2017 ASC Grants Program recipients

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