Australian scientists are listened to by government and business, but must do more to ensure their advice and work contributes to a stronger future for Australia.
Not all scientists are motivated to engage in outreach in the same way.
Brad.K/Flickr
Science communication and outreach can be motivated in ways other than reforming research funding bodies.
Current research metrics only reward publishing in academic journals and effectively punish publishing in the popular press.
Tobias von der Haar/Flickr
If we want scientists to spent time sharing their discoveries with the general public, then we need to change research metrics to reward them for their efforts.
An uncertain future for science funding as the federal budget draws closer.
Maggie Hardy
Declan Fahy, American University School of Communication
A bill before congress would create a science laureate position akin to the poet laureate for poetry. But some science stars are already essentially doing the job now.
Not all science demonstrations will appeal to all people.
Melanie Davies/Flickr
Most science communication appeals to those who already love science. It’s harder, but important, to reach out to the disengaged too.
Workshops that teach scientists about public communication and advocacy are growing in popularity. Career ambition rather than politics appears to be a main motivation behind scientists’ desire to engage the public.
SISSA
At their annual meetings last month, leaders of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) urged their members to advocate on behalf of federal funding for scientific research, actions…
Australia has a wealth of great science communicators, such as Dr Karl Kruszelnicki. But we need even more.
Ruth Ellison/Flickr
Dustin Welbourne, UNSW Sydney and Will J Grant, Australian National University
Everyone’s looking for an audience for their videos on YouTube, and there are plenty of science videos out there. But not all are popular so what makes one more interesting than another?
Scientists are a great knowledge resource – make use of it.
Adam Evans
I am an astrophysicist. I run into a lot of people who are extremely curious about space, how it works, or what it is that I study in particular. Many of these questions begin with an apology: “Not to…
Living Data: Evolving Conversations. Exhibition and Forum at the University of Technology Sydney, 2014. Curators: Lisa Roberts and Anita Marosszeky.
Living Data
We hear so much about the integrity of scientific process and the role of data in driving action on climate change – but what role is there for artists in bringing about changes in understandings? Science…
My first research presentation in college is forever etched into my memory. It was the end of our fall semester biology lab, and my group met in the library the week beforehand to prepare our PowerPoint…
Hollywood’s version of Stephen and Jane Hawking.
Working Title Films
Declan Fahy, American University School of Communication
Early in The Theory of Everything, the student Stephen Hawking strides across the grounds at Cambridge University in the 1960s, his face dreamy. He is lost in thought about the nature of time. Then he…
It has been five years since an earthquake hit the Italian city of L’Aquila leaving 309 people dead. In the aftermath one public official and six earthquake scientists were charged with multiple counts…
The thing everyone seems to talk about with the moon landings is the idea of the whole world stopping to watch. It was a mission that overcame nationalism, it wasn’t “America” putting a man on the moon…
Dinosaurs: not scientifically proven, apparently.
Yui Mok/PA
What is science? I would hazard a guess that someone randomly accosted on the street and asked for a working definition of science would flounder a little. They may mumble something about white coats…
JT Carrington, editor of the popular science magazine Science-Gossip, achieved a remarkable feat in December of 1894. He found a subject on which the Duke of Argyll, a combative anti-Darwinian, and Thomas…