Let's Talk SciComm

Got an interview coming up? Don't worry, Jen and Michael are here to help! In this five-minute episode, they'll give advice to make sure you're prepared for a perfect interview. From putting your mind at ease to carefully studying the job posting, Jen and Michael will provide you with practical tips that will boost your confidence and help you land the perfect job. Listen now and get ready for your interview!

https://www.proclinical.com/blogs/2021-6/3-ways-to-make-a-good-impression-in-a-scientific-interview

https://headspace.org.au/explore-topics/for-young-people/job-interview-preparation/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpkegRmPgis

https://www.askamanager.org/category/interviewing

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-08-02/how-to-nail-job-interview/9868736

Transcript: https://go.unimelb.edu.au/is78

We're thrilled to launch an exciting new series of our podcast, 'Listen To This If...'. 

Jen and Michael will deliver a speedy, five-minute Friday fix packed with practical hot tips to tackle your toughest science communication challenges.

Next Friday, we're starting with something we all want to know: how to ace a job interview!

An enormous thank you to the University of Melbourne Science Communication students who form the production team for Listen To This If: Madeleine Kelly, Riccardo Petroni, Meiqi Peng and Lorne Whytcross.

Transcript: https://go.unimelb.edu.au/9cc8

We’re ending Season 11 with a fabulous conversation with climate change communicator Dr Simon Torok. Simon is CEO and Director of Scientell, a science communication company that seeks to maximise the impact of scientific information. He distils technical information for non-scientific audiences to communicate the importance of science in our lives and its role in understanding the environment. Simon has a Graduate Diploma in Science Communication from the Australian National University, and completed a PhD in climate change science at the University of Melbourne. He has managed communication for CSIRO in Australia and for the Tyndall Centre in England. He was editor of the Helix and Scientriffic science magazines, and has published more than 200 newspaper, magazine and scientific journal articles. He has co-authored 20 popular science and climate change books, several of which have been translated into Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Korean and Hungarian.

You can follow Simon and learn more about his work here:

https://www.scientell.com.au/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/simon-torok-5570782/

https://x.com/Simon_Scientell

This week we absolutely loved speaking with highly skilled communications coach David Crisante. David has had a career in journalism, political speechwriting - including for Australia's Foreign Minister -  and science communications. These days he helps professionals to master storytelling techniques so that they’re more effective when communicating with stakeholders.  David is founder of the Sydney Comedy School, where students discover their unique communication styles and how they can be more confident and charismatic, in public speaking and in everyday life.

He is the director of Future Science Talks, and in 2024 he took his Science Comedy Program around Australia, training hundreds of scientists in the art of using humour to build rapport with audiences.

David’s career history includes reporting for the ABC and SBS, as well as an international correspondent in Tokyo for several years, where he specialised in reporting on the nuclear disaster of 2011. He was a political and crisis response specialist for Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.  David has managed a wide array of PR crises, such as international kidnappings, pirate attacks and the disappearance of MH370.

You can follow David and learn more about his work here:

https://www.davidcrisante.com/

https://www.futuresciencetalks.com.au/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidcrisante/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/future-science-talks/

https://www.youtube.com/@FutureScienceTalks

https://x.com/ScienceTalksAU

This week we were incredibly fortunate to speak with Dr Catherine Richards Golini in Switzerland. Catherine is a Healthcare Publications Editor at Karger Publishers, specializing in creating, developing, and editing resources for patients and HCPs. Holding a PhD in Applied Linguistics from Swansea University, and with published research on patient communication, she is also a skilled plain language writer and reviewer of plain language summaries and patient materials. With expertise in health discourse, medical communication,and patient communication, Catherine also brings a wealth of experience in educational course development and language assessment. She cofounded and served as director of EALTHY, the European teachers‘ association for medical and healthcare English, demonstrating her commitment to advancing medical language education.

You can follow Catherine and learn more about her work here:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/catherinerichards/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/karger-publishers/

https://velocityofcontentpodcast.com/plain-language-summaries-go-beyond-language/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGWlf2RhM6k

This week we had the wonderful opportunity to talk with Sara Garfield - a true expert in communicating about science in English as a non-native language.

Sara is a dedicated educator with a diverse academic and teaching background that spans multiple countries and disciplines. Raised in Italy speaking English at home, her early fascination with languages and literature has paved the way for her academic interests and teaching career.

Her undergraduate studies led her to earn a Bachelor's Degree in Modern Languages and Literature from Università Cà Foscari Venezia in Venice, Italy. During this time, she specialised in English and French languages and literature. Throughout her studies, she worked as an English private tutor, proof-reader and translator.

Her true passion, though, has always been teaching and language learning. That is what drove her to train as an English language teacher in London, UK. Seeking to deepen her understanding of language acquisition and pedagogy, she pursued a Master of Science degree in Applied Linguistics and Second Language Acquisition at Worcester College, University of Oxford, UK.

Currently, she holds a permanent position as an English language instructor and course coordinator in the Department of Languages and Communication at the College of Science and Technology, University of Bordeaux.

With a diverse teaching background, she has taught English for Specific Purposes and English for Science and Technology at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.

Her teaching philosophy emphasises active pedagogy, student-led learning, and the integration of digital tools for enhanced engagement.

Among her research interests are topics linked to science communication using English as a lingua franca in international settings, teaching methodologies, intercultural communication, and the relationship between language and thought. Her approach is interdisciplinary and dedicated to fostering students’ linguistic, intercultural and communication competencies.

You can follow Sara and learn more about her work here:

www.linkedin.com/in/sara-garfield-816569b9

Transcript: https://go.unimelb.edu.au/skb8

This week we were absolutely thrilled to speak with one of our favourite people: Tilly Boleyn. Tilly (she/her) is the Head of Curatorial, Science Gallery Melbourne, University of Melbourne. Basically, she’s a massive nerd, curious about the world and everything in it. She is a collaborative creature at heart and heads the team with a mixture of organisation, chaos, humour and sassy backtalk. She loves connecting people, making space for thought, and challenging people to back up their opinions in an imagined recreation of Mad Max Thunderdome. Her background is in museums, galleries, education, events, festivals, broadcasting and research. Originally a microbiologist, Tilly ran from the lab to the ABC, where she discovered a talent for science gossip – talking about other people’s science rather than doing her own. She then morphed into a curator and has created exhibitions on health, medicine, experimentation, the voice, engineering, sustainability, mental health, dark matter, identity and genders. Tilly is delighted by blurring the boundaries between science, art, design, technology, maths, engineering and large-scale-batteries-powered-by-human-urine. Currently she plots with scientists and artists to deliver a rolling series of innovative and thought-provoking shows to engage audiences with the bleeding edge of human knowledge.

You can follow Tilly and learn more about her work here:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/tilly-boleyn-a5397535/

https://x.com/tillsify

https://www.instagram.com/tillyboleyn/

https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/ockhamsrazor/art-science-gallery-giant-urine-battery/102998322 (Tilly’s Ockham’s Razor talk) 

https://collection.powerhouse.com.au/object/166791

https://collection.powerhouse.com.au/object/560724

https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/newslocal/inner-west/powerhouse-museum-curator-tilly-boleyn-feeds-leeches-who-are-part-of-an-exhibit/news-story/222bdadf317c15bb01c952e630d01631

Transcript: https://go.unimelb.edu.au/ekb8

This week we had a fabulous conversation with multi-award winning science journalist Dr Jackson Ryan. Jackson is a former molecular biologist and current freelance science journalist with a focus on longform and narrative non-fiction science writing. He served as the Science Editor at CNET.com between 2018 and 2023 and was the 2022 winner of the Eureka Prize for Science Journalism. In 2024, he is co-editing the Best Australian Science Writing anthology -- and you should buy it! His longform writing has appeared in The Guardian, The Saturday Paper, The Monthly and Nature. 

You can follow Jackson and learn more about his work here:

https://www.jacksonwryan.com

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacksonryanscience

https://x.com/dctrjack

https://sjaa.org.au (Jackson is President of the Science Journalists Association of Australia)

https://www.linkedin.com/company/science-journalists-association-of-australia

You can read Jackson’s Antarctica stories here: https://linktr.ee/dctrj

Transcript: https://go.unimelb.edu.au/i4b8

This week we were privileged to have a wonderful conversation with Dr Rachel Nowak who is a consultant, an advisor, a scientist and a journalist. She has been working in science, technology and innovation on three continents.

Her specialities include science journalism, knowledge mobilisation, research and technology assessment, and stakeholder engagement.

She has been Washington Bureau Chief and Australasian Editor of New Scientist magazine. She was Director of Research Marketing and Communications at the University of Melbourne. She founded the social-good brain tech start-up The Brain Dialogue and is currently a Consultant Editor with Custom Media at the Nature Springer group. 

Rachel did her PhD in agricultural science at the University of Leeds. She studied writing, alongside poets and novelists, at The Johns Hopkins University.

Her award-winning science journalism has changed R&D and medical practice, and research law and policy around the world.

Rachel immigrated to Australia on a Distinguished Talent visa for her international record of outstanding achievements in science communication.

You can follow Rachel and learn more about her work here:

https://www.nowakassociates.net/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-rachel-nowak-gaicd/

https://twitter.com/DrRachelNowak

Transcript: https://go.unimelb.edu.au/6nb8

We’re so thrilled to be back with you for Season 11 of Let’s Talk SciComm. And to get the season off to a brilliant start, we had a wonderful conversation with Sara Phillips.

Sara is an award-winning science writer and editor based in Melbourne, Australia. She edited the 2020, 10th-anniversary edition of the Best Australian Science Writing.

Previously, she was Asia-Pacific bureau chief for Nature News, executive editor for the Asia-Pacific region of Nature Research Group’s custom publishing arm, the national environment reporter for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and editor of ABC Environment online, a now-archived portal for the ABC’s environment content.

Starting out on an environmental trade publication WME, she later became deputy editor of Cosmos magazine, where she was part of the team that won magazine of year not once, but twice. Cosmos Online won internet site of the year under her editorship. And the editor won editor of the year for 2005 and 2006, while she was supporting him.

She was also the founding editor of G magazine, a sustainable lifestyle magazine. Her team won consumer magazine of the year (for print run over 30,000) at the Bell Awards for magazine publishing, and she took out editor of the year.

You can follow Sara and find out more about her work here:

https://saraphillips.net.au/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/sara-phillips-3a15635/ 

https://www.abc.net.au/news/sara-phillips/3549260

https://invasives.org.au/our-team/sara-phillips/

Transcript: https://go.unimelb.edu.au/syy8