Let's Talk SciComm

This week we’re so pleased to have had the opportunity to talk with Deakin University researchers Dr Helen Macpherson and Sara Dingle about a topic we’re fascinated by: the intersection of mental health and nutrition.

Helen is a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Physical Activity and Nutrition (IPAN), at Deakin where she co-leads the Exercise and Nutrition for Brain Health group. She has a background in cognitive neuroscience and completed her postdoctoral training at Swinburne University, Australia. Helen is the recipient of a National Health and Medical Research Council and Australian Research Council Dementia Training fellowship. Her work examines the potential for modifiable lifestyle factors to optimise cognition and brain health in older people at risk of dementia. She has extensive experience conducting randomised controlled trials investigating the impact of diet and physical activity on cognition, neuroimaging markers of brain health and dementia risk factors. She has worked with large scale population data sets including the UK biobank to examine nutritional determinants of brain health.

Helen supervises a range of PhD students looking at the links between healthy ageing, lifestyle factors, cognition and mental health. And one of her PhD students is Sara Dingle!

Sara is in the final stages of her candidature exploring the association between lifestyle patterns and brain health in adults. Prior to her PhD she completed a Bachelor of Science (majoring in Physiology) at The University of Melbourne, followed by a Master of Human Nutrition at Deakin. Alongside her PhD research, Sara is also actively engaged in teaching across the School of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences at Deakin, and has been involved as a research assistant in large-scale Deakin-based projects (Transform-Us! and Healthy Together Children’s Evaluation Study). Sara endeavours to pursue a career in academia post-PhD, continuing her passion for teaching and research in the space of lifestyle behaviours and important health outcomes such as reducing risk for dementia. Sara is also actively engaged in communicating the findings of her research through conference presentations, short-form presentations such as the three-minute-thesis competition, and any other opportunities that present themselves. Sara’s interest in all things healthy lifestyle also extends beyond her professional life, being heavily involved in surf boat rowing through Surf Life Saving Victoria and having a passion for running; along with sharing her passion for healthy eating and cooking with her husband and 2-year-old (or at least attempting in the case of the toddler!)

You call follow Helen and Sara and find out more about their work here:

https://twitter.com/DrHelen_Mac

Transcript: https://go.unimelb.edu.au/ww4e

Welcome back to season 5 of Let’s Talk SciComm! We’re thrilled to be sharing another season of great episodes with you and we know you’re going to love this first episode with the one-and-only Sue Pillans.

Sue is a marine scientist, artist, children’s author/illustrator and graphic recorder who specialises in creative and visual communications. As a graphic recorder Sue draws out ideas with people, teams and organisations to visually capture and convey discussions, information and concepts. She uses the art and science of visual storytelling to help make the complex simple and the simple compelling.

Sue has a diverse background starting with her PhD in marine science which looked at assessing the effectiveness of no-take marine reserves in subtropical Queensland. She then went onto a career in the Queensland Government working across multiple Departments including environment, fisheries, aquaculture and reef policy and leading the strategic policy and planning of several portfolios including regional development, transport and agriculture industry development.

Until seven years ago Sue didn’t know her job as a graphic recorder even existed and since then, through visual communications business, she has worked with over 50 organisations across Australia and the Asia-Pacific region to help “picture your ideas”. Sue also combines her love of marine science and art through her alter ego Dr Suzie Starfish to bring creativity into classrooms and her series of ocean picture books. Her creative thinking style helps to make learning visual and fun for children of all ages, with messages of science, solutions and hope that we can all be the change we want to ’sea’ in the world.

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

www.drsuepillans.com

https://twitter.com/suepillans

https://www.instagram.com/suepillans

https://www.facebook.com/drsuziestarfish

https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-sue-pillans-571a95a5

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCX3lbJEMpJagTnj7HOWCFew

Transcript: https://go.unimelb.edu.au/jt4e

For our final episode in Season Four, we wanted to talk about another major barrier many of us experience to being able to do the work we care about: good mental health. So we asked our colleague Professor Sandra Radovini if she would have a chat with us. Sandra is a Consultant Psychiatrist and Director of Mindful, the Victorian state-wide Child & Adolescent Mental Health teaching and training unit for professionals working with children, young people and their families. Mindful is part of the Department of Psychiatry at The University of Melbourne. Sandra has held a number of key leadership positions in Mental Health: she was the inaugural Chief Child Psychiatrist in the Office of the Chief Psychiatrist with the Victorian Department of Health from 2009 to 2011 and she was the inaugural Clinical Director of Headspace from 2012 to 2016.

You can learn more about Sandra’s work here:

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

This week it was our huge pleasure to speak with Emily King, currently undertaking her PhD at the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute in Melbourne. Her current project investigates whether insulin resistance develops as a result of mitochondrial dysfunction in skeletal muscle, using both mouse models and cell lines. The projected impact of these studies is to determine whether related conditions, such as Type 2 Diabetes, can be managed with novel, muscle-specific therapies.

Emily is a passionate educator, holding sessional roles as a Graduate Teaching Associate within the Faculty of Science at Monash University. Emily also produces the podcast Voices of Academia (https://anchor.fm/academicvoices), a really important project that we discussed at length.

Emily has won numerous awards & scholarships based on her communication and as you’ll hear, she’s a very gifted storyteller. She’s also volunteered for various forms of science communication/educational writing including grant writing for The National Stroke Foundation, blog writing for Franklin women, and public speaking for a Women in Science forum.

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

https://twitter.com/EKing_Sci
http://www.lateralmag.com/articles/issue-30/a-partner-for-life
https://www.linkedin.com/in/emily-king-8815a843/
https://baker.edu.au/research/staff/emily-jane-king

Here are other accounts we mentioned in the podcast:

Co-founder of Voices of Academia Dr Zoë Ayres: https://twitter.com/ZJAyres
Voices of Academia Podcast: https://twitter.com/academicvoices
https://twitter.com/PhD_Balance
https://twitter.com/DragonflyMH

Transcript: https://go.unimelb.edu.au/7c2e

What better way to celebrate the 30th episode of Let’s Talk SciComm than continue our conversation with world-renowned climate scientist and climate science communicator, Professor David Karoly. This is part 2 of our conversation with David, so if you haven’t listened to last week’s episode, please go back and do that first!

David is an honorary Professor at the University of Melbourne having retired in February 2022 from CSIRO in Australia, where he was a Chief Research Scientist in the CSIRO Climate Science Centre. He is an internationally recognised expert on climate change and climate variability.

Professor Karoly was the Leader of the Earth Systems and Climate Change Hub in the Australian Government’s National Environmental Science Program, based in CSIRO, from 2018 until the Hub closed at the end of June 2021.

He was a member of the National Climate Science Advisory Committee during 2018-19. During 2012-2017, he was a member of the Climate Change Authority, which provides advice to the Australian government on responding to climate change, including targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

He was involved in the Assessment Reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in 2001, 2007, 2014 and 2021 in several different roles. He is also a member of the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists. He was elected as a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science in 2019. He was awarded the 2015 Royal Society of Victoria Medal for Scientific Excellence in Earth Sciences. From 2007 to February 2018, David Karoly was Professor of Atmospheric Science at the University of Melbourne and in the A.R.C. Centre of Excellence for Climate System Science.

You can learn more about David here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Karoly

Transcript: https://go.unimelb.edu.au/qy2e

This week it was our absolute honour to speak with Professor David Karoly, world-renowned climate scientist and climate science communicator. David is an honorary Professor at the University of Melbourne having retired in February 2022 from CSIRO in Australia, where he was a Chief Research Scientist in the CSIRO Climate Science Centre. He is an internationally recognised expert on climate change and climate variability.

Professor Karoly was the Leader of the Earth Systems and Climate Change Hub in the Australian Government’s National Environmental Science Program, based in CSIRO, from 2018 until the Hub closed at the end of June 2021.

He was a member of the National Climate Science Advisory Committee during 2018-19. During 2012-2017, he was a member of the Climate Change Authority, which provides advice to the Australian government on responding to climate change, including targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

He was involved in the Assessment Reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in 2001, 2007, 2014 and 2021 in several different roles. He is also a member of the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists. He was elected as a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science in 2019. He was awarded the 2015 Royal Society of Victoria Medal for Scientific Excellence in Earth Sciences. From 2007 to February 2018, David Karoly was Professor of Atmospheric Science at the University of Melbourne and in the A.R.C. Centre of Excellence for Climate System Science.

We had such a fascinating and wide-ranging conversation with David that we’ve split our conversation across two episodes. Stay tuned for Part 2 next Tuesday!

You can learn more about David here:

Transcript: https://go.unimelb.edu.au/5p2e

Whether virtual or in person, conferences are without question one of the best ways to meet people and hear about new work in your field. Amongst other things, they can also be fantastic places to find jobs, collaborators, and thesis examiners. But to get the most out of attending a conference, it really pays to prepare before you go, to be brave once you get there and then do some follow-ups afterwards.

This week Michael and Jen chat with our wonderful colleague Dr Linden Ashcroft about our strategies for getting the most out of attending a conference, particularly when it comes to networking, which can be challenging for all of us.

Here are a few good reads for more advice on networking at conferences:

Introvert’s guide to conference networking - how to get the most out of conference working whilst preserving your social energy

How to get the most out of attending conferences - an article that talks about why conferences are important, how to pick which ones to go to, mistakes to avoid and how to make the most of it when you're there

The Scientific Conference Guide (Or, How to Make the Most of Your Free Holiday) - an excellent guide that takes you through what to expect at a conference, and how to conduct yourself at each of these stages

10 Tips for grad students to make the most of a scientific conference - a great guide for attending conferences when you're early in your research career

Advice: how to network at conferences - this is some really high quality and down to earth advice on how to behave when it comes to networking at conferences. I highly recommend reading this one if you're new to the conference scene!

The Guardian - 5 tips on how to make the most of academic conferences - some more tips on networking at conferences

Transcript: https://go.unimelb.edu.au/za2e

This week we’re thrilled to speak with one of the busiest (and most wonderful) scientists we know: Associate Professor Francine Marques. Francine is a Viertel Charitable Foundation and National Heart Foundation Fellow, and head of the Hypertension Research Laboratory at Monash University. She has published >90 peer-reviewed papers in top journals such as Nature Reviews Cardiology, Nature Medicine and Circulation, and has secured $7 million in competitive funding.

Francine has won 25 awards including the 2019 American Heart Association Hypertension Council Goldblatt Award, 2020 High Blood Pressure Research Council of Australia and 2021 International Society of Hypertension Mid-Career Awards, and the 2021 Australian Academy of Science Gottschalk Medal. Her team investigates the molecular mechanisms behind the development of high blood pressure, with a focus on disease identification and prevention via the gut microbiota using both animal studies and clinical trials.

Francine is also the co-program manager for the High Blood Pressure Research Council of Australia, the chair of the International Society of Hypertension Mentoring and Training Committee, and an elected member of the steering committee for the Gordon Research Conference on Angiotensin. Francine is an amazing science communicator and is passionate about effective and compassionate leadership in science – you can read her lab manual which we discussed here: https://www.marqueslab.com/manual.

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

https://twitter.com/fzmarques

Transcript: https://go.unimelb.edu.au/74pe

Given how low success rates are for many/most granting schemes, it’s incredibly useful for researchers to understand whether crowdfunding might be an appropriate way to raise funds for their work. And if it is, how you should go about running a successful crowdfunding campaign.

So we invited Jonathan O’Donnell back to the show – you may remember we chatted with him in episode 22 about how to write successful grant applications. And Jonathan is the perfect person to chat with about crowdfunding because he’s currently in the write-up phase of his PhD thesis on…… you guessed it – crowdfunding research.

Jonathan is the best person we know to chat with about funding research because in his job, he helps people get funding for their research. To be specific, he helps the people in the Faculty of Science at the University of Melbourne in Australia (all opinions are his own). He has been doing that, on and off, since the 1990's (with varying degrees of success). With Tseen Khoo, also he runs the Research Whisperer blog and @ResearchWhisper Twitter stream, about doing research in academia. His ORCID is 0000-0001-5435-235X.

In the meantime, you can follow Jonathan and learn more about his work here:

https://twitter.com/jod999

https://au.linkedin.com/in/jod999

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5435-235X

https://researchwhisperer.org/

https://twitter.com/researchwhisper

Transcript: https://go.unimelb.edu.au/2epe

We’re so excited to welcome you to Season Four of Let’s Talk SciComm, with new episodes now released every Tuesday.

First up this season, we chat with Professor Andy Pask. Andy is a Professor in the School of BioSciences at the University of Melbourne and Domain Leader for Molecular Cellular and Developmental Biology within the School. His research focuses on evolution and development.

His recent work is centered on the reproductive system and particularly the influence of hormones and endocrine disruptors on reproductive disease. He also has an active research program (TIGRR lab) on marsupial conservation, preservation and restoration. He has been supported by many fellowships, project grants, and philanthropic and industry funding for his work.

Andy has been very active in sharing his work with the media for many years and has learned a huge amount about how to communicate science effectively to different audiences.

You call follow Andy and find out more about his work here:

https://blogs.unimelb.edu.au/pasklab/

https://tigrrlab.science.unimelb.edu.au/

https://twitter.com/AJ_Pask

https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-pask-350922b7/

https://pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/articles/the-9-steps-to-de-extincting-australia-s-thylacine

https://pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/articles/piecing-thylacine-dna-back-together

Transcript: https://go.unimelb.edu.au/8epe