Lisa Bailey

Happy New Year. What will 2019 have in store for us?  Here’s my new year’s listicle of things to keep your eye on as a science communicator in 2019…

• The Periodic table turns 150! There’s a special place to celebrate the role that an Australian research teamhelped contribute to the discovery and creation of element 117 Ununseptium (or tennissine).
• 20 May the International System of Units (SI) will redefine four measrurements: the kilogram(mass), the Kelvin(temperature), the mole (amount) and the ampere(electrical current). The General Conference on Weights and Measures voted in November 2018 to redefine these on physical constants rather than representative objects.
• 21 July we’ll celebrate the 50^thAnniversary of the first human footsteps on the moon. There’s a coin set commemorating the Aussie dish at Honeysuckle Creeknear Canberra that relayed those first signals. A great excuse to rewatch the classic Australian film The Dish.
• Will 2019 result in another significant coral bleaching event for the Great Barrier Reef?High temperatures in early summercould be a worrying indicator of what we may see in the next couple of months.
• Get ready for your democracy sausage in 2019. The Australian Academy of Science have released their 10 recommendations for science for the upcoming federal election, including  a call for the government to commit to increasing national R&D spending to 3% of GDP over the next decade.
• The Australian Space Agencywill open doors in 2019, set to be housed in at Lot14, the old Royal Adelaide Hospital site in Adelaide. Their first task set to be increasing coordination across the aerospace industry.
• Where next for CRISPR and gene editing? 2018 saw the first cloned primates, and reports of the first genetically engineered babies born in China, so it will be interesting to see what 2019 brings.
• Given these advances, it’s also worth keeping an eye on the recent review of the Gene Technology Scheme by OGTR, which recommends updating existing definitions given the technological changes that have occurred in the nearly two decades since the implementation of the scheme. This will kick off additional consultation this year on definitions of GMOs (of note for sci-commers especially – they review also flagged that there be a targeted public communication strategy for the scheme).

Wishing you a happy, curiosity filled trip around the sun in 2019.

Carmen Spears

In 2018, I was fortunate to win the opportunity to intern with Refraction Media through the support of the Australian Science Communicators.

With the goal of learning everything I needed to be a freelance science writer, I left my kids and husband at home in Melbourne and flew to Sydney to spend four weeks in Refraction Media’s funky WeWork office.

The very trendy office environment included free coffee, pizza Fridays, the occasional doughnut wall, a Melbourne Cup party and a rather serious Ping Pong tournament. But don’t be fooled, I was working hard.

Heather Catchpole, Refraction Media’s Director and Head of Content and my internship mentor, allowed me a lot of autonomy and responsibility during my internship. This gave me the chance to be involved in every step of pitching and publishing an article. I was able to generate my own story ideas and pitch them to Heather. I contacted and interviewed the relevant people myself, wrote the article and had it edited by Heather. I realised quickly that the more I could pitch, and write, and ask questions, the more I could gain from my time with Heather.

Heather is the kind of teacher that pulls the bar a little higher every time you reach for it.
‘Can I send you a pitch?’ I’d ask.
‘Yes, send me three,’ Heather would reply.
This was a very effective teaching method, and one Heather delivered with kindness and support. Her feedback on my writing was one of the greatest benefits of my internship.

Once I’d gotten the article nicely polished, I could upload it to the Careers with STEM website myself. I tended to lean on digital producer Eliza Brockwell for a bit of help with this last uploading step, but I appreciated the learning opportunity to do this myself was available.

Eliza was another perk of my internship. Aside from Heather, I spent much of my time with Eliza, who was ever patient and generous in answering my questions and supporting my learning. Eliza gave me feedback on writing for an online audience, as well as ample tips on the workings of digital media, WordPress, social media and marketing.

In my time with Refraction Media I discovered I love interviewing people (something I was initially nervous about). I enjoyed being able to conduct interviews both over the phone and in person.

I wrote fun stories, news stories, profiles of scientists, event wrap-ups and short fact bites. I am grateful to have gained a portfolio of writing clips and the kudos of being able to say I’ve written for both of Refraction Media’s main platforms – Careers with STEM, and Science meets Business.

As well as gaining writing experience, Heather encouraged me to attend and network at several events during my time in Sydney, including the ASC conference, NSW Writing’s Quantum Words Festival, and the UNSW Bragg awards. I learnt that attending events was also about grabbing stories. Heather took me with her to attend the Australian Institute of Physics (AIP) Industry day at CSIRO, teaching me how to find great stories and make contacts at this type of event.

Since Refraction Media is a small team, I appreciated being able to get up close with all aspects of how the business is run. I was included in production and content meetings, and the entire staff were very welcoming of me. I really enjoyed the time I spent with them all.

I am so thankful to the Australian Science Communicators, Heather Catchpole and Refraction Media’s team for all they have given me through this internship. I now feel well equipped to take the next steps in my science writing career.

Lisa Bailey

Well the end of the year is barrelling down upon us.  It’s already been a month since the 10^th Australian Science Communicators conference wrapped up in Sydney, kindly hosted for us at the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences.  We had over 230 registered attendees with over 60 sessions on the program.

Thanks to those who’ve completed the post-conference survey, which is still open.  By far the most popular aspects of the conference according to the survey responses were the networking and sharing our sci-com experiences.  I know personally I managed to speak to a lot of new people, and it was great to see so many fresh faces as well as old friends.

One of the highlights of the conference for me was hearing from Aunty Joanne Selfe at the opening address, sharing with us the critical role of language in seeing relationships in country.  Next year is the UNESCO Year of Indigenous Languages, so it’s a good time now to think about how we might incorporate and celebrate this in our 2019 projects.

What’s next?  Well, ASC is what you make of it!  If you’ve just joined ASC since the conference, don’t forget about the Facebook Group and email list, which are great for tapping the hive mind.  See what your local branch is up to.  If it’s not up to much, think about what you’d like to see and how you might make it happen.

Wishing you all a 2019 that brings you moments that lead you to celebrate like a couple of NASA Engineers who just landed a probe on Mars.

President’s message

Dr Craig Cormick

President

Australian Science Communicators

A very big question for science communicators

So here’s a very big question for you: What are science communicators to do, to make a difference, in the face of the rapidly changing and complex environment that we operate in?  

Here is a brief picture of the world we are now living in, with growing:

• mistrust in vaccinations and other mainstream medicines
• belief that science makes life more difficult for many
• trust in celebrities as sources of good information
• media black holes where people ignore mainstream media altogether
• fears of fake news
• hyping of science stories, over-promising results.

And at the same time we have falling:

• trust in public institutions
• trust in academia
• trust in science
• mainstream media consumption
• public funding for science and science communication.

All this in our post-truth, post-trust, post-expert world that is increasingly been polarised, driven by feelings over facts, with information being increasingly manipulated by corporations, media organisations and politicians!

Add to that huge fails in data security by leading social media platforms and government agencies  – it is no wonder that trust is low.

According to the Edleman Trust Barometer, one of my favourite go-to places for current information on changing trust –the major trends for 2018 have been diminished trust in Governments, the media, businesses and NGOs. Trust in the media, for example, fell from 42% in 2016 to 31% in 2018.

Of interest, their survey, conducted world-wide, but which can be broken down by countries, divides respondents into a ‘general population’ response (85% of the population) and an ‘informed public’ – who represent the top 15% by education, income and media consumption.

In Australia there are strong differences between the general population, who have a very low trust in institutions and the informed public who have a middling level of trust.

Interestingly, the country with the highest trust amongst both the general population and the informed public was China, yet Hong Kong had quite low levels of trust. Read into that what you will.

The largest drop in trust across the world was in the USA, falling 9 points from 2017 to 2018 amongst the general population and a whopping 23 points amongst the informed public. No surprise to most people probably.

Yet there is some good news in there too. While trust in the media is low, trust in journalism is rising, having gone up five points in Australia. Trust in media platforms however has continued to drop.

However this should be understood in terms of at least 50% of the public surveyed not consuming news less than once a week, and when people described the media they felt it encompassed both platforms and content. That is. Media to most people is both social media and mainstream media and news apps and so on.

Having access to good data like this, regardless of how sobering, helps us do our jobs better. But when I read another set of data in Vox.com that surveyed scientists into what they felt the biggest problems were facing them today – many cited the poor communication of science. And then, when asked what might be done to address it, answers included:

• Scientists should spend more time learning how to communicate with the public.
• Improve the incentive structure for engaging the public.
• Disincentives for hyping stories and having credible checkers.

BUT there seemed to be no mention of science communicators as being part of the solution.

Which prompts me to turn to that very big question I asked up front: What are science communicators to do, to make a difference, in the face of the rapidly changing and complex environment that we operate in?  

It is something we really need to discuss and grapple with if we really want to make some difference.

I hope to see many of you at the next National Conference in Sydney where will discuss this and other big issues for our profession.

And with that I’ll be signing off as President, after two years in the chair, and expect to hand over to a younger and dynamic President before the end of the year.

The ASC is a great organisation and I have been proud to have been a part of its ongoing journey.

+ + +

President’s update

By Dr Craig Cormick

Science Communication in China

So how do you do science communication in a country with over a billion people, where there are several different languages, varying rates of general literacy and huge technological and educational gaps between those who live in cities and those who live in remote rural areas?

Having been lucky enough to be invited to the inaugural World Conference on Science Literacy in Beijing, I can share a few insights.

Run across three days with 30 different themed sessions the Conference attracted over 1,000 delegates from 38 countries – including senior figures from the Royal Society in the UK, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and similar organisations from many countries (yes, including the ASC!).  There were some big outcomes, like a declaration on collaboration and exchanges to actively promote public scientific literacy as one of the United Nations’ sustainable development issues.

And there were many, many smaller moments that may prove more achievable – such as swapping business cards, sci-comms war stories and best-practice ideas with people from so many different countries.

Having the title President of the ASC on my business card clearly carried a lot more weight than it does down at my local shops, as I not only found myself sitting in the comfy lounge chairs of the front two rows, but was stood up in a group photo with key international dignitaries and First-ranked Secretary of the Central Secretariat of the Communist Party of China, Wang Huning (yeah, I’m the one with the borrowed tie wearing black sneakers)

So what were the key learnings – beyond the standard government-approved media coverage of the success of the Conference?

Well first of all – China really, really knows how to do things on scale, and how to give government backing on scale to get an outcome. Their National Science Day is said to reach 1.3 billion participants. Not bad for a country of 1.42 billion.

Several of the international speakers gave really good talks on topics of interest to the West – but of much less relevance for China. For instance, the role of social media in a country that blocks access to Google, YouTube, Amazon, WhatsApp, Facebook etc. Or the role of the mainstream media and the challenges of meeting the media’s needs in a country with State-controlled media that does not lean to either sensationalism nor to investigative reporting.

China still has a generational gap like many countries with divides between Old School and New School – several elder Chinese speakers talked about the cause of science illiteracy being due to a lazy mindset and a reluctance to ready text books. But most younger Chinese speakers are more in line with contemporary thinking and discussed how to best align messages with audience interests and how to use multiple channels.

There was recognition given that succeed in raising science literacy (and yes, there were questions as to what exactly that meant), you needed four key things:

Political will

Government support

Public-centric view

Research into practice

And let’s be honest, it’s a rare year when in Australia when we can honestly claim to be ticking all four of those really well.

Of interest, a couple of things really stood out in a rather stark way too:

For instance, having a senior speaker from the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) talk on the important work they do in protection patents seemed just a little bit out of place in China.

Also, First-ranked Secretary etc, Wang Huning, in opening the Conference, described one of the biggest negative impacts of technology being “disorder of morals”.  Pretty sure you won’t find that listed in most academic journals looking at the down-sides of new technologies in Western Countries.

It is no secret that China is pushing for science supremacy in several areas and has a goal of achieving a Nobel prize in science (any field will do). The fact that nearly all of the overseas delegates had their conference travel and accommodation costs met – which alone must have been more than most organisations in Australia have to spend on science communication in a year – demonstrated the effort China is putting into being a pre-eminent player in the sci-comms field too.

They may have a few hurdles to jump, including some old school mindsets, but over the course of the three-day conference clear changes in the way things were being discussed were evident.

And with the resources and the scale that China is willing to put behind initiatives that they prioritise, I expect we will see a lot more of China in the sci-comms space in the years ahead.

– – –

By Dr Astha Singh

Australia’s largest festival for startups, innovators and entrepreneurs kicks-off this month from 19^th Oct – 4^th Nov. Spark Festival 2018 has brought along a line-up of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) inspired events with a flair for business and entrepreneurship.

Along with learning about communicating STEM concepts to the wider society, learning about entrepreneurship in STEM is also vital. It will better prepare the next generation of the STEM workforce with a stable channel for discovery, innovation and enterprising talent. It will also continue to impact society and to inspire the younger generation to pursue STEM disciplines. We want to help them pursue the 21st century STEM careers and not just the jobs. These prospects that are already thriving successfully may include intellectual property protection, technology commercialisation, technology transfer, data science, cyber security, synthetic biology, biotech, ag-tech or simply being entrepreneurs to commercialize their ideas with building products or technical services.

Whether you are getting started in a science related career or have a strong inkling to work on an idea. Are you an innovator, student or executive? Or do you just have flair to learn? With more than 140 events (mostly free) this festival is a one-of-a-kind opportunity to connect and find your place in the world of entrepreneurship. The selection of events across NSW in STEM will set the platform up for learning, networking, professional development and discussions.

Below is a list of STEM inspired events during the 16 days of #SparkFest 2018

1. Create innovative apps to help regional NSW flourish
   27-28 October 2018, all day event, University of Technology Sydney
2. Innovation and Commercialisation of Sustainable Technology
   24 October 2018, 7pm-8pm, Stanton Library, North Sydney
3. Nandin at ANSTO
   26 October 2018, 9.30am-12.30pm, ANSTO, Lucas Heights
4. Robotics WorkShop
   20 and 27 October 2018, 1.30pm-3.30pm, Manly
5. Spin on Spin outs
   29 Oct 2018, 2pm-5pm, Sydney Startup Hub
6. Tales from the Hardware startup World
   25 October 2018, 5.30pm-8pm, CSIRO Lindfield
7. The Future of Energy
   22 October 2018, 6pm-8pm, University of Sydney
8. The role of Women Entrepreneurs in tackling Climate Change
   30 Oct October, 5.30pm-8pm, Energy Lab Chippendale
9. Transport for NSW: Co-Developing New Technology
   23 October 2018, 10am-11.30am, Sydney Startup Hub
10. Women In STEAM
    1 November, 12.30pm-4pm, Sydney Startup Hub
11. How to build physical products
    25 October, 6:30pm — 9:00pm, University of Technology Sydney
12. IP housekeeping before you scale in Ag-Tech
    25 October 2018, 7:30 am – 9:00 am, Norton Rose Fulbright Australia
13. Sydney Climathon
    26 October — 27 October, 5:30pm — 8:00pm, Energylab Chippendale
14. Turning Trash Into Cash: Innovation in up-cycling
    26 October, 10:00am — 3:00pm, Funhouse Studio
15. 3D Printing for Humanitarian Needs
    27 October, 2:00pm — 4:00pm, The Learning Space, Rhodes
16. CannaTech Sydney
    28 October — 30 October, 10:00am — 4:00pm, Doltone House, Sydney
17. The Save On Meats case study
    29 October, 8:30am — 11:00am, Sydney Startup Hub
18. Driving the Red Meat Industry to Carbon Neutrality
    1 November, 5:30pm — 7:30pm, Cicada Innovations
19. Minimum Viable Security | practical tips
    2 November, 12:30pm — 2:30pm, Sydney Startup Hub
20. Design Thinking & Coding for Kids
    27 October, 10:30am — 4:00pm, Blacktown

You can follow #SparkFest on Twitter and Facebook on @SparkFestivalAu and LinkedIn on @spark-festival. For more information and to register for events please log on to www.sparkfestival.co

We need to have a very serious talk about gender

Dr Craig Cormick

President, Australian Science Communicators

Rather than quote lots of facts and figures at you about the problems with portrayal of gender in science communications, I’m going to rely on the super powers of metaphor  and talk about the super hero Black Widow. You know the character played by Scarlett Johansson in the Marvel movies.

Well, one of the best scenes in the movie Avengers: Age of Ultronis when the Avengers’ Quinjet swoops down low over the streets and Black Widow drops out of the bottom of the aircraft on her motorbike and hits the road and zooms off to fight evil.

Yeah! Kick-arse awesome!

Except when the toy companies Lego and Hasbro released their tie-in toys, suddenly it was Captain America who was dropping from the jet and riding the motorbike. What the..?

The companies copped quite a serve in the media and online for replacing a female action figure with a male one, and their excuse was that female action figures don’t sell as well as male ones. Which is a pretty lame excuse really – because how do you make change if you are not part of the change?

I really think Black Widow needs to knock on their door and say, “We need to have a very serious talk!”

Or take the European Union’s clumsy attempt to make a video promoting more women to take up careers in science with their ‘Science: it’s a girl thing’ video, that put more emphasis on cosmetics and fashion than science. It generated such outrage it was gone in a few days.

There is data as well as anecdotes. A number of studies have found evidence for significant bias against female scientists. Compared with their male counterparts, they:

• Receive grants less often and receive smaller grant allocations.[1]
• Receive fewer citations.[2]
• Receive fewer scientific awards.[3]
• Are less likely to get promoted.
• Are less likely to present their research at conferences.
• Are less likely to publish their work or collaborate internationally.
• Are under-represented among inventors.
• Are less likely to hold academic leadership positions.
• Receive faculty recommendation letters that are less praiseworthy.[4]

It has even been stated that taken together, the data suggest a pervasive culture of negative bias — whether conscious or unconscious — against women in academia.[5]

So the ethics of gender are something you need to continually consider. The same as race and disability and other forms of diversity.

Ask yourself if you have really tried to get balance in representation in stories and activities you are doing. Here is a bit of a check list:

• Do you have quotes from both men and women that are equal in the worth of the quote, and from equality in work roles?
• Are you supporting gender stereotypes or helping to break them down?
• Are you using gender-fair language, such as avoiding ‘he’ as a generic pronoun and worlds like chairman, businessman, mailman etc.[6]
• Do your images promote equality of roles?
• Do you have a mission statement on gender equity and diversity to refer to?

After all, how do we ever get change if you are not going to be a part of the change?

Because if not, you should know the day is definitely going to come when Black Widow knocks on your door and says, “We need to have a very serious talk about gender!”

References

[1]Bornmann, L., Mutz, R., & Daniel, H. D. (2007). Gender differences in grant peer review: A meta-analysis. Journal of Infometrics, 1

[2]Knobloch-Westerwick, S., & Glynn, C. J. (2013). The Matilda effect –Role congruity effects on scholarly communication: A citation analysis of Communication Research and Journal of Communication articles. Communication Research, 40(1).

[3]Lincoln, A. E., Pincus, S., Koster, J. B., & Leboy, P. S. (2012). The Matilda effect in science: Awards and prizes in the US, 1990s and 2000s. Social Studies of Science, 42.

[4]Trix, F., & Psenka, C. (2003). Exploring the color of glass: Letters of recommendation for female and male medical faculty. Discourse & Society, 14.

[5]Ledin, A., Bornmann, L., Gannon, F., & Wallon, G. A. (2007). A persistent problem: Traditional gender roles hold back female scientists. EMBO Reports, 8.

[6]Ramšak, A. (2014) Guidelines for Gender Sensitive Reporting, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Slovenia.

Another Bloody Conference?

My wife hears me say that too often during the course of a year when I’ve been invited to attend another conference. And often they involve a lot more travel than I prefer, a lot more preparation that is done for free, and a lot more grumbling about having to miss out on things to go.

Until I get there. Then I generally find that the time is well spent, the people are stimulating and enjoyable and I come back richer in experience and wisdom.

But one conference I won’t be grumbling about beforehand and knowing I am going to get those benefits is this year’s Australian Science Communicator’s Conference.

This year’s conference – with the theme of’ Elevate Engage Collaborate’ will be held at the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney from Sunday evening 11 November through to Wednesday 14 November, with an extra day of professional workshops.

Building on the success of the last conference in Adelaide I expect his year’s conference to be a showcase of the sparkling talent of ASC members, providing a great opportunity to meet peers,find out what the latest trends in research and practice are – and to discover some awesome science communication.

There are also some important issues for science communicators to consider:

• Are we making enough impact?
• Are our roles changing from translator of science, to match-maker between scientists and their audiences?
• How do we adapt the ever-changing media landscape?
• How do you continue to do your job with less resources?
• How do you be innovative in a risk-adverse organisation?
• And so many more.

There is a good chance that others of our members are wrestling with these problems, or may even have found some solutions to them. And I find that is one of the key strengths of an ASC conference – providing an opportunity to share problems and solutions.

Already we have received a great number of ideas for panels and volunteers to be session producers – which all goes to making a better conference when it is based on your ideas and your input. Because let’s be honest – it is YOUR conference and needs to meet YOUR needs.

For anyone who has worked in the sciences, or social sciences, it is clearly established that conferences are a very important way to keep up with latest trends, make professional acquaintances, find new opportunities and just hang with the tribe.

And Janine Popick, writing for Inc. has said the four main benefits for any employee in attending a conference (make sure you boss hears this), are to:

• Learn new things relevant to doing your job better,
• Network with other professionals,
• Acquire new content and practical ideas,
• Share new learnings and ideas in the workplace upon your return.

But whatever your motive for attending the ASC Conference – I look forward to seeing you in Sydney in November.

What is all the fuss about behavorial economics?

Dr Craig Cormick
President

Have you bumped into anyone use behavioural economics to underpin a science communication strategy, and thought what has sci-comms got to do with economics?

Well let me tell you a story…

You might recall about ten years ago they world went through a serious recession known as the Global Financial Crisis – despite most of the senior economists of the world stating how robust the global system was.

The realization that they had got it wrong was well articulated by Alan Greenspan, former chairman of the US Federal Reserve who told the US Congress that he was “shocked that the markets did not operate according to his lifelong expectations.”Moreover he admitted that he had “made a mistake in presuming that the self-interest of organizations, specifically banks and others, was such that they were best capable of protecting their own shareholders.”

His error was in believing that most people and institutions they work for, act in rational ways.

Dan Ariely, professor of Psychology and Behavioral Economics at Duke University in the USA and author of books such as Predictable Irrationality has said, “We are finally beginning to understand that irrationality is the real invisible hand that drives human decision making.”

Put simply, behavioral economics uses psychology and economics, to understand the cognitive biases that prevent us making rational decisions – but more importantly, how those same biases can be used to influence behavior changes.

Two names worth checking out are the Nobel Prize winners, Richard Thaler (author of Nudge) and Daniel Kahneman (author of Thinking, Fast and Slow).

Many governments around the world have established behavioral economic units, including the UK Government’s Cabinet Office, the Singaporean Government and the New South Wales Government’s Department of Premier and Cabinet. And President Barack Obama not only established a Social and Behavioural Sciences Team but issued an executive order instructing federal government agencies to apply behavioral science insights to their programs.

But to my mind the real strength of behavioral economics is the fact it often relies on randomised controlled trials to determine how well an intervention actually works. Imagine if all your science communications work was tested by randomly assigning test subjects to two groups, one to test a proposed communication activity on, and the other as a control group with no intervention.

OMG – that would mean applying scientific principles to science communications! But we’d get a lot better outcomes for what we do.

Here are five key behavioural insights to consider adopting:

1. Power of Free: Yes, we love the word free and it can release large quantities of dopamine into our brains – but only if we believe there was actually a higher cost involved originally, and that thing is now being offered for free.

2. Show what others have done: This is known as social norms. We are social creatures and respond very strongly to conformity and like to behave like we think the majority of people are behaving. An example is how hotel guests were told that the majority of hotel guests reuse their towels, which increases towel reuse.

3. Dominated Alternatives: If there are two choices for your audience, you can steer them towards a preferred option by introducing a third option that frames your preferred option as more desirable. This is usually done by having the new option clearly inferior to the preferred option, but in comparison to the other option is both inferior in some things and superior in others. An example is a Chinese study in which factory workers were provided with spray bottles of sanitizer to clean their hands and workspaces – and told to do it hourly. After measuring usage, the workers were offered another less-convenient choices, a squeeze bottle of sanitizer or a wash basin. The outcome was that use of the spray bottles increased 60% to over 90%.

4. Irrational Value Assessment: If you are told something is very significant, or worth a lot, you are more likely to thing better of it.

5. Decision Paralysis: Having too many options can lead to a lack of decision, and dropping the number of options to about five gets a better result.