AGM 2012 – Official Notification and Papers

This is the official notice of the Australian Science Communicators’ Annual General Meeting, to be held in Brisbane, Queensland, on 27 November 2012.

The AGM is being hosted by the ASC Queensland Branch. The AGM will be followed by a Science Trivia Night,  hosted by compere extraordinaire and science all-rounder David Ellyard.

What: Science Trivia Night and National AGM

When: Tuesday 27 November, AGM will run from 6-7pm. Trivia will kick off at 7.30pm

Where: Ship Inn, Southbank

Bookings:  Please book your tickets at http://brisciquiz2012.eventbrite.com.au

 

ASC members: free (Only currently financial ASC members are eligible to attend the AGM)

Non-members: $10 (Quiz Night only)

Non-member students: $5 (Quiz Night only)

Registration: http://brisciquiz2012.eventbrite.com.au

The ASC AGM will run from 6.00-7:15pm and is open to ASC voting members only. The quiz night for all registered participants will begin at 7:30pm sharp in the upstairs function room. Seats are limited so registration is essential.

The seating is 8 people per table. To confirm the members of your table, please email seqasc@gmail.com.

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

Members also have the chance to elect a new National President. Proposed agenda items, notices of motion and presidential nominations must be received by Tuesday 20 November 2012 and can be sent to Sarah Lau, National Secretary (slau@chemcentre.wa.gov.au).

Note that notices of motion require a proposer and a seconder, and nominations for President need to be agreed by the nominee.

Members unable to attend the AGM in person are able to give proxies to other members attending the meeting, or alternatively, send them to Sarah Lau, National Secretary (slau@chemcentre.wa.gov.au) before 5.00pm AEDST on Tuesday 27 November 2012. Please indicate in your email any voting instructions you wish to convey.

Proxies must be:

  • Given in writing (email is sufficient),
  • Notified to the Secretary (even if the proxy is given to someone else), and
  • Given with the agreement of the proxy holder.

 The following items are current as of 5 November 2012:

2012 AGM agenda, 6-11-12

ASC Member profile – Claire Harris

It’s an anecdote my mum loves telling: “When Claire was a child, she told everyone she wanted to be a bush ranger!”. We all knew I meant park ranger, inspired from lots of time spent exploring the outdoors and trips away camping with Scouts. As a young thing I always knew I wanted to do science (environmental/outdoor preferably) so choosing my high school subjects and university degree was quite easy.

After completing a B Env Sci (and some serious time off enjoying beach volleyball and beer) I got work experience with Queensland Department of Primary Industries, Fisheries and then they offered me a job. It was fabulous: time outdoors, dragging nets through cane field drains in Maroochy, mixed with a bit of lab work sorting samples, mixed with office work and writing. I wrote the stakeholder newsletters and helped write the guidelines to explain what our science meant for policymakers and landholders.

Within various State government jobs, the Cooperative Research Centre for Coastal Zone, Estuary and Waterway Management, I more naturally leaned towards project management and communicating about the research, talking with people about what it meant for them and what they wanted from the research projects. That’s when I started to do science communication study on the side, studying a PGDip at UQ (and ANU a few years later) part-time, around my fulltime work. This was also when I first came across the Australian Science Communicators. I joined the Brisbane committee, met with Jenni and others at Econnect and volunteered at Riversymposium assisting with media as part of a uni subject.

Learning about science’s role in society and how it can be valued, ignored, politicised or sidelined (cue shocking visuals of the John Gummer MP in the UK feeding a hamburger to his daughter during the early days of the mad cow disease discovery) was particularly fascinating.

Funnily enough, after travelling in Europe and the Middle East for 6 months in 2006, I happened to end up working for the UK government in the mad cow disease section as a science communicator. I rewrote technical stuff for non-technical audiences putting it on the web and in policy briefs.

Over the last 5 years I have worked in Canberra, communicating science in the natural resource management and agriculture areas picking up elements of knowledge management and social research at Land & Water Australia and CSIRO. I just finished a six-month secondment at the AG Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry working on comms strategy in the climate and carbon farming areas. It was extremely challenging but very fulfilling.

I’ve worked for many different agencies, learning new skills and exploring new perspectives all the time and I think this has really benefited my career. From what I see, the science communicators of today need to be able to explore new ways of doing things while also getting better at articulating why our roles are so important and the value we bring. I guess one of my purposes in life came from asking the question: if no-one considers, understands or can contribute to what science is then is there any point in doing the science in the first place?

Although I do sometimes get a little sad when I realise I’ve forgotten some science basics, I feel that I am helping in the best (and most fun, creative) way I can to have science contribute to better lives. And I am also passionate about raising the profile of science communicators. I feel great satisfaction when I am told that I have changed someone’s outlook forever – they will now always think about who they need to talk with and how best to do it rather than just being sure they only need a factsheet to achieve their outcomes!

 

Claire Harris

ASC ACT President, Vice President ASC National Executive

http://au.linkedin.com/in/claireharrisoz

At the moment I have a little project collecting links for communication conferences: http://delicious.com/claireharrisoz/tag_bundle/comms-conferences

ASC 2012 AGM – 27 November in Brisbane

This is a reminder that this year’s AGM will be hosted by ASC’s SE-Queensland branch. This is fitting as our next national conference will be in Brisbane in 2014.

The AGM will be at the Ship Inn from 6.00-7.15pm. After the business is over David Ellyard will present his highly entertaining and always fiercely competitive science trivia quiz. There will be prizes. The Ship Inn is at the corner of Stanley & Sidon Streets, Southbank Parklands, Brisbane.

The AGM is for financial members only and the quiz will be open to all.

More information about the AGM in late October.

Jesse Shore
ASC President

Unsung Hero Award of Australian Science Communication 2012

The Australian Science Communicators

is proud to offer the

Unsung Hero Award of Australian Science Communication

The Unsung Hero of Australian Science Communication is an initiative of the Australian Science Communicators. The ASC offers this award to honour a person or group who exemplify science communication.

Nominations are now open for the 2012 Unsung Hero Award of Australian Science Communication.

Click on the following link for full information:
Unsung Hero Award of Science Communication 2012, 29-9-12

Nominations close at 5pm on Friday 2 November 2012.

The award will be presented during the Australian Science Communicators Annual General Meeting, 27 November 2012 in Brisbane.

Jesse Shore
National president

Renewal date here for many members

Another reminder for ASC members whose renewal date is 1 September to stay financial and use this opportunity to update your profile via the membership page.

To renew, go to http://community.asc.asn.au/, log-in and click on Membership Info to pay your subs. While still signed in click Profile Home to add new info to your membership profile.

A new benefit for ASC members is discounted registration to sciencerewired, a full day event of social media related science communication. The $59 savings nearly covers the cost of individual membership in ASC. Plus we have 2 free registrations and 2 student scholarships to offer.

To list some of the other things to look forward to in the coming year:

  • The ASC website will host the results of the National Audit of Science Engagement Activities. The report will come out by mid-November along with data visualisations to enable you to interactively compare key data fields.
  • ASC will keep you informed of Inspiring Australia Strategy activities and updates. We have funds for selected financial members to participate in this communication activity.
  • Get involved in planning for the next national conference to be held in February 2014 at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre. We’re aiming even higher for this conference which will be held in one of the best convention centres in the world.
  • ASC branches are all holding a range of events and workshops, which are free or at substantial discounts to members.
  • Plus the issues and discussion will keep on coming. Stay in contact with your science communication network via Scope, the email lists, website, Facebook, LinkedIn and so on.

The cost of membership is still:
Individual membership is $88 per annum (incl. GST)
Student membership (with appropriate ID) is $35.20 (incl. GST)
Associate membership (with explanation) is $35.20 (incl. GST)
Corporate membership is $528 (incl. GST).

Jesse Shore
ASC President

ASC2014 will be at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre

We have selected one of the best convention centres in the world as the venue for our next national conference. The Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre’s new wing on Grey Street has a 400 seat auditorium, breakout rooms, a large foyer for displays, meals and networking, and easy access to the cultural precinct of Brisbane’s South Bank.

Overall the BCEC is an amazing venue. It’s huge in scale yet welcoming, with superb design and the latest in conference facilities. It has excellent catering facilities and is centrally located. The new wing of the centre will suit the scale of our conference perfectly.

We are starting to get ideas for the program and will be inviting your contribution soon.

Book in the dates 3-5 February 2014 for ASC2014. See you in Brisbane.

Jesse Shore
ASC President

ASC 2012 AGM – 27 November in Brisbane

ASC’s SE-Queensland branch will host this year’s AGM. This is fitting as our next national conference will be in Brisbane in 2014.

The AGM will be at the Ship Inn from 6.00-7.15pm. After the business is over David Ellyard will present his highly entertaining and always fiercely competitive science trivia quiz. There will be prizes. The Ship Inn is at the corner of Stanley & Sidon Streets, Southbank Parklands, Brisbane.

The AGM is for financial members only and the quiz will be open to all.

More information about the AGM will come as the time approaches.

Jesse Shore
ASC President

Agreement forged between ASC and Inspiring Australia for 2012-14

We have great news for ASC members! The Inspiring Australia Strategy and the Australian Science Communicators have reached an agreement which brings diverse benefits to members and the association.

The ASC will communicate IA activities and outcomes to ASC members and encourage discussion about the Strategy. The IA Strategy is closely aligned to the interests of the ASC and several ASC officials and members have been actively engaging with IA. The aim of this agreement is to further raise members’ awareness of and engagement with the Strategy.

The agreement provides funds for the ASC to upgrade its website, manage the project, and to pay writers fees to prepare the messages.

The ASC will post IA articles, stories and announcements to our main media channels including the ASC website, Facebook and LinkedIn pages, and Twitter feed. We’ll also post content to our Flickr, YouTube and Vimeo sites as appropriate. The first IA message was posted 31 July.

The agreement runs from mid-2012 to mid-2014. This allows time to
•             refine the message posting system,
•             develop the relationship between IA and ASC,
•             increase members’ involvement with IA and
•             increase members’ involvement with this project.

How things will work:
The ASC Communications team, which works to improve how ASC communicates across a range of media channels, has the task to deliver our side of the agreement.
Currently on the team are
•             Jesse Shore, president and chair of the team
•             James Hutson, webmaster
•             Sally Miles, Scope editor
•             Kali Madden, executive officer.

Inspiring Australia sends each message to the liaison person on the ASC Communications team, currently Jesse Shore, who will assign one of its members to republish it in the voice of the ASC. This involves writing introductory text, summaries and end pieces for each message as needed and then posting it. For the moment Sally Miles and Jesse will deal with the flow of information from IA.

The ASC Executive has approved a modest fee scale for various tasks and is monitoring progress during a three month trial period. In a couple of months we will invite ASC members for expressions of interest to join the Communications team and take part in the program to report IA news.

Editorial control of messages will be held by the ASC with the understanding the intent of the project is to portray the Inspiring Australia Strategy in a positive light.

We’re thrilled to have this new alliance and welcome your comments about how to get the most out of this project.

Jesse Shore
ASC national president

Next ASC national conference – February 2014

The ASC Executive has agreed that the next ASC national conference will be held in early February 2014. I’ll keep you on tenterhooks by saying that we’ll announce the city and venue soon.

The feedback from ASC2012 delegates have helped guide our planning and we’ll use their input to make ASC2014 even better than the terrific outcome Rod Lamberts and his team achieved this year.

We have started to consider the structure of the conference committee and will invite members to participate. The good amount of lead time should allow us to explore new ideas and get more supporting partners for our big biannual event.

That’s all the snippets of conference news for now but be ready for lots more substantial information to come.

Jesse Shore
National President

Renewal date approaching for many members – 1 September 2012

Many ASC members have the renewal date of 1 September, which is fast approaching. Kali will send reminders to those who need to renew then but it’s timely for me to offer a few reasons to make sure you’re financial.

We have had a busy year to date with our very successful national conference in Sydney in February. Since then we have been participating in the National Audit of Science Engagement Activities. The audit report will come out by mid-November along with data visualisations to enable you to interactively compare key data fields.

We have also struck an agreement with Inspiring Australia to communicate updates of the IA Strategy to our members from mid-2012 to mid-2014. There is an opportunity for financial members to participate in this communication activity.

We are planning the next national conference to be held in February 2014 and will be inviting members to help develop the program. The conference will be bigger and even better than before with an enhanced science-as-art exhibition, more workshops and social events.

The ASC has grown to over 540 members. Our branches are busy with events and workshops which are either free to members or at generous member’s discounts.

We have closer relationships with the federal and state chief scientists, and federal and state science departments and communicators in various groups. Other organisations are seeking to work with us or benefit from our expertise. Over the year numerous job opportunities have appeared on our e-list. Members have been active in expressing their views on a range of issues both on the e-list and website.

My impression is that opportunities in science communication are increasing and your membership and activity contribute to this positive change.

Renewing your membership enables you to make use of benefits and powerful communication tools such as:

  • access to the national conference and local ASC events at members’ rates,
  • posting rights on our two e-mail lists reaching a database of more than 1100 readers,
  • author rights on our web site (see http://www.asc.asn.au/),
  • receipt of our online magazine SCOPE,
  • access to our professional networking social media groups such as LinkedIn and Facebook,
  • access to ASC-associated organisations’ events at discounted rates,
  • voting rights at General Meetings and much more.

The cost of membership is still:

  • Individual membership is $88 per annum (incl. GST)
  • Student membership (with appropriate ID) is $35.20 (incl. GST)
  • Associate membership (with explanation) is $35.20 (incl. GST)
  • Corporate membership is $528 (incl. GST).

Jesse Shore
ASC President