Let's Talk SciComm

This week we loved catching up with award-winning science communicator, marine biologist and graphic designer Dr Tullio Rossi. As founder of the science communication agency "Animate Your Science", he helps researchers tell their story to the world.

His engaging video animations and eye-catching graphics make science understandable for everyone, reaching millions of people around the world, thereby creating a real-life impact.

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

https://twitter.com/Tullio_Rossi

Transcript: https://go.unimelb.edu.au/7sxs

This week we had a lot of fun chatting with, and learning from, Dr Jarrod McKenna. Jarrod is a reproductive biologist turned zookeeper turned science educator and has had quite a mixture of jobs. As a PhD student at Monash University, he investigated early pregnancy and assisted reproduction in the world’s only known menstruating rodent: The Egyptian Spiny Mouse. He then went on to work as a zookeeper at Zoos Victoria and as the Communications Officer at the National Youth Science Forum. These days he works as an Outreach Program Coordinator in the Faculty of Science at the University of Melbourne, working to engage early high school students in STEM. But science communication has always been at the heart of his work – whether he knew it or not – which led him down an incredibly rewarding track celebrating science and encouraging others to see how amazing and fun science can be.

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

https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-jarrod-mckenna-942382128/
https://twitter.com/its_drmac
https://thesimplescience.com/
https://theconversation.com/meet-the-egyptian-spiny-mouse-this-menstruating-rodent-may-help-us-understand-human-pregnancy-157889

Transcript: https://go.unimelb.edu.au/b46s

This week we were so fortunate to talk with Andrew Kelly, environmentalist, convenor of The Waterway Network, and former Yarra Riverkeeper. Among other things, Andrew has worked as an editor, publisher, spokesperson, advocate and author. He played a key role in formulating the formulation the Yarra River Protection (Willip-gin Birrarung murron) Act which was passed unopposed. He has also written a number of books for children including Peregrines in the City, Willam: A Birrarung Story and The Accidental Penguin Hotel. Andrew has lots of fantastic advice to share about how we can share our messages more effectively.

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

https://au.linkedin.com/in/andrew-kelly-convenor-waterways-network

Transcript: https://go.unimelb.edu.au/ex6s

Happy New Year and welcome to another season of Let’s Talk SciComm! We’re excited to be back for another year of podcasting about our very favourite topic – science communication. And we’re launching Season Six with a bang, talking with Associate Professor Suzie Sheehy.

Suzie is an accelerator physicist who specialises in novel particle accelerators and beam dynamics, with a current focus on medical applications. Her research at The University of Melbourne investigates novel particle therapy accelerators and beam delivery systems, compact linear electron accelerators (X-band) and improving accelerator reliability in Low and Middle-Income countries (STELLA project) to address global health challenges. She also retains an active research role at the University of Oxford, where she is now Visiting Lecturer, focusing on intense hadron beams. She has held prestigious research fellowships from the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 (Brunel Fellowship 2010-2013) and the Royal Society (University Research Fellowship, 2017-2022).

Suzie is also an award-winning public speaker and science communicator, dedicated to sharing science beyond the academic community. Her 2018 TED talk on ‘The Case for Curiosity Driven Research’ has been viewed around 2 million times, and her first popular science book ‘The Matter of Everything: Twelve Experiments that Changed Our World’, is published worldwide with 11 translations and selected as Times and Sunday Times Best Books of 2022 and Waterstones Best Books of 2022.

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

https://www.suziesheehy.com/ (you can order Suzie’s book under the ‘book’ tab)

Transcript: https://go.unimelb.edu.au/ix6s

For our final episode of the season, we were absolutely thrilled to speak with Christine Burns. Christine (BA Psych, PG Dip Sport Bus Mngt, MIPPA) is the CEO and Co-Founder of WALT Institute. As a former elite athlete in hockey for New Zealand, she has over 20 years of coaching, sport psychology and performance expertise which she brings to the global arena of Authentic Leadership. Typically, she works with individuals and teams in STEMM to provide the strategies to bust through the status quo, be seen, be heard and be the best version of themselves every single day!

Here's all the info about Christine’s book:

https://ignitingresilience.waltinstitute.com/igniting-resilience-book

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

https://twitter.com/Christine1Burns
https://www.instagram.com/christineburns.nz/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/christineburnsperformancecoach/
https://www.facebook.com/WALTInstitute

Transcript: https://go.unimelb.edu.au/ju3e

This week we absolutely loved talking with Isolde Gottwald (AKA Issie), an exchange student from the University of Vienna who spent semester 2 this year studying with us at the University of Melbourne. Listen to the podcast to hear how we got to know Issie!

Within her degree, Issie is particularly interested in environmental psychology and cognitive neuroscience. Out of her deep curiosity for science and the practice of science, she worked as a student assistant and intern at various research institutions. That’s when she discovered her passion for science communication, which led her to work at Wissenschaft im Dialog, the German National Organisation for Science Communication in 2021. The planned two-month internship turned into nine months of her working as a student on several different projects. She was primarily involved in planning and organising a public participation initiative that aimed to achieve greater public engagement in science and research activities in Germany. In addition, she had the chance to work as a moderator for the project “I’m a Scientist - get me out of here”, an online platform that allows students to have a direct and low-threshold exchanges with scientists. She was also involved in the jury for the project “Hochschulwettbewerb” - a competition inviting students, postdocs and young researchers from all disciplines to submit creative and interactive project ideas about projects that actively involve the public in their research and build trust and bridges between society and science. Isolde is particularly interested in climate change communication which combines both her interests for science communication and climate psychology. Besides her studies, Isolde is an enthusiastic skier, nature lover and mountain climber.

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

https://twitter.com/isoldegottwald

Transcript: https://go.unimelb.edu.au/f43e

This week we had the enormous pleasure of speaking with the one-and-only Professor Natalie Hannan. Natalie is an ARC Future Fellow, the Associate Dean, Diversity and Inclusion in the Faculty Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences and leads the Therapeutics Discovery and Vascular Function in Pregnancy Group, in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, at the University of Melbourne. She is passionate about developing new approaches to combat major complication of pregnancy, especially preeclampsia.

Natalie’s research has been recognised by the award of continuous funding support through eminent Fellowships and research grants, with over $9 Million awarded to date, to undertake important research to improve the health of women and infants. Natalie has a strong research profile with over 135 peer-reviewed publications in international journals. She is also the President of the Australian New Zealand Placental Research Association (ANZPRA), and an executive member on The International Federation of Placental Associations (IFPA) and Society of Obstetric Medicine Australia and New Zealand executive committees. She also serves as Associate Editor on the journal Reproduction, and serves on the Executive steering committee for the Graeme Clark Institute at the University of Melbourne.

She is well known for her engagement and passion to communicate on equity issues, as well as her medical research to the public. In recognition of her public engagement and communication skills she was awarded a Young Tall Poppy award and was selected as an Australian Fresh Scientist.

Natalie is a staunch ambassador for Women in STEM and is involved in initiatives to reduce the gender inequity in STEM. In 2016 she was awarded an inaugural VESKI Inspiring Women Fellowship. She is deeply committed to equity and advocacy for all people, their purpose, and for medicine and science. Natalie believes strongly in a diverse and discrimination free workplace, where gender, sexuality and sexual orientation, disability and an individual’s background should not be a barrier to reaching their full potential.

You can find out more about Natalie and her work here:

https://twitter.com/DrNatHannan

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

This week we had the great pleasure of chatting with Dr Malini Devadas about all things writing. After completing her PhD at the Australian National University in the 1990s, Malini did a postdoc and then realised that she enjoyed the writing part of the job more than the lab work! In 2004 she started working as a professional editor, becoming accredited in 2009. In 2013 Malini launched MD Writing and Editing, working as a trainer and editor to help academics and medical professionals get published faster.

After working with academics for many years, Malini discovered that there are many reasons why people don’t make progress on their writing tasks. Malini decided to train as a coach, and she now uses her variety of skills and qualifications to help academics get past their blocks about writing so that they can create a regular writing practice that they enjoy.

You can find out more about Malini and her work here:

https://www.mdwritingediting.com.au

Transcript: https://go.unimelb.edu.au/x3te

This week we loved talking with Dr Kylie Quinn, who is a Vice-Chancellor’s Research Fellow and leads the Ageing and Immunotherapies Group at RMIT University. Her group is developing ways to improve immune responses in older people during vaccination and new cell-based cancer therapies. Immune cells from older people become more difficult to activate, so her team are identifying factors that limit activation with the aim of targeting these factors to improve immune health.

Kylie has received a number of awards for her work on ageing and immunity, including the John and Eileen Haddon Award in 2019 and a Weary Dunlop Award in 2022. More broadly, Kylie has a long-standing interest in issues of equity in science, volunteering with several diversity and inclusion-focused groups. She is also a keen communicator of science and was a key figure communicating on how vaccines work and are developed to the Australian public during the COVID-19 pandemic.

You call follow Kylie and find out more about her work here:

https://twitter.com/DrQuinn4realz

Transcript: https://go.unimelb.edu.au/v9te

This week we loved chatting with two more researchers from Deakin University’s Institute for Physical Activity and Nutrition (IPAN): Associate Professor Megan Teychenne and Dr Niamh Mundell.

Megan’s PhD is in Behavioural Epidemiology and she’s currently an NHMRC Emerging Leadership Fellow at IPAN. For more than 15 years Megan has investigated the role of health-related behaviours (e.g. physical activity, sedentary behaviour) in the prevention and treatment of mental health conditions (particularly depression and anxiety), with a focus on vulnerable population groups including socioeconomically disadvantaged populations and women (pregnant and postpartum). She has played a pivotal role in advancing knowledge of the field, with her research cited in several international evidence briefings (e.g. British Heart Foundation, The World Health Organisation), and in her role as associate editor for the journal Mental Health and Physical Activity. Megan actively contributes to raising public awareness about the importance of physical activity for improving mental health, having been a guest on several national radio and TV programs, as well as her research being profiled in several hundreds of popular media articles worldwide.

Niamh Mundell is a Senior Lecturer in Clinical Exercise Physiology within Deakin University’s School of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences. She is also a Non-Executive Director at Exercise and Sports Science Australia and practices as an accredited exercise physiologist. She has a PhD in the field of exercise for cognition during ageing and cancer survival, (Deakin University) and Master of Exercise Physiology (Victoria University, Australia). Her research primarily focuses on exercise physiology, with interests in mental and cognitive health during ageing and chronic disease and improving the exercise physiology industry for clinicians and patients. Niamh’s research integrates clinical exercise physiology skills and experience to focus on improving the way clinical outcomes are captured and the optimal modes of delivery to support value-based care in clinical exercise physiology practice.

You call follow Megan and Niamh and find out more about their work here:

https://twitter.com/meganteychenne

Transcript: https://go.unimelb.edu.au/w5me