be nice to think that every scientist who wins a major prize like this is as accomplished at communication – rather than having stamped on their file ‘Not to be let out in public!’ Though in the years I have been attending the awards ceremony there have been an overwhelming preponderance of good communicators standing at the podium accepting the main Prize for Science.

I can’t say the same for all the politicians charged with representing the science sector – some looking distinctly uncomfortable in a room full of scientists. But it was good to hear Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull spruiking science and innovation to a receptive audience for once.

I sometimes worry that many members of cabinet are as reluctant to hold a serious discussion about science and innovation as they are on same-sex marriage.

‘Yes, Prime Minister!’