Tag Archives: ASC

Member Profile: Past President and Life Member, Robyn Williams

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Robyn Williams is a past president and life member of the ASC. He is a science journalist and presenter of Radio National’s Science Show (since 1975), Ockham’s Razor and In Conversation.

Robyn is as prominent on radio as he is on television, having narrated programs such as Nature of Australia, and Catalyst, and appeared on World Safari with David Attenborough.

He has conducted countless interviews with scientists for ABC TV and he hosted a link between leading scientists of Australia and the United Kingdom at the Grand Launch for the Royal Institution of Great Britain, attended by David Attenborough and the Queen.

Robyn Williams is highly respected in the academic world. In 1993 he was the first journalist elected as a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science. In 1988, he received an Honorary Doctorate in Science from the Universities of Sydney, Macquarie and Deakin. The ANU awarded him a Doctorate of Law, and he is a Visiting Professor at the University of NSW and an Adjunct Professor at the University of Queensland.

He was appointed AM in the 1988 Australian Bicentenary Honours list. He was elected a National Living Treasure by the National Trust in 1987 and even has a star named after him by the Sydney Observatory. Robyn has served in various positions including President of the Australian Museum Trust, Deputy Chairman of the Commission For The Future, and President of The ANZAAS Congress. He is an Ambassador of the Queensland Museum Foundation.

Robyn Williams has written over 10 books, three of which are on the Higher School Certificate reading list. In 1994, Robyn Williams took up a Reuters Fellowship at Oxford University where he wrote his autobiography And Now For Something Completely Different, in deference to one of his most popular interviews with John Cleese on psychiatry. His book, Future Perfect, focuses on cities, transport, communication, education and science.

Although Robyn Williams graduated with a Bachelor of Science (Honours) in England, he admits to having spent as much time acting as he has studying. Early in his career he made guest appearances in The Goodies, Monty Python’s Flying Circus and Dr Who and stood in for Tom Jones for four months in his TV series.

Next week Robyn celebrates 40 years since joining the ABC Science Unit.

See Robyn address the ASC National Conference on Monday 27 February.

Post of ASC Assistant Treasurer – seeking applicants

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Assistant Treasurer, Australian Science Communicators www.asc.asn.au
Location: anywhere in Australia with broadband internet access
Honorarium: $300 per year.

The ASC is seeking applications from members interested in the post of Assistant Treasurer.

The Assistant Treasurer will assist the ASC Treasurer, David Ellyard, to manage the financial matters of the Association. The position offers opportunities to increase one’s financial skills and to be exposed to wider aspects of science communication and to the activities of the ASC.

The Assistant Treasurer position has been created as part of the succession planning for the management of the Association. It is intended that In due course the Assistant Treasurer will take over the full Treasurer’s role.

The Treasurer will induct and train the Assistant Treasurer. In the short term, the Assistant Treasurer will be responsible for a limited number of the Treasurer’s duties. Over time the Assistant Treasurer will gradually learn all the tasks of the Treasurer.

Duties of the Assistant Treasurer include:

  • Keeping the books under supervision of the Treasurer. (David Ellyard uses Quickbooks but other software (eg MYOB) could be used.);
  • Assisting the Treasurer prepare monthly accounts for reporting to the National Council and Executive;
  • Taking responsibility for the payment of invoices under the direction of the Treasurer.
  • Serving as a non-voting member of the National Council and Executive to contribute to discussions of programs and policy beyond their financial aspects.

The key selection criteria for this role are:

  • Demonstrated ability to be methodical and to keep financial records up to date;
  • Evidence of an interest in increasing one’s financial accounting skills;
  • Evidence of an established interest in science communication;
  • Computer and internet literacy. The successful applicant will be trained to use accounting software but it is desirable to have familiarity with Quickbooks, MYOB or similar accounting software;
  • Capacity to commit ~5 hours per month to ASC financial tasks;
  • It is desirable that the applicant is interested in the role of Treasurer in the context of succession planning of the ASC.

The Assistant Treasurer will receive an honorarium of $300. The Treasurer is allocated an honorarium of $1000.

Applications are invited by e-mail no later than 5 pm on 5 March 2012 for the attention of Jesse Shore, ASC National President at: jesse@prismaticsciences.com.

Please include a brief CV (two pages maximum) and a statement addressing the selection criteria with contact details of two professional referees (one page maximum).  Applications must be submitted in PDF or Word 2003/2007 format (.doc or .docx). Candidates must be current financial members of ASC.

If you have any technical questions about the role, e-mail David at: david@davidellyard.com

Additional information:

ASC Treasurer – statement of duties (as provided by the current Treasurer).

1. Prepare monthly accounts for reporting to the National Council and Executive, and provide an explanatory commentary.

2. Prepare and oversight the budget.

2. Provide advice to the National Council and Executive on the money dimension of ASC policy and programs (eg the national conference).

3. Pay bills (not many of these; e.g. Executive officer’s fee is done by a periodic direct transfer). Mostly done by EFT since the Treasurer is the only signatory at the moment.

5. Do the banking (not a lot. Most income is from membership fees which come via YourMembership, our membership registration company).

6. Organise the annual audit (this takes a bit of time) and present the accounts at the AGM.

7. Prepare and submit the Annual Return to the authorities (Treasurer has done this as it mostly deals with the accounts, and eases the task of the ASC Public Officer).

8. Keep the books. (David Ellyard uses Quickbooks but other software (eg MYOB) could be used. This would be a key task of the Assistant Treasurer)

9. Maintain liaison (eg with President, Executive officer, YourMembership).

10. Serve as a member of the National Council and Executive to offer advice on programs and policy beyond financial aspects.

11. Circulate monthly bank statements for accountability.

12. Pay capitation by 1 July of each year. Capitation is set at 10% of the membership fees of the number of members in a branch. An additional 10% may be paid on application to the Executive (e.g. to fund a special project).

The sky’s the limit for users of theSkyNet

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Thanks to Pete Wheeler, UWA for sending in this article:
Thanks to a new initiative called theSkyNet, you don’t need a supercomputer to help collect data for the next generation of radio telescopes.

This ambitious citizen science project uses a global network of privately owned computers to process astronomical data arriving from galaxies, stars and other distant objects located across the universe.

WA’s Science and Innovation Minister, John Day, launched theSkyNet in September 2011.

The project soon attracted almost 20,000 hits to theSkyNet.org website, and nearly 3,000 members in the first day. A few weeks later, the website surpassed 100,000 hits and 5,000 members.

Members sign up and donate their spare computing power to theSkyNet, an activity which is not only rewarding, it’s also fun. Members receive “credits” for processing data and donating time on their computer, which earns them trophies they can share with their networks through Facebook. Users participate in the project as individuals but can also form or join alliances to help process data as a group.

There are also some very real-world rewards on offer, with the most attractive being the opportunity to visit the Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory in the Mid-West of Western Australia. This remote and radio-quiet site is home to several next generation radio telescopes and is earmarked as the potential site for the proposed Square Kilometre Array.

With support from the WA State Government, theSkyNet is an initiative of the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR), a joint venture of Curtin University and The University of Western Australia.

According to ICRAR’s Outreach and Education Manager, Pete Wheeler, the project aims to involve people in the discovery process while also raising awareness of radio astronomy and providing a real resource that astronomers can use to advance our understanding of the universe.

“This is a very exciting project for us as it’s a unique opportunity to bring our research and public outreach activities together and get the public involved in science,” he said.

“We were hopeful that the name of the project would generate interest, but the level of interest and uptake we experienced so soon after launch was beyond our wildest expectations.”

So far, theSkyNet has been using data collected by the Parkes radio telescope in New South Wales to refine the system and demonstrate that the results produced by theSkyNet are scientifically useful and accurate.

Next, theSkyNet will use a reprocessed version of this data to create a new catalogue of radio galaxies before moving on to larger data sets in preparation for the enormous volumes of information that will flow once telescopes such as the CSIRO’s Australian SKA Pathfinder come online in the next couple of years.

ICRAR Director, Professor Peter Quinn, said: “Radio astronomy is a data intensive activity and as we design, develop and switch on the next generation of radio telescopes, the supercomputing resources processing this deluge of data will be in increasingly high demand.”

At any one time, around 4,000 machines around the world are online and contributing to theSkyNet. On average, the network is performing one million processing tasks per day, placing theSkyNet on par with a supercomputer with between 15 and 20 TFlops of computing power. The cost to build a single supercomputer with this sort of capacity is currently around $1.5 million.

Rather than the cost and years of planning needed to build and run such a machine, theSkyNet runs with only minimal cost and has appeared virtually overnight. Using the power of the Internet to connect people to the excitement of scientific discovery makes cost effective, efficient and environmentally sensible use of readily available computing resources that might otherwise be wasted.

This type of community computing is especially useful when the time taken to process the data is not an issue. Rather than using valuable supercomputing time in facilities such as the iVEC Pawsey Centre in Perth, data that can be processed in “slow time” can be off-loaded to a distributed network like theSkyNet.

“The key to theSkyNet is having lots of computers connected, with each contributing only a little, but the sum of those computers can achieve a lot,” Professor Quinn said.

For further information and to sign up, visit theSkyNet website at www.theSkyNet.org

Past President and Life Member Profile: Alison Leigh

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From Alison Leigh:

I didn’t grow up dreaming that one day I would be …. the Editorial Director of the World Congress of Science Producers. No such thing existed. Now it does and like the best things in life – it evolved.

I emigrated to Sydney from the UK in 1988 – bicentennial year; fully expecting my on-screen career as a BBC TV and radio reporter /presenter to continue to flourish here. Wrong. I was “too old” and “too English”. Yikes! What to do? Try my hand at producing? My current affairs credentials landed me the job of Producer, Media Watch, with the task of getting series one to air. Next thing I know after that baptism of fire, I’m being courted by the Executive Producer of “Quantum”- to be the Series Producer – i.e. day to day manager of that show. Saying yes to that job changed my life – and my focus.

For several years I was Series Producer and then Executive Producer of the ABC TV Science Unit. This gave me the privilege of being closely involved in the development, production and commissioning of dozens of science TV programs in addition to Quantum:  Hot Chips, What’s your poison?, The Future Eaters to name a few. I was also closely involved in the development of major initiatives that have enhanced the celebration and understanding of science in Australia such as National Science Week and of course, our very own ASC – I was a founding member. We were a small group then and now look how far we’ve come.

As Executive Producer of the ABC TV Science Unit, I used to represent the ABC at a small somewhat chaotic annual get together of science producers and broadcasters hosted each year by one or other public broadcaster somewhere in the world.

My great good fortune is that just as I left the ABC in 1998 to go freelance, the science broadcasters decided that their annual get together, or congress as it was now called,  should become a professional conference. In 1999, they asked me to be the programmer of the event, the role I’ve held ever since.

The World Congress has grown into a unique forum of presentations and discussions, where television producers and executives from all over the world come back year after year to catch up with world trends in science and factual programming, to talk passionately about program-making, and to be inspired. The convivial and informal atmosphere creates lasting friendships which lead to binding business relationships and co-production partnerships, and the all important deals to be made down the track.

It’s not a full time job:  in addition to my Congress commitments, I freelance as a science and health writer when the project interests me enough. Everything from scripts for TV series and documentaries to health articles for magazines  and most recently I co-authored the book “Eight steps to happiness” to accompany the ABC TV series “Making Australia Happy”.

But it is my dream job. Fancy being paid to watch science films and science television, to keep abreast of innovative and exciting trends in the industry, to keep in touch with some of the smartest most creative people on the planet and even to travel to exotic places to meet them all face to face. Can’t be bad. Yet if it hadn’t been for some racist and ageist attitudes way back when, it might never have happened!

ASC National Conference 2012 – Dec 2011 update

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The full program for the National Conference is now on the conference website, http://2012conf.asc.asn.au/. Increasingly detailed information will be added regularly to the site.

The early bird deadline has been extended to 15 January 2012. As usual ASC members get a significant discount to the non-members rate.

The conference will be at Sydney Masonic Centre from 27-29 February 2011.

The sign of a good conference program is when it is difficult to choose between the parallel sessions. I’ll be torn between competing interests for every session and once again wish I could be in two or more places at once.

Day 1

  • Opening keynote: Professor Ian Chubb, Australia’s Chief Scientist will open the conference and be the first plenary speaker.
  • Before and after lunch: an overview of Inspiring Australia followed by an in-depth look at regional outcomes
  • After lunch: State Chief Scientists will feature in a plenary and then in parallel sessions.

Day 2

  • Plenary: Careers in science communicating– hear about career possibilities and resources.
  • Plenary: Sophisticated Social Media Use & Science – continuing insights into how to use a range of rapidly evolving communication channels to communicate science (and maybe make a buck?).
  • Plenary: The NBN and how to use it – a science communication perspective of nation changing technology.

Day 3

  • Plenary: Three astronomers walked into a bar…Features a Video of interview with Brian Schmidt and David Malin, astronomical photographer – an illustrated talk– in an exclusive for the conference, Brian Schmidt, the 2011 Nobel Prize winner for Physics, is interviewed on video by Rod Lamberts. The discussion will interweave winning a major science prize with effective science communication of astronomy.
    • Plenary: “Discoveries Need Dollars: Protect research”: A case study of a successful science advocacy campaign– explore how heads of science advocacy groups represent their members’ interests to politicians and government departments.
    • Plenary: Science to Policy: War Stories from the Heart of the Action – the big wigs will be prodded to tell all as they are quizzed about the role and funding for science communication in their patches.
    • Plenary: What’s the Buzz? What’s new in Science Television – get the goods on science for the small screen.

Other parallel session topics include (partial listing; PD means session has a professional development focus):
*       Speed mentoring (PD)
*       The consultancy game – a follow-on from the careers plenary
*       Making a communication plan – a seven step process (PD)
*        engaging with the media (PD)
*       Philanthropy, fundraising and science communication
*       Beyond evaluation (PD)
*       Science as theatre
*       Putting the ‘confer’ back into conferences (PD)
*       The latest in research in science communication
*       Science and art sessions and exhibitions
*       War on science

Website: The conference website is http://2012conf.asc.asn.au/.
Online registration is active. See http://2012conf.asc.asn.au/register/.

Jesse Shore
National President

ASC corporate members – meeting with Scitech

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Interest is growing for organisations to become corporate members of the ASC. While I was in Perth for the 2011 ASC AGM I took the opportunity to meet with the management of one of our most recent new corporate members, Scitech.

Scitech is Perth’s and WA’s state-wide active and progressive science centre. Alan Brien, the director of Scitech, led the discussion which ranged over the recent history of Scitech and its key activities in science communication.

Some of the main points included that Scitech is the lead state institution for overseeing Inspiring Australia activities in WA. Alan’s team gave an update on developments of ScienceNetworkWA, http://sciencewa.net.au/, its online connection to science activity in the state.

We explored a few ways that Scitech and the ASC could work more closely together, starting off with the National Conference. I look forward to seeing some of the ideas being realised soon.

Jesse Shore
National President

ASC AGM outcomes

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The first ASC AGM held in Perth was well attended and lively with discussion of many matters. Most of those present offered comments and questions which revealed the insight and enthusiasm of ASC WA members.

In brief, the main reports of this meeting held on 30 November were:

From the President:

  • Progress toward planning the 2012 national conference
  • The activity of the branches with ACT, SE-Qld and SA being especially active and WA running the enormous Astrofest event (attended by 3000 people)
  • Networking with the Tall Poppy Campaign and supporting science communication events run by other organisations
  • Maintaining contact with the National Inspiring Australia team and some of their state and territory representatives
  • Upgrades to the ASC website and news of major improvements planned for 2012.

From the Treasurer:

  • The Association remains in a sound financial position
  • Membership dues remain at $88 for an individual membership for a full year (dues were last raised 5 years ago) and student membership at 40% of the individual rate
  • Branches will receive capitation at 10% of the dues income from their members and up to another 10% for special projects on submission to the Executive;

The main outcomes were:

  • Election of 2012 ASC President: there was one nomination for President and I was elected.
  • Motion to amend the Constitution: the meeting approved the proposal for a minor change in wording to specifically mention that branches may have rules. The previous clause only mentioned branches having Constitutions.

The meeting ended promptly at 7.15pm and the David Ellyard’s third consecutive end-of-year science trivia quiz got under way. Forty five people formed numerous teams for a spirited evening of well-played competition. Last year the AGM made it to Adelaide for the first time and the decision to travel further west once again proved sound.

Jesse Shore
National President

ASC national conference travel grants

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Up to four travel grants of $200-400 each are available to ASC members from WA for attending the Australian Science Communicators conference in Sydney in February 2012.

The ASC conference will be held 27-29 February 2012 in Sydney at the Sydney Masonic Centre, a centrally located conference venue. We look forward to ASC members from around Australia attending the conference.

To make the event affordable we kept conference registration fees low and sourced economically priced hotels as part of the conference accommodation offering.

We want to encourage more distant members to make the trip and we know that travel costs are a factor, especially to our many members in Western Australia. The National Executive has noted that return airfares from Perth to Sydney average $200 more than flights from other capital cities, with the exception of Darwin which is even more expensive.

The National Executive and WA branch committee will help up to four ASC members overcome the hurdle of this extra cost. Each group are contributing equally to provide $800 towards travel grants. The branch will decide how to allocate the funds, in grants of $200 to $400 each.

ASC conference travel grants

General criteria. To be eligible all applicants must

  • be residents of Western Australia, and current financial members of the Association (you may apply for membership when you submit your application for the travel grant). You can join or renew membership online at http://www.asc.asn.au/join/.
  • have limited or no financial support to attend the conference.
  • submit travel grant applications to the WA branch, asc.events.wa@gmail.com by 6 January 2012. Details of the application are below.

To apply for the grant: send an email to WA branch, asc.events.wa@gmail.com, with a statement in 100 words or less what you want to gain from attending the conference and how the grant will assist you to attend. Include full contact details with the address of your primary residence.

Applications will be assessed by representatives of both the WA branch committee and the National Executive. Applicants will be advised of the outcome in mid-January 2012.

Winning applicants must register for the conference to receive the grant and will get the early bird rate. Each winner will be invited to write an article for Scope about their conference experience.

The WA branch reserves the right not to award any grants.

Emma Donnelly, President of ASC WA Branch
Jesse Shore, National president

Life Member Profile: Barbara Hardy AO

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Barbara Hardy has been working in the environment field in a voluntary capacity since the early 1970s.   During this time she spent five years at the Flinders University of South Australia studying the Earth Sciences (1974-79), following a Science Degree at The University of Adelaide in 1947 (majoring in Chemistry).

She has been a Commissioner of the Australian Heritage Commission, President of the National Parks Foundation of South Australia (now the Nature Foundation SA), Founding President of the Investigator Science and Technology Centre, and Chairman of the South Australian Landcare Committee amongst a number of other roles.

Barbara Hardy was appointed an Officer of the General Division of the Order of Australia (AO) in 1987, an Honorary Doctorate of the Flinders University in 1993, as well as an Advance Australia Award 1991, SA Great Award 1992, Institution of Engineers Medal 1992, ABC Eureka Award for the Advancement of Science 1994, and was named South Australian Citizen of the Year in 1996.  She is now a Companion of the Institution of Engineers Australia, and a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Energy where she is a member of the Hydrogen Division.

In October 2001 she was appointed as the Member from Australia in the Asia-Pacific Forum for Environment and Development (APFED), a major international project initiated and funded by the Japanese Ministry for Environment.   APFED “aims to propose a model of equitable and sustainable development for Asia and the Pacific Region”.  Barbara has now stood down as the APFED Member from Australia, as of July 2006, and her place was taken by Greg Bourne, CEO of WWF Australia.

In August 2009 the University of Adelaide presented Barbara with a Distinguished Alumni Award “in recognition of her lifelong commitment, and significant contribution to the advancement of Science Education, Science Awareness, and Environmental Conservation”.

In November 2009. The University of South Australia established the Barbara Hardy Centre for Sustainable Urban Environments.   This organization later became an Institute.

In April 2010 the University of Adelaide admitted Barbara to the Degree of Doctor of the University (honoris causa).

Barbara Hardy’s principal interests are in ecologically sustainable development, biodiversity conservation, environmental valuation, renewable energy production and use, and in business and industrial matters especially as they affect the environment within which we all live.

AGM in Perth, 30 November 2011: reminder about proxies and membership

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I hope to see WA members and some from the more easterly states at the AGM. If you are unable to attend please send your proxy to Sarah Lau, slau@chemcentre.wa.gov.au, or someone else you know is attending the meeting.

The WA branch of the ASC has agreed to host this year’s national AGM in Perth. We will keep the AGM short and to the point, have some lively discussion, and follow it with an evening of entertainment.

David Ellyard is presenting his science quiz. Around 100 people enjoyed this competitive challenge at last year’s end-of-year meeting in Adelaide.

Only financial members can attend the AGM so renew now if you haven’t done so already. The quiz will be open to all so bring someone along and remember to register for the event.

See you in Perth soon!

Jesse Shore
National President