Event Review: The Making Of Chemistry World

The Chem World display at QUT’s The Cube was officially launched during National Science Week 2014, but back in June many ASC Queensland members got a special preview and a behind the scenes look at how it was designed.IMG_4107

Over 70 guests enjoyed networking drinks and canapés as the creators of Chemistry World explained the process of designing and creating the display. Guests were then treated to a test drive of this innovative display and enthusiastically launched rockets into space and created fireworks using a variety of chemical elements.

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In collaboration with QUT’s Institute for Future Environments, AbFab Catering, and ASC Queensland, the event raised $370 for the QUT Learning Potential Fund.

If you’re in Brisbane, a visit to The Cube is well worth it to experience this impressive interactive display.

 

Event Review: The Future of Food

To celebrate National Science Week 2014, the Queensland branch of ASC delved into the world of food and gazed into the future beyond food selfies, sous-vide, and fat-free fads.

Our host, Brisbane journalist Natalie Bochenski, led an entertaining discussion on the current trends in food production and consumption with the help of a panel of food experts—Dr Jaz Choi, A/Prof Jason Stokes, and Dr Joel Gilmore.

Future of Food

Trying to steer clear of the popular discussions around GM and fast food, we looked at the ways food shapes our society and how improvements in technology influence what, and how, we eat. Who would have thought there are researchers across the world working on ways to make sure manufactured food has a good ‘mouthfeel’? (I.e. Doesn’t feel like an old boot in your mouth).

A crowd of about 50 keen science communicators and enthusiasts attended the event at Iceworks Restaurant to eat, drink, and be merry. Thank you to everyone for making the science communication community in Brisbane so vibrant!

This event was supported by Inspiring Australia and National Science Week.

QLD – ASC Networking Event: The Making Of Chemistry World

You’re invited to ASC networking drinks and an exclusive preview of ‘Chemistry World’, the exciting new interactive display currently under development for the Cube at QUT.

Hear ‘behind-the-scenes’ insights from the creators of Chemistry World and be one of the first to test drive this innovative science communication tool.

Your ticket includes drinks and canapés sponsored by Abfab Catering. The event is also supported by QUT Precincts and The Institute for Future Environments.

All event proceeds go to QUT’s learning potential fund.

Event summary
Date:
Thursday, 26 June, 2014
Time5:30 – 7:30pm
Venue: The Cube, level 4, P block, QUT Gardens Point
Cost: Early bird: $15 ASC members | $20 non- members
After 18 June: $25 ASC members | $30 non-members

REGISTER NOW

Questions? Contact seqasc@gmail.com

Event schedule: 
5:15pm: Event registration opens
5:30pm: Networking drinks and canapés
6:00 – 6:30pm: Main presentation and Q&A
6:30 – 7:00pm: Opportunity to play with display
7:00pm: Food/drink service ends, cash bar opens
7:30pm: Close of event

QLD – Cafe Scientifique: Draw Me A Discovery

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This one-night Café Scientifique will dazzle audiences with an array of art and science collaborations at Bleeding Heart. For the price of a glass of wine, anyone can come by and explore exquisite combinations of art and science through inspiring talks and exhibitions. It will entice, inspire and beguile you!

This event will be hosted by a group of UQ Science Communication Students as part of their science communication studies.

Supported by the University of Queensland, Inspiring Australia (QLD) & Australian Science Communicators

BOOK TICKETS – $10 (Includes complimentary drink)

Event Details

Date: Thursday 19 June, 2014
When: 6:30 – 8:30pm
Where: Bleeding Heart Café, 166 Ann Street, Brisbane City

Who: With presentations by Dr Amelia Barikin, Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Queensland, Gary Cranitch, Award winning photographer at the Queensland Museum, Svenja Kratz, Contemporary artist and Allison Holland, Lecturer in Art History at the University of Queensland. Special exhibitions by Renata Busiak, Photographic artist, Luke Hammond, Neuroscience Microscopy Facility Manager at Queensland Brain Institute and Dr Margaret Wegener, Researcher at the University of Queensland.

What: The gallery doors are open and you are invited to explore beautiful, inspiring and emotive collections of artistic science, hear from expert speakers as they take you on a journey through the history and contemporary field of the blend of art and science. Wander from biomedical imagery to biochromes, and physics inspired silversmithing to underwater photography, the realm of imagination is endless. This is a ticketed event but places are limited. Book now so you don’t miss out!

Post any questions to ‘Draw me a Discovery’ on Facebook before the event for your chance to reveal the answer by experts on the night.

Additional Information

‘Draw me a Discovery’ will begin at 6:30pm at the Bleeding Heart Café with awe inspiring exhibitions and scientific music. The Café will be open for alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, with a free drink on arrival. The expert presenters will dazzle you from 7:00pm onwards in the Café, with time to ask your burning questions. Amelia will talk about the historical background of art and science collaboration, Allison will share her work in representing science through artistic expression, then Gary will discuss the role of photography in provoking intellectual and emotional responses, and Svenja will explore biotechnological influences on contemporary art. After the discussion there will be drinks to purchase as you mingle with the experts, explore the exhibitions and engage with incredible expressions of science through art. You might not find this much scientific artistic talent in the same room again.

SPEAKERS

Amelia Barikin – Research Fellow
Amelia is a writer and independent curator. Her curatorial projects often incorporate improvised technology with multi-sensory aesthetics, such as the Sound Playground in which experimental sonic sculptures were installed for public interaction. Her publications include Making Worlds: Art and Science Fiction and “Mega Screens for Mega Cities” in Journal Theory Culture and Society. Amelia’s professional interests include contemporary art, science fiction, time and technology, and her current research at UQ is on the intersection of art and science fiction. Amelia will provide an introduction to art:science history and culture.

Gary Cranitch – Nature Photographer
An award-winning nature and environment photographer, Gary’s work has been published in Australian Geographic, Popular Science (USA), New Scientist, and National Geographic online. He was heavily involved in the CReefs project, a systematic study of coral reef biodiversity that helped identify more than a thousand new species and will be used in future reef management decision-making. The CReefs project produced the beautiful book The Great Barrier Reef Discovery Guide (available for purchase at Queensland Museum), for which Gary was the Principal Photographer. Gary will discuss the role of his photography in provoking both intellectual and emotional responses and facilitating the collection and dissemination of scientific information.

Svenja Kratz – Artist
With a PhD in Contemporary Art and Biotechnology, Svenja is a true scientific artist. She has worked in cell and tissue culture at QUT’s Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, with whom she has developed several projects that blur, or even eliminate, the line between science and art. In addition to being aesthetically engaging, Svenja’s works demonstrate biotechnological knowledge and practices while also exploring questions of life, death, immortality, ethics, body taboos, and the human drive for understanding and control. Much of her work incorporates biological material, often living, and occasionally even contributes to scientific discovery during the process of its creation. Her latest project, Intersections: The Real and the Imaginary, will be exhibited at Spiro Grace Art Rooms 22nd May – 7 June. Svenja will use her own work to demonstrate transdisciplinary intersections of art and science.

Dr Allison Holland – Lecturer in Art History at University of Queensland.
Allison is an arts academic and curator with a background in paper conservation. Her research focus is on the use of technology in contemporary art, and cross media art. Among her publications is “Innovation, art practice and Japan-Australia cultural exchange during the 1970s and 1980s” in Asia Pacific Journal of Arts and Cultural Management. Allison’s role at UQ includes organising the university’s artists in residence and forming collaborations between artists and scientists. She will talk about the importance of these collaborations, with reference to examples from her experience.

EXHIBITORS

Renata Buziak – Artist
It’s not enough to say that Renata Buziak’s artwork focuses on natural forms and processes. You really have to see it for yourself to understand.

Take, for instance, her project, “Biochromes”. “Biochromes” actively employs the biological process of decomposition to create beautiful and haunting organic photographs.

The artist herself notes that, “Nature’s vegetation offers an endless supply of organic matter for use in my artworks. I create unique images by forming alliances between a variety of plants and photographic emulsions.

“I call these images ‘Biochromes’ because the natural occurrence of de-composition on the photographic materials results in an array of colourful pigmentation arranged in complex and detailed compositions, aided by natures own creative skill.

“While my practice builds on the traditions of botanical illustrations and experimental photographic techniques (achieved by photography pioneers such a W. H. Fox Talbot), my ‘fertilisation’ of photographic materials, using vegetation, directly focuses on the significance of time and change through decomposition, and presents a new and unique perspective into the use of the photographic medium.“

As an artist and PhD candidate, Renata is a fascinating person. Be sure to pop by the Draw me a Discovery event to view some of her work. She will even be on hand to discuss her work.

Margaret Wegener – Physicist & Artist
As a lecturer and First-Year Teaching Director in Physics at the University of Queensland, Dr Margaret Wegener teaches both aspiring physicists and physics service courses; she is interested in the educational problems of contextualising physics, and the transition between school and university.

Her PhD was awarded for laser diagnostics of a Superorbital Expansion Tube, by multiple holographic recordings. As well as holography showing the rupture process of a light diaphragm in an expansion tube, this included holographic interferometry of high-speed gas flows around models, and analysis of the resulting images to yield quantitative information about the gas flow structures.

Margaret says that, “Sometimes physics fascinates just because of aesthetics. It would be the artistic appeal of an experimental image, a beautiful object used in doing physics, a pleasing curve that relates parameters.. Margaret worked with a fellow artist to create original artworks that can be worn as jewellery, or sculpture, by re-purposing physical artefacts.

Luke Hammond – Neuroscience Microscopy Facility Manager at Queensland Brain Institute and Independent Artist/ Designer.
Between his research in biomedical imaging and neuroscience and his works of art incorporating natural forms, Luke is the epitome of the artistic scientist. At the Queensland Brain Institute he employs state-of- the-art technology to develop innovative new imaging techniques. He uses his techniques to contribute to research on the brain function, including sleep, consciousness and neuron activity. It also assists in the study of diseases such as cancer, Alzheimer’s and Schizophrenia. In 2011 Luke won first and second place in QBI’s Art in Neuroscience Competition, and he has also won an Australian RAW Designer Award for his personal artwork. His jewellery and sculpture translate nature and science into objects of wearable art; his latest collection is directly inspired by his experience in neuroscience. Luke will share his images and techniques to demonstrate the use of art in contributing to, as well as communicating about, scientific discoveries.

Gary Cranitch and Svenja Kratz will also have their artwork on display.

QLD – Women In Science Communication Breakfast – SOLD OUT

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THIS EVENT IS SOLD OUT

Join us for breakfast and networking with some of Brisbane’s most inspiring women in science communication:

  • Joan Leach: Australian Science Communicators National President and A/Professor at UQ.
  • Liz Minchin: Award-winning journalist, Queensland Editor of the Conversation and author covering bigger-picture solutions to climate change.
  • Susan Rowland: Senior lecturer and researcher at UQ, host of Free Energy Radio and Editor in Chief of UQ’s Science Undergraduate Research Journal.
  • Tamara Davis: UQ A/Professor, Astrophysicist and winner of the Australian L’Oreal Women in Science Fellowship (2009).
  • Suzanne Miller: CEO and Director, Queensland Museum Network

Speakers will share their experiences in science communication and answer audience questions.
A delicious breakfast will be served by the Art of Catering who are proud sponsors of this event.

ASC members receive a discount to this event. Learn about member benefits and how to join or renew your membership.

When: Wednesday, 28 May 2014
Where: Sir Llew Edwards Building – Terrace Room (Building 14) – The University of Queensland – View Directions
Event Schedule:
7:00 – 7:30am: Event registration, pre-seminar breakfast and networking
7:30 – 8:30am: Main presentation
8:30 – 8:45am: Post-event breakfast and networking

Men are more than welcome to attend!

View Details
https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/women-in-science-communication-breakfast-tickets-11313249233

This event is proudly supported by
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ASC QLD Social Drinks – 16 April

New to science communication? Been out of the ASC loop for a while? Old hat?

Well this event is for you!

Meet some other locals who are interested in science communication, access some bloody good beer and wine, and say hello to this year’s committee. All are welcome.

When: 5:30pm onwards, Wednesday 16th April, 2014.
Where: Hoo Ha Bar, 41 Tribune St, South Brisbane.
Cost: Free. RSVP not necessary, but we’d love to hear if you’re planning to come. (Email seqasc@gmail.com or join the event on Facebook)
Refreshments: Drinks and food will be available at bar prices.