Tag Archives: science communication

ASC2014 will be at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre

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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

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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

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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

National Science Week 2012

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I hope you are paying attention to the increasing flow of announcements and promotion about National Science Week, which officially runs from 11-19 August 2012. Several related science festivals and events occur before and after the official dates to make nearly a full month of national science engagement activity.

Many ASC members are involved in organising and running events. Perhaps those of you who aren’t tied to delivering an event will have time to see a variety of what’s on offer. Let us know about any activities which cover new ground or are particular successful for whatever combination of reasons.

Here’s wishing everyone to have a successful and well attended National Science Week.

Jesse Shore
National President

Renewal date approaching for many members – 1 September 2012

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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

Inspiring Australia Updates – a new initiative

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The ASC has reached an agreement with Inspiring Australia to communicate their activities and outcomes to our members. The aim is to encourage discussion which will further raise awareness of and engagement with the Strategy. This marks our first posting of news about Inspiring Australia.

Inspiring Australia Update

The Unlocking Australia’s Potential grants from Inspiring Australia that were announced in June are beginning to take shape. In fact, there have already been a number of events held, including:

  • The first of the 2012 University of New South Wales Medicine Dean’s Lecture Series: ‘Stem Cells in Medicine: Opportunities and Challenges’.

The evening included presentations from Professor Alan Trounson, President of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine in San Francisco and a pioneer of IVF, as well as Dr Bernadette Tobin, Director of the Plunkett Centre for Ethics at Sydney’s St. Vincent’s Hospital. You can catch it all via vodcast.

  •  And in Launceston, the Australian Society for Parasitologists (ASP) held the first of their three major public science engagement events.’Parasite Encounters in the Wild’ delivered a series of talks and activities for all ages, addressing issues ranging from the facial tumours afflicting Tasmanian Devils to the significance of parasites in biodiversity. The ASP has posted the event to YouTube.

We will soon be including a dedicated Inspiring Australia section on this site to keep members advised on how the funded projects are developing and to keep you up-to-date on upcoming events.

With lots more science engagement activities lined up for the latter half of 2012, there should be more than a few things to pique your interest.

Science engagement survey extended to 29 July 2012

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The national on-line survey of science engagement activities been extended to 29 July. Project leader Jenni Metcalfe reports we have had more than 220 entries of Australian science engagement activities so far. However, a number of people have asked for more time to enter as many activities as they can.

In response we squeezed some time out of the project to give you until 29 July to record what you are doing. So if you haven’t yet had the chance to fill in your completed or planned science engagement activities for January 2011 until June 2013, don’t miss out! Go to: :https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/scienceengageaudit

If you are having any issues with completing this survey or want some help with filling it out please contact Jenni so the team can assist you to contribute to Australia’s biggest ever snapshot of science engagement activities.

Jenni Metcalfe
phone: 07 3846 7111; 0408 551 866
jenni@econnect.com.au
skype: jenni.metcalfe

Congratulations to Graeme Batten from Sea Spec who won a $150 book voucher in the survey’s random draw.  For those who are disappointed, we’ll have another draw after 29 July to select another winner for the book voucher or wine.

Jesse Shore
National president

Time is running out!

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For those of you who need a reminder, time is running out to add your science engagement activities to the national survey. We want to get a good snapshot of the diversity of activity in Australia and we need your input. Activities will be represented in an interactive on-line map and other data visualisation tools. So don’t be camera shy, fill in the survey and become part of the big picture.

Grab yourself a few moments and fill out the survey at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/scienceengageaudit.  It closes 30 June 2012.

You can be in the draw to win a prize, and help make science communication and engagement more effective.

Send me an email if you have a long a list of activities and need some data entry help: president at asc.asn.au

Once again, here is the description of the project:

The biggest snapshot of science engagement in Australia

It’s a picture as big as Australia. A flash of light illuminating how people are getting science out there. And it’s the first time it’s been done.

The picture shows everyone who is engaging people with any science, from anywhere, any organisation, even into the future—that’s the goal.

Inspiring Australia wants to create a snapshot of all of the diverse science communication activities and programs going on between January 2011 and June 2013, and we need the help of anyone doing science engagement across the country.

People can help by filling out a survey about the science engagement that they’re a part of. We’ll put the results into a visual national online database that anyone can explore. The database is part of a national audit that will help us all understand:

  • who are Australia’s players in science engagement—internationally, nationally, regionally and locally
  • where and who is missing out on science engagement
  • if and how Australians respond to science engagement activities
  • how people can link their activities or ideas together
  • how people are evaluating their engagement activities, or not
  • how we can create better tools for evaluation
  • the bigger picture of science engagement in Australia—with lots of opportunity for research.

The survey and database are being created in response to the Inspiring Australia Expert Working Group report Developing an Evidence Base for Science Engagement. It’s the first of a suite of projects tackling the report’s recommendations.

As well as the survey, we will do personal interviews and a desktop review to make sure that we capture as many activities as possible.

The team comprises Jenni Metcalfe (Econnect Communication), Kristin Alford (Bridge8), and Jesse Shore and Kali Madden (Australian Science Communicators). Nancy Longnecker (UWA), Rod Lamberts (ANU) and Joan Leach (UQ) are advisors for the project. The data will help develop a national evaluation tool for science engagement activities—another initiative in response to the report’s recommendations.

The audit will help science communicators to be seen as part of the big picture of science engagement in Australia and their standing with respect to the world.

This Inspiring Australia initiative is supported by the Australian Government through the Department of Industry, Innovation, Science, Research & Tertiary Education in partnership with Econnect, Bridge8, ASC and UWA.

Fill the survey out at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/scienceengageaudit   It closes 30 June 2012.

Jesse Shore
National president

Graham Durant, a Member of the Order of Australia

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I just read that Professor Graham Durant, Director of Questacon in Australia, has been awarded an AM (Member of the Order of Australia) in the 2012 Queen’s Birthday Honours List. His award is in recognition of his services to science education as the Director of Questacon: The National Science and Technology Centre, to the museums sector, and through scientific advisory roles.

Many in the ASC know Graham through his work in preparing the Inspiring Australia Report and his many other connections with science communication. Graham was a featured speaker at this year’s ASC conference where he gave us an overview of the first year of Inspiring Australia activities.

Graham has extensive experience in communicating science through the science centre-museum sector and other networks. Before taking on his position at Questacon in 2003, Graham was a Senior Curator and Deputy Director of the Hunterian Museum in Scotland and was closely involved in the opening of the Glasgow Science Centre in 2001. Graham has been an advocate for, and active contributor to the Asia Pacific Network of Science & Technology Centres (ASPAC) network, including a term on the Executive Council. He was a board member of the Association of Science-Technology Centers (ASTC) from 2005 to 2011 and a member of ASTC’s International Committee, ensuring that the Asia Pacific region was well represented in this global network. I congratulate Graham on his well deserved honour.

Jesse Shore
National president

Unlocking Australia’s Potential grants announced – congratulations to the recipients

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This week Inspiring Australia announced the recipients of the Unlocking Australia’s Potential grants for science engagement activities. There has been a flurry of media releases from communicators and some of the 63 successful applicants about the winning proposals.

The $5 million in funding was distributed to all states and territories and I expect that many ASC members were involved in putting in submissions. I send my congratulations to those of you involved in the winning projects and offer my commiserations to the others who had less welcome news.

I look forward to ASC members posting news of their projects on the ASC email and media lists, the website, Facebook, etc. It will be good for the ASC to develop a regular section on our website about how these activities are going. As Kali Madden will soon start to implement out new web system I’ll ask the ASC Communications team to consider how best to add a page about this newly funded programs.

It will be good to follow the progress of these programs and to have a way to measure their effectiveness in engaging their communities. A first step will be for the National Audit team to invite the project leaders to fill in the survey of Australian science engagement activities at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/scienceengageaudit.

May I make this a reminder to the rest of you involved in science engagement activities that the survey closes 30 June 2012. We need the info on as many activities as possible so don’t be left out. Answering the deep and meaningful questions will not only put you and your activity on the map of science engagement in the nation, but will raise the profile of science communication.

Jesse Shore
National president