Let's Talk SciComm

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

Transcript: https://go.unimelb.edu.au/yb62

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

We’re ending Season 10 on a high, chatting with Brendon Bosworth in Cape Town, South Africa. Brendan is a communications specialist and science communication trainer who runs Human Element Communications. Brendon’s goal is to make research on topics of global concern, such as climate change and sustainable development, more accessible to non-specialists.

After working as a communications officer on a large international climate change adaptation project in 2018, and as a journalist for more than 10 years before that, Brendon decided he wanted to work with scientists to build their communication skills. He partnered with Dr Tali Hoffman (director of Honeyguide Science Communication) to develop a science communication training programme, ‘Communicating Science for Impact.’

Since launching the programme in 2020, he and Dr Hoffman have trained over 300 people from institutions including UNEP, FAO, the University of Cape Town, the University of Ghana, the University of Nairobi, and the University of Saskatchewan to communicate about science with non-specialists more effectively. 

Brendon is a Fulbright scholar with a master’s degree in Journalism from the University of Colorado Boulder. In his previous life as a journalist, he wrote about everything from ocean acidification to mental health, with some surf travel writing in between.

He is also a photographer whose work has been featured in exhibitions in South Africa and abroad.

As a consultant, Brendon has provided writing, editing, and communication services to clients including UN-Habitat, CARE, the Global Center on Adaptation, and the World Urban Forum.

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

https://www.humanelementcommunications.com/

https://www.humanelementcommunications.com/insights

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=am1-e0G27X8&t=974s (A recent interview Brendon did with Fancy Comma)

https://www.brendonbosworth.com/ (Brendon’s photography website)

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

https://www.instagram.com/brendon_bos/

https://twitter.com/BrendonBosworth

Transcript: https://go.unimelb.edu.au/eyy8

This week we have the immense pleasure of speaking with the brilliant Alicia Sometimes. Alicia is a multi-award winning poet and broadcaster who is deeply passionate about both art and science. She has performed her poetry at many venues, festivals and events around the world. Alicia is director/co-writer of the art/science planetarium shows, Elemental and Particle/Wave. In 2023 she received ANAT’s Synapse Artist Residency and co-created an art installation for Science Gallery Melbourne’s exhibition, Dark Matters. Her new book is Stellar Atmospheres.

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

https://www.aliciasometimes.com/

https://bookedout.com.au/find-a-speaker/author/alicia-sometimes/ 

https://www.instagram.com/sometimesalicia/

https://x.com/aliciasometimes 

https://sometimes2023.blog.anat.org.au/ 

https://corditebooks.org.au/products/stellar-atmospheres (Alicia’s new book)

Transcript: https://go.unimelb.edu.au/xw58

This week we had the great privilege of speaking with Dr Craig Cormick OAM. Craig is the Creative Director of ThinkOutsideThe. He is one of Australia’s leading science communicators, with over 30 years’ experience working with agencies such as CSIRO, Questacon and Federal Government Departments.

In 2014 he was awarded the Unsung Hero of Science Communication by the Australian Science Communicators, and in 2011 was a co-winner of the International Association of Public Participation’s national best practice award for the development of the Science and Technology Engagement Pathways (STEP) framework.

Craig has headed up several communications and marketing units, before moving to consultancy work. He specialised in communicating complex science to the general public – and in communicating the complex attitudes and beliefs of the public to scientists, particularly on topics of biotechnology and nanotechnology.

He has a broad background in both the theory and the practice of working with social attitudes to new technologies, and methods of community engagement, particularly on how different values influence attitudes and receptiveness to messages or behaviour change.

He has been a member of the Society of Risk Analysis and has published research papers on risk communications and risk perception, as well as giving many workshops and talks, both in Australia and overseas, on the differences between public and scientific perceptions of risk.

Craig has a particular interest in evidence-based, and client- and audience-driven, communications and marketing. He has also published more than 40 books and won many writing awards. 

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

https://theconversation.com/profiles/craig-cormick-94194/articles

https://thinkoutsidethe.com.au/?page_id=27

https://www.facebook.com/craig.cormick

https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-craig-cormick-oam-08352123/

https://twitter.com/craigcormick

Transcript: https://go.unimelb.edu.au/htv8

This week we had such a wonderful time speaking with Laura Bibiana Ospina-Rozo, who joined us all the way from her home in Columbia. Laura is a scientist who finds joy in tackling research questions in the field of biophotonics: where light and living matter interact. She completed her undergraduate and masters degrees at the University of Los Andes in Colombia and her PhD in 2022 investigating beetle colours at the University of Melbourne. As a postdoc at the Stuart-Fox lab at the University of Melbourne, she analyzes biological samples combining microscopy and colour-measuring techniques, and spends most of her time talking to people from different disciplines to interpret the results together. Her work has taught her the importance of communicating science in an engaging and efficient way, as well as listening to diverse perspectives around common questions. That is why she eagerly participates in science communication competitions such as the 3MT competition and the Big Science Pitch and also likes being part of the diversity and inclusion committees at the University of Melbourne. 

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

https://twitter.com/laubibianapina

https://www.instagram.com/lau.b.pina/

https://biosciences.unimelb.edu.au/about/news-and-events/hbos/humans-of-biosciences-laura-ospina-rozo (the article we referred to at the start of the episode)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhC5auSY1d4 (an intro to Laura’s Big Science Pitch)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TYSU5-qGb0 The Big Science Pitch 2023

Laura also makes all her code public in https://github.com/lospinarozo

Transcript: https://go.unimelb.edu.au/cjv8