Thank you to Joan Leach for the update!

Not enough happening?

At our last National Council meeting, the representatives from our branches gave a bit of an overview of the activities that have been going on around Australia. There are science and film nights, cafe scientifiques, professional development meetings, networking and speed networking events, and even awards nights (check out our Unsung Heroes!) as we recognise each other’s strengths. It is pretty amazing the volume and quality of activities that are designed to support and develop us as science communicators. To add to that, I was just in Sydney for the Inspiring Australia Engagement Summit. There, I heard about what IA officers are doing to interact with ASC professionals and encourage keen volunteers in their local communities to give science communication ‘a go’. It’s impressive. Very occasionally, someone grumbles to me that ‘there is not enough happening’ in science communication. I’ve always given such grumbles short shrift but I think what is really being said is that ‘there is so much happening, it’s hard to characterise’. And, that’s different. I’ve also been inspired by the ways in which ASC members have characterised it themselves—for example, AUSSCM just launched SciMEX to be a hub for experts to tell their stories about Australian science (and review others!), the RiAus has launched their own digital channel, and the Australian Academy of Science has re-launched NOVA (a website with a wealth of digital content). And, I’ve sat at a table with ASC members from each of these organisations who clearly characterised what makes these different, but very complementary efforts to improve the availability and quality of digital science content. Not enough happening? No way. And, ASC members are also good at characterising the wealth of what they produce.