Category Archives: Event

Call for Applications to Attend or Sponsor Attendees to Youth ANZAAS 2011

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10 July 2011to15 July 2011

Anyone with links into high schools or direct to senior science students may be interested in promoting this, and if there are bodies out there keen to throw a small amount of dollars toward student scholarships or event funding please let us know.

Applications for Youth ANZAAS 2011: Brisbane are open to science students in grades 10-12 across Australia, and close very shortly (Fri 27rd May), although applications received after the closing date will be accepted until all places are filled. More information is available at www.anzaas.org.au/youth and full information/application packages are available upon request.

Youth ANZAAS is a week-long residential conference for approximately sixty science students in Years 10, 11 and 12 from Australia and New Zealand. The event is organised by the Australian & New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science (ANZAAS), one of Australia’s oldest scientific associations. YA 2011 will be held in Brisbane from Sunday 10th July to Friday 15th July. The programme is based around advanced-level lectures and activities that will challenge attendees and expand their knowledge of the applications of science in the real world. Students will have the opportunity to visit world-class facilities where research is taking place and to engage with leading scientists, experiences which are usually unavailable to the general public. The conference also allows students to meet and create a network of like-minded peers who share their passion for science.

A registration fee (recently reduced to $400 with the aid of some sponsorship) covers all expenses through the week including travel to Brisbane from students’ local capital city. It is understood the cost may inhibit some students’ decision to apply, however some sponsorship of places may be available upon application and funding is also still being sought to further reduce the cost or provide sponsorship for individual places. Special consideration (students from regional and remote areas and with indigenous or ethnic backgrounds are encouraged to apply) is available for candidates upon request.

If there are people or groups interested in offering sponsorship to students please feel free to contact us with your offer.

Cheers,
Felicity

If you have any queries about the program, the application process or anything else regarding Youth ANZAAS 2011 please contact us via anzaas.qld@gmail.com or 0408 797 837. Further information may be available at www.anzaas.org.au/youth.

Sydney workshop: Community Engagement Tips, Tools and Techniques

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20 May 2011
8:30 amto5:00 pm

Science communicators and especially scienctists who communicate controversial subjects may benefit from skills in community engagement.

IAP2 NSW is running an impressive looking one day workshop on Community Engagement Tips, Tools and Techniques.

This one day workshop is suitable for emerging engagement specialists who are keen to learn from leading practitioners in NSW, or for more experienced specialists looking for a fresh burst of ideas and inspiration.

Read more at http://www.iap2.org.au/events/event/tips-tools-techniques-workshop.

Jesse Shore, National president

Julian Cribb’s Coming Famine Spearheads AIFST Convention

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An action-provoking keynote address by well-known visionary and science communications specialist Julian Cribb headlines the 44th annual Australian Institute of Food Science & Technology convention, to be held 10 – 13 July 2011 in Sydney.

In keeping with the convention’s theme ‘Tackling Tomorrow Today’, Cribb will speak about the major risks to global food security over the coming half century, the implications for food, science, technology and society, and of the effects of a 30 year lack of local investment in agricultural and food science and technology.

Cribb believes the world faces the probability of extreme regional food insecurity by the mid-century unless we take action now on land, water, nutrients, energy, fish, technology and climate instability. One of the challenges he will put to the industry is to help reinvent our cities and food systems so they recycle water, energy and nutrients, to help head off the ‘coming famine’.

He returns to the stage later to present a proposal for a national nutrient plan’, prompting the design of systems that recapture the current phenomenal waste of nutrients by agriculture, processing, retail, foodservice and consumers. He will also speak on the need to totally redesign the Australian diet.

Other speakers at the Food Production Security session include David Barling (City University, London, UK) addressing ‘impact of food policy on food security’, and Alison Bowman (Industry & Investment NSW, Wagga Wagga, NSW) on ‘The value of investing in R&D to secure the food supply’.

The AIFST Convention is co-located with FoodPro at the Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre, Darling Harbour, Sydney NSW Australia.

It opens on Sunday 10 July and concludes Tuesday 12 July, with additional workshops Wednesday 13 July 2011.

For registration details visit www.aifst.com.au. Bookings made before 3 June attract an earlybird rate.

BIOGRAPHICAL DETAIL:

Julian Cribb is the principal of Julian Cribb & Associates, specialists in science communication. He is a fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering.

From 1996-2002 he was Director, National Awareness, for Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO where he oversaw a 150 per cent growth in the organisation’s media profile.

A journalist since 1969, he was editor of the “National Farmer” and “Sunday Independent” newspapers, editor-in-chief of the Australian Rural Times, and chief of the Australian Agricultural News Bureau. For ten years he was agriculture correspondent, science and technology correspondent and scientific editor for The Australian and still writes a regular column for the national daily. He edits Australian R&D Review and ScienceAlert.com.au, the nation’s leading scientific news site.

He has received 32 awards for journalism including the Order of Australia Association Media Prize, the inaugural Eureka Prize for environmental journalism, the inaugural AUSTRADE award for international business journalism, the Dalgety Award for rural journalism, two MBF Awards for medical journalism and five Michael Daley Awards for science journalism.

He was national foundation president of the Australian Science Communicators (ASC), president of the National Rural and Resources Press Club, a member of CSIRO advisory committees for agriculture, fisheries and entomology. He has served as a Director of the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), the Crawford Fund, the Secretariat for International Landcare, CSIRO Publishing, the Australian Minerals and Energy Environment Foundation, the National Science and Technology Centre (Questacon) and the Council of the Academy of technological Sciences & Engineering.

His published work includes more than 8,000 print articles, 1000 broadcasts, 3000 media releases and 400 speeches as well as “The Forgotten Country”, six editions of “Australian Agriculture”, “The White Death”, “Dry Times” and “Open Science”. His most recent book is “The Coming Famine: the global food crisis and what we can do to avoid it”, which explores the issues around food security and the actions by nations and individuals necessary to assure it.

Two free tickets plus big student discounts up for grabs at Media140

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We are pleased to announce yet another endeavour to support those who make science accessible.

ASC have partnered with Media140 to offer FREE tickets to two lucky ASC members at the frontiers event exploring the impact of social technologies on science communication being held in Brisbane next week.

http://www.amiando.com/media140FrontiersBrisbane.html?page=463781

Members who think they would benefit from attending this event are invited to submit a submission to office@asc.asn.au by 7 pm AEST this Sunday 24 April, describing in no more than 50 words what current role or project could use some social media enhancement. Please include a contact phone number and e-mail address so we can notify you if you win.

ASC President Jesse Shore will select two of the entries for free admission to this international and timely event. Winners will be required to write a short article for publication on the ASC web site no more than a month after the event briefly describing their current role or project, what it aims to accomplish, and how the frontiers event contributed to their social media skills, knowledge and/or intentions for future. Good luck!

To check how relevant the event will be for your own explorations and applications of social media to science communication, see the event program here: http://www.amiando.co/media140FrontiersBrisbane.html?page=513990

In addition three full student scholarships were allocated to support the future of science communication in Australia.

The student scholarship recipients are enrolled in “Presenting Science” with lecturer Melanie McKenzie this semester in the Science Communication Program at the University of Queensland.

You can read more about tertiary science communication programs in Australia on our web site here: http://www.asc.asn.au/about/tertiary-programs/

Students still wishing to attend the event are eligible for a 40% discount, and ASC members are still eligible for 10%.

Interested? Register here:

http://bit.ly/asc140ticket

Posted on behalf of Kali Madden, ASC Membership Officer
office [at] asc.asn.au

Inspiring…ASC and friends

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At a recent meeting, the ASC Canberra committee decided we had heard of the Inspiring Australia (IA) report, but didn’t know much about what it said, what was happening as a result or what the implications were for us as science communicators. So we asked Simon France from the Australian government Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Resources and Margaret McIver, our local IA officer, to tell us all about it.

We had a good turn-out of over 30 people, including a few new faces and a few new members.

Simon gave us a national perspective in a polished way – he’s been touring the country presenting information sessions about IA recently. The full report is online (http://www.innovation.gov.au/science/inspiringaustralia/Pages/default.aspx) so I won’t repeat it here, but my five top bits of useful information from Simon were:

  • all Australian government departments have appointed IA contact officers to manage their organisations’ involvement
  • there are expert working groups in a number of areas, and plans for more (including an arid zone working group!)
  • the IA brand will hopefully be developed to a point where it’s a mark of ‘quality science communication’
  • the Scicommunity website has been developed to share stories and build collaboration about public engagement
  • the youth aspect will be a focus for an expert working group with representation from the various departments of education.

I hope Simon will correct me if my scribbly notes have not been translated correctly.

Marg gave us a run-down of local action, including presentations by Dr Fiona Wood, authentique Cafe Scientifique events in conjunction with the Alliance Francaise and a Science meets Art competition for Youth Week (which we got to admire over wine and cheese after her presentation). Marg has developed a calendar of science events in Canberra which she sends to her email list monthly (or so).

David George, from the ACT government’s Chief Minister’s Department, which supports Marg’s position, was also able to tell us about their recent move into the science communication realm, though which they are involved in a number of programs such as the Tall Poppy Campaign and CSIRO’s Canberra education centre.

Big thanks to our presenters, who have inspired us to get involved with Inspiring Australia. We’re watching that space with interest.

Liz Yuncken
ASC Canberra Committee

Rally for Research – Adelaide

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This article was originally published here with pictures and video.

In Australia at the moment there is a real fear that our Government (who are supposed to be on the left side of that political line) is going to cut $400 million from medical research budgets. To protest this rallies are being run in most Australian capital cities to advertise the role of scientists in the community and to show all scientists that collectively we have a voice that can be heard, you just have to start shouting.

A couple of days ago the rally in my city was held and whilst I couldn’t make it (due to teaching obligations) my good friend Thomas Tu, with whom I started Disease of the Week (on which he has also written a post about this) a few years ago, has been heavily involved. You can find a radio interview he did on one of Australia’s largest radio stations, Triple J, here (about a third of the way in) and there is a video of him giving a speech at the rally. He is standing on the steps of our city’s Parliament House.

So what can you do if you can’t make a rally or are in another country but want to show your support? Jump on the Discoveries need Dollars website or the Facebook page and ‘Like’ or follow the Twitter page and at all these places there is more info.

We are trying to make it a big issue to protect medical research, our livelihoods and encourage more students into science careers and it makes it very difficult when not only is money taken away but when its predicted to affect early career researchers hardest.

If you can help and you care about medical research I implore you to do as much as you can.

I’ll get off my high-horse now.

James Byrne

Associate Lecturer at University of Adelaide
Bacteriology PhD student and writer at Disease Prone

Easter, Media 140 Frontiers and a Social Media question

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It’s that time of year again. Hot cross buns are turning up in offices all over Victoria, the sound of foil crinkling back, revealing the sweet perfume of chocolate (the quality of which will vary) shaped into cute small furry animals. Then it’s a HOLIDAY where you get to see those things you love so much that you don’t often see. Things like…the bed…the couch…and then maybe family.

But even more importantly, the MEDIA 140 Frontiers conference is on, on the 27th of April in Brisbane. [insert rapturous applause]

Teaching science communication and doing some research into the effects of social media on science communication, I am going to be flitting around the conference like a humming bird, trying to find out what I can from people in the know.

But that leads me to ask you all a question:

What types of social media do you use when communicating science?

Facebook? Twitter? Youtube? Flickr? Linkedin? TweetLater? Digg?

Let me know. And I hope to see you in Brisbane. I will be the guy with a poppy in his left lapel (wink wink). Otherwise, enjoy those Easter eggs in bed!

George also blogs as PopSciGuy

Call for Conference Papers: Popular Culture Association of Australia and New Zealand (POPCAANZ)

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POPCAANZ is a new organisation for anyone studying popular culture.  Our members span academics, professionals and enthusiasts.  As the chair of the Popular Science area, I would like to invite ASC members to submit abstracts for our upcoming 2011 conference at the end of June in Auckland, NZ.

The deadline for abstracts is March 1st, but please contact me (b.lott [at] qut.edu.au) if you are interested but need more time. We are also putting together a round table discussion at the conference to debate and define what popular science in Australia and New Zealand actually is. It should be an interesting and lively discussion. For more information about the conference please see our POPCAANZ website.

POPCAANZ also publishes the Australasian Journal of Popular Culture, which offers one of the few opportunities in the world to publish peer-reviewed academic articles focussing on popular science. More information about the AJPC can be found here. I am the Popular Science editor for the AJPC, so if you would like to submit a manuscript, you can either submit it through the POPCAANZ president (t.johnsonwoods [at] qut.edu.au) directly to me (b.lott [at] qut.edu.au) for review.

National Launch of the International Year of Chemistry

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The International Year of Chemistry has its official launch next Tuesday, 8 February, in Canberra.

The website for the launch information and registration is via this pdf on the shac communications website.

The website for IYC Australia is http://iyc2011.org.au/about-the-iyc-australia.html. Check out the events calendar.

I’m assured that science communication will play a role during the year. Check out the travelling exhibitions activity, four of which were developed by yours truly, which will soon have more details added. You can read descriptions of the four displays at http://iyc2011.org.au/event-reader.html?e_type=major-events&event=travelling-exhibitions

Cheers,

Jesse

Jesse Shore

President, Australian Science Communicators, 2011

http://www.asc.asn.au/