Scicomm Media - Podcast Details

Shows

The SciComm CollectiveRevisiting 'Raising the Bar' with Dr Heather Bray"Science communication is not just about talking to the media; it's about this broader relationship. Food is social, not just scientific." - Dr Heather Bray.In our Summer Shorts bonus season finale, The SciComm Collective’s Kate is joined by guest Dr Heather Bray, Coordinator of UWA's Masters and Minor in Science Communication programs. Taking on the challenge she sets for students, Heather reflects on her performance at UWA's Raising the Bar 2024, where she presented on the future of food science. Kate and Heather discuss the importance of purpose, audience and message in science co...2025-02-2340 min

The SciComm CollectiveSounding Fantastical with Keelan Powell“Have fun communicating science – always, always have fun with it.” - Keelan PowellThe SciComm Collective’s Felice is joined by UWA Master of Science Communication graduate Keelan Powell to discuss the podcast Keelan created for UWA's Science Presentations unit. Keelan shares how he was inspired to combine his love for creative writing with his background in physics in his podcast, “Sounds Fantastical,” weaving a story about the Ice Cube Neutrino Observatory. Episode Links: Keelan Powell's YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@KeelanPowell"How to write folklore" by Keel...2025-02-2213 min

The SciComm CollectiveGossiping Geology with Owen Cumming“I liked the story of it and that's why I wanted to use that, to present [geology] in a way that was a bit more interesting, a bit more fun.” - Owen CummingOn this episode of Summer Shorts, join The SciComm Collective’s Clare as she interviews Owen Cumming, a graduate of UWA’s Master of Science Communication program. Owen talks about his journey from environmental science to science communication. Hear how Owen took his passion for making complex geological stories more accessible and engaging, to create his mini podcast episode, “Carved in Stone”, brin...2025-02-2110 min

The SciComm CollectiveTaking a Break with Lotte George“Learning and practising science communication is core to so much” - Lotte GeorgeWelcome back to Summer Shorts, an exploration of podcasting by UWA science communication students. In this episode, The SciComm Collective’s Kate is joined by UWA Biomedical Sciences graduate Lotte George. Lotte shares how stumbling upon the UWA Tropical Grove during a study break inspired her to make a Shinrin-yoku (“forest bathing”) meditation podcast, and how her Science Presentations unit of study has benefited her even beyond the scientific landscape. Episode Links: Watch Lotte’s...2025-02-2018 min

The SciComm CollectiveWildflower Walking with Felice Ng“While I’ve always had this interest in science, I didn’t always feel like it was the most accessible or easily understandable, so I was really drawn to science communication.” - Felice NgJoin The SciComm Collective’s Clare as she interviews Felice Ng, a UWA student pursuing a Bachelor of Biomedical Science in Pharmacology and Genetics, along with a Science Communication minor. In this episode, Felice shares how Australia’s unique biodiversity inspired her to make a podcast about Triggerplants (Stylidium) as part of a bigger series called “Wildflower Walks.” Note: The Department of Biodiversity, Co...2025-02-1908 min

The SciComm CollectiveTalking Sexy Science with Anna Balaguer“Science can be silly, it can be goofy, it can be funny, and interesting!” - Anna BalaguerIn Summer Shorts we're exploring the art of podcasting with former UWA Science Presentations unit students. Today’s guest star is Bachelor of Science (Zoology) and Science Communication (Minor) student Anna Balaguer. Join Anna and The SciComm Collective’s Emma as they discuss the inspiration behind Anna's “Bone Zone” podcast about Anglerfish mating, the struggles of finding copyright-free music, and her science communication journey so far.Content warning: Some adult themes.2025-02-1816 min

The SciComm CollectiveThe Art of Podcasting with Rocky McGellin and Rose KerrHow do you evaluate a podcast? What makes a good podcast?Welcome to Summer Shorts, a bonus series brought to you by The SciComm Collective where we explore the art of podcasting with professionals and former students of UWA’s Science Presentations unit. Today, The SciComm Collective's Kate and Emma chat with local podcasters Rockwell "Rocky" McGellin and Rose Kerr about the ins and outs of podcasting as a professional - with tips and tricks for students creating podcasts for the first time! Especially great for students taking the unit SCOM2205 Science Presentations at...2025-02-1738 min

MeteorWe are more than scicommDoesn’t “in it together” mean…scicomm groups? Isn’t that obvious? Well…actually. Scicomm community is not the only community or type of relationship that helps us be good, beyond-beginner scicommers. So, we talk this week about OTHER spaces and relationships that serve us as whole humans: Not everyone needs a big network to thrive. “You don’t have to have twenty best friends in public.” Scicomm isn’t the be-all, end-all. What we say no to gives us space to be people, not scicomm robots. (Find Bethann’s No-buddy blog post here: https://www.commnatural.com...2024-12-1920 min $Let\'s Talk SciComm$ Let's Talk SciComm100. Twenty questions with Jen and MichaelThree years later and we couldn’t be more excited to be sharing Episode 100 of Let’s Talk SciComm with you. We are so proud to still be creating this podcast and couldn’t be more grateful to YOU, our fabulous listeners, for continuing to support us. To celebrate reaching episode 100 and the end of Season 13, Jen and Michael decided to turn the spotlight inwards and ask each other some of our favourite quick-fire questions, with a few new questions thrown in for good measure. We hope the result is a fun conversation in which you can get to...2024-12-1637 min $Let\'s Talk SciComm$ Let's Talk SciComm99. Our scicomm highs and lows - with the UniMelbSciComm teaching teamIt’s hard to believe this is the 99th episode of Let’s Talk SciComm! As you can imagine, we are very excited to still be producing our podcast three years and 99 episodes later. To celebrate, we invited the rest of our fabulous teaching team - Dr Catriona Nguyen-Robertson, Dr Linden Ashcroft and Dr Graham Phillips back to the podcast. The five of us spend half an hour reflecting on the highs and lows of our science communication experiences and what we’ve learned along the way about how to be more effective communicators. We hope you’ll find o...2024-12-1035 min

MeteorHello, familiar identity crisisWe find we have predictable periods of “now what”, with the podcast, Meteor, as well as in our own, separate professional endeavors. And we’re trying to embrace these cycles as one of the indicators that we are in an advanced stage of our scicomm careers. The symptoms of our identity crises depend on our circumstances, like: the cadence of our evaluation cycles (say, annual reports for a grant or a supervisor) our workload (sometimes all freelance clients want everything at the same time!) and may display in recognizable ways, like an itch to update our websit...2024-11-2826 min

MeteorCommunity is the Hidden CurriculumGenuine community and relationships make everything else possible. You want to change something? You can’t change it alone. You want someone to whisper-network vouch for you? As we said in the last episode, you don’t build professional community and relationships by lurking. But that’s not all of it. There are a *lot* of payoffs to having strong professional ties. In the interests of being (overly) honest, this week we asked ourselves: what’s the hidden curriculum of the success we’ve had in scicomm? And…it’s COMMUNITY!!! But, what’s that a...2024-11-2122 min

MeteorLurking ain’t workingToday, we're doing the big sister thing and sharing some straight-up advice: Lists of a lot of the places where we find (or are aware of) scicomm communities, especially online Recommendations on how not to be a creep (just in case you need to pass that advice along 😏) How important it is to actually get involved, not just hang-around on the fringes of these communities We also get real honest: you have to interact with people and build relationships if you’re going to feel like you have found a scicomm community where you belong. Lurking ain’t working. ...2024-11-1521 min

MeteorCreating abundance, togetherFirst, we have a big announcement!We’ve not previously opened the show to guests because we can’t monetarily compensate anyone for being on the podcast (even ourselves). But, we’ve heard from people that y’all would like to join the convo anyway. So, let’s do this! If you want to join the possible guest pool for next season, visit meteorscicomm.org/podcast. And, if anyone listening has funding to help us compensate guests, please let us know! Now, on to today’s episode! We’re kicking off SEASON 4!! 🥳 We’ve been hearing...2024-10-3120 min

The SciComm CollectiveSciComm Careers with Dr Ann Grand"We all have something to contribute to the enterprise of science and technology." - Ann Grand Join hosts Emma and Felice as they chat with Dr Ann Grand, Adjunct Associate Professor in Science Communication at UWA and Lead Research Fellow and Policy Analyst at the National Coordinating Centre for Public Engagement in the UK. Discover the evolution of public engagement in science, the importance of collaborative research, and how science cafés foster open dialogue. Ann shares her insights on the significance of identity in science, the role of science communication in education, and the power of community-driven pro...2024-10-2836 min

The SciComm CollectiveSciComm Careers with Eugenie Au“We are here behind the scenes to help the science be more accessible, to remind the scientists to listen to the audience.” - Eugenie Au Ke chats with Eugenie Au, a graduate of the UWA Master of Science Communication and now a science communicator at WA’s King’s Park and Botanic Garden. We dive into her amazing journey from being a wildlife biology guide in Canada to her current gig in Australia. Eugenie shares her experience of science communication challenges, her love for plants and reptiles, and the wild adventures that come with leading a guided walk—inclu...2024-10-1530 min

The SciComm CollectiveStudent Roundtable: What is the Deficit Model?"The public is diagnosed as ignorant of and lacking interest in science. The main symptoms of the condition are aversion, anxiety and mistrust. The prescribed cure: Science pills." - Marko Ahteensuu (2011) What is science communication's Deficit Model, and why does it sound so ominous? Join UWA Master of SciComm students Kelly, Holly, and Kate as we discuss the Deficit Model, why it presents challenges, and how it assumes a one-way flow of information from scientists to the public. What alternatives might there be? Tune in to learn more. ...2024-10-0825 min

The SciComm CollectiveSeadragon Search with Chrissy Tustison“Seadragons are a great entry point for people to learn more about marine biology and conservation.” - Chrissy Tustison Dive into the secret lives of seadragons in our latest episode! This week, Master of SciComm student Emma sits down with PhD candidate Chrissy Tustison (The University of Western Australia & Scripps Institution of Oceanography) to discuss Chrissy's passion for studying the unique biology and ecology of these beautiful creatures and the crucial role of citizen science in this research. Also covered: Australia’s unique marine landscape, the biology and ecology of the three seadragon species, the importance of communi...2024-10-0137 min

The SciComm CollectiveSciComm Careers with Dr Heather Bray“Find those things that light you up. Find your community.” - Heather Bray What is science communication? How and why do we get involved? In this episode, Holly, Kate, and our guest Dr Heather Bray, Senior Lecturer and Coordinator of Science Communication at The University of Western Australia, discuss Heather’s journey into research and academia, the power of subjectivity, and how science communication can make the world a better place.  Episode links: Dr Heather Bray on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-heather-bray-48563226/ Heather’s research: https://research-reposi...2024-09-2433 min

The SciComm CollectiveIntroducing... The SciComm Collective"The value of science communication emerges from the person that you are and the questions that you have." - Ann Grand Welcome to our first episode! In this episode, we explore how the SciComm Collective grew from an idea by a group of science communication students from UWA into the audio you hear today. Join Felice, Ke, Ximena, and Emma and special guest interviewer Ann Grand as they dive into our motivations, challenges, and ambitions to make science accessible and engaging through diverse perspectives and experiences. Episode links: Science Communication at The University...2024-09-1317 min

Across the ClineEpisode 14: Do you smell...what's coming?We at Across the Cline and SciComm@UCR, would like to respectfully acknowledge and recognize our responsibility to the original and current caretakers of the land, water, and air on which we record this podcast: the Cahuilla, Tongva, Luiseño, and Serrano peoples and all of their ancestors and descendants, past, present, and future. This place is home to many Indigenous peoples from all over the world, including our colleagues, guests, and community, and we are grateful to have the opportunity to live and work on these homelands. Can you smell it? We’ve concocted a fascinating for...2024-06-151h 10 $Let\'s Talk SciComm$ Let's Talk SciComm74. How to create a scicomm outreach program with Dr Jen PayneThis week we had a wonderful time speaking with Dr Jen Payne about her amazing initiative STEMpals. Jen grew up in a small country town, where the closest thing to scientists she saw was her teachers. She had no idea really what a scientist was or could be. Fast forward to now, where Jen is a research scientist, minimising deadly infections due to antimicrobial resistance. She is an award-winning science communicator who is passionate about real-world STEM in the classroom. This led to becoming the founder and CEO of a STEM charity the Curiosity Factory, which runs...2024-04-2929 min

Across the ClineEpisode 13: It's all about the order you don't haveWe at Across the Cline and SciComm@UCR, would like to respectfully acknowledge and recognize our responsibility to the original and current caretakers of the land, water, and air on which we record this podcast: the Cahuilla, Tongva, Luiseño, and Serrano peoples and all of their ancestors and descendants, past, present, and future. This place is home to many Indigenous peoples from all over the world, including our colleagues, guests, and community, and we are grateful to have the opportunity to live and work on these homelands. Both the words “jazz” and “anarchy” bring up ideas of chaos...2024-04-221h 45 $Let\'s Talk SciComm$ Let's Talk SciComm71. Interview with Marnie Ogg, a leader in science-based tourismWelcome back to Season 10 of Let’s Talk SciComm! We’re thrilled to be back with you for another season of fantastic conversations exploring how we can all communicate about science in more effective and engaging ways. To get the season off to an amazing start, we’re thrilled to have caught up with science tourism and dark skies guru, Marnie Ogg. With over 17 years of experience as a Managing Director at Dark Sky Traveller, Marnie has seamlessly combined a passion for astronomy, tourism, and conservation to curate unique and unforgettable experiences for travellers and communities alike. As a d...2024-04-0832 min

Across the ClineEpisode 12: Two Robs of AcademiaWe at Across the Cline and SciComm@UCR, would like to respectfully acknowledge and recognize our responsibility to the original and current caretakers of the land, water, and air on which we record this podcast: the Cahuilla, Tongva, Luiseño, and Serrano peoples and all of their ancestors and descendants, past, present, and future. This place is home to many Indigenous peoples from all over the world, including our colleagues, guests, and community, and we are grateful to have the opportunity to live and work on these homelands. Scene 1 Lights up. We are in a Z...2024-03-011h 07

Across the ClineEpisode 11: Mermaid JusticeWe at Across the Cline and SciComm@UCR, would like to respectfully acknowledge and recognize our responsibility to the original and current caretakers of the land, water, and air on which we record this podcast: the Cahuilla, Tongva, Luiseño, and Serrano peoples and all of their ancestors and descendants, past, present, and future. This place is home to many Indigenous peoples from all over the world, including our colleagues, guests, and community, and we are grateful to have the opportunity to live and work on these homelands. We’re closing out 2023 with a splash as we div...2024-01-081h 17

MeteorOverly-honest AMA about scicomm stuff that’s gotta changeREMINDER: We’re running another cohort of SciComm STEP next spring! Applications are live right now on our website (MeteorSciComm.org)! 🥳 In this fast-paced episode (with a few audio flickers, boo Wyoming wind that knocks out the internet), we make this honest podcast about scicomm with impact a bit #overlyhonest. We tackle: Why we think academia still matters Why people “valuing” scicomm ain’t what we need The truth that professional development is too-often worse than no investment/change at all A tough reality: there’s no one place to go to “level up” your scicomm career if you’re beyon...2023-12-0721 min

MeteorDon’t tell me not to be angryFirst - two big announcements: Our last episode will be a Q&A- send us your questions, ideas, puzzles, and dilemmas by December 1st. We’re running another cohort of SciComm STEP next spring! Applications are live right now on our website (MeteorSciComm.org)! 🥳 Truly, yelling and naming is how we process, cope, and then work toward action and change when we’re facing schtuff that’s inequitable, obstructionist, or devalues work in scicomm. We talk through a lot of layers on this one: Naming what is really going on when people and systems undervalue the vital work th...2023-11-3024 min $Let\'s Talk SciComm$ Let's Talk SciComm70. Interview with Dr Samantha GroverTo finish Season 9 of Let’s Talk SciComm, we had a truly wonderful conversation with Dr Samantha Grover, who leads the Soil-Atmosphere-Anthroposphere Lab at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia. Sam’s team explores the interconnections between food, climate change and people. They collaborate with farmers, NGOs, industry, government and other researchers around the world to more sustainably manage landscapes. They focus on high carbon systems such as peatlands, regenerative agriculture and composting. As a soil scientist, Sam applies techniques from soil physics, soil chemistry and soil microbiology with micrometeorology to explore the soil-plant-atmosphere continuum. She collaborates with econ...2023-11-2731 min

MeteorMoney, honeyFirst - two big announcements: Our last episode will be a Q&A- send us your questions, ideas, puzzles, and dilemmas by December 1st. We’re running another cohort of SciComm STEP next spring! Applications are live right now on our website (MeteorSciComm.org)! 🥳 Wanting to get paid real money (plenty of it) is OKAY. Full stop. And, we argue it’s also important if we’re all going to do the collective, hard work of making the world better through scicomm. In this episode, we talk through: Why enjoying getting paid isn’t something to be embarrassed...2023-11-2321 min

MeteorHere comes success (oh sh*t!)First - a big announcement: we’re running another cohort of SciComm STEP next spring! Applications are live right now on our website (MeteorSciComm.org)! 🥳 Articulating and providing evidence of success is reliably hard in scicomm. At the systems level, it can feel swampingly abstract. That’s why concrete examples are super useful. So, in this episode, we dissect how we articulated what success would be for the SciComm STEP program (Sparking Transitions for Experienced Professionals). We talk about: Articulating our own metrics of success Finding funders with shared values Mapping our self-defined measures of success o...2023-11-1623 min

MeteorReciprocity and underpantsFirst - a big announcement: we’re running another cohort of SciComm STEP next spring! Applications are live right now on our website (MeteorSciComm.org)! 🥳 In the mid-to-advanced career stages of scicomm, we’re all routinely making things up. But even if we’re good at that, we can’t accomplish real scicomm systems change solo. So, this week, we get into: the downsides of transactional professional relationships how hard it can be to ask for help how much harder it can be to accept help and recognizing that everyone's in their own normal, and someone else's insight c...2023-11-0924 min $Let\'s Talk SciComm$ Let's Talk SciComm65. How to get started in scicommWe know many of our listeners are keen to get more experience in science communication but don’t know where to begin. Have we got the episode for you! This week we had a fantastic chat with Dr Donovan Garcia-Ceron about how he got started in science communication and the things he’s doing to build his scicomm profile. As you’ll hear, Donovan is kind and curious. He works in research to protect crops from pests, with the aim of increasing food security and enabling healthier communities. He has worked in the creati...2023-11-0531 min

MeteorUnavailable to build an empire this weekFirst - a big announcement: we’re running another cohort of SciComm STEP next spring! 🥳 Apply here Dealing thoroughly with a system -- enough to rise to power within it -- can prevent us from changing it. How? The system keeps us too busy. Or, we get recognized for being able to navigate the system, and thus get asked to do the work of navigating it when we’d actually like to be overhauling it. And, when we do get a shot at changing it…of course: the system resists...2023-11-0219 min

MeteorYelling YES at yourselfFirst - two big announcements: In Season 3, we’re digging into systems and what we think about as we consciously try to change them. We’re running another cohort of SciComm STEP next spring! Join our email list for a ping when the application goes live November 1st! 🥳 Today, we’re getting real: Doing big things, like trying to tackle systems-level change in scicomm, is a heavy lift. This week, we discuss: The futility of trying to do this work alone Ways we can boost and build up people to be sure we are all able to do...2023-10-2615 min $Let\'s Talk SciComm$ Let's Talk SciComm63. How to ask good questions with Dr Shane Huntington OAMWelcome to Season Nine of Let’s Talk SciComm! We’re thrilled to be back with another season, chatting each week about our very favourite topic – how we can all be more effective when it comes to communicating about science. We’re kicking off the season talking with our good friend Dr Shane Huntington OAM (@DrShaneRRR) – in case you haven’t listened yet, you can get to know Shane on episode 9 of Let’s Talk SciComm! Shane is currently the Chief Executive Officer of Little Big Steps; a charity helping kids with cancer. Shane is also a speaker...2023-10-2331 min $Let\'s Talk SciComm$ Let's Talk SciComm64. Interview with Olly Dove from That's What I Call ScienceThis week we are so delighted to chat with Olly Dove. Living up to her bird name, Olly Dove is a marine ecology PhD candidate researching the foraging behaviour of little penguins and short-tailed shearwaters in lutruwita/Tasmania. Olly’s favourite part of working in zoology is undoubtedly the exciting fieldwork it leads her to, and she loves sharing stories about the natural world with others. When not hanging out with critters, Olly is an incredible science communicator. She is the weekly host, a co-manager, and an editor on the nipaluna/Hobart-based radio/podcast show, That’s What...2023-10-2331 min

MeteorGetting rid of stinkin’ thinkin’First - two big announcements: In Season 3, we’re digging into systems and what we think about as we consciously try to change them. We’re running another cohort of SciComm STEP next spring! Join our email list for a ping when the application goes live! 🥳 Today, we’re reckoning with reality: lots of us have anxiety about our careers. And that’s probably related to anxiety we have about our personal lives. AND there are whole lists of the most common ways that human brains add anxiety to our existence, which just feels totally unfair! Luckily, if w...2023-10-1918 min

MeteorAUA with a loose theme: What's sustainable scicomm look like these days?Per Meteor tradition, our last episode for this season was an open Q&A. This week, we tackled some questions and provocations from y’all! They fit into a loose theme of sustainability, including topics like: Does scicomm have to make money? [Spoiler: we have lotsa thoughts on this!] What scicomm tools are you loving right now? [We talked about time tracking, accountability, and planning.] Recent career realizations that we haven’t talked about on air yet. Keeping up our enthusiasm for long-term scicomm commitments. Aaaaand, we got a little personal with some family relationsh...2022-09-0834 min

MeteorDo we even need mentors anymore?A quick opening note: Our last episode for this season will be an open Q&A. Send us your questions, ideas, puzzles and dilemmas by September 6. We’ll fit in as many as we can for the September 8 episode! The whole upper rungs of mentoring, on the scicomm career ladder, are missing. Is it a question of relationships? Resources? Respect? Or is it that beyond-beginners need different kinds of mentoring and our profession just isn’t structured to provide it? Either way, where do mid-career and advanced scicommers look for mentors? ...2022-09-0130 min

MeteorGuru - who, you?A quick opening note: Our last episode for this season will be an open Q&A. Send us your questions, ideas, puzzles and dilemmas by September 6. We’ll fit in as many as we can for the September 8 episode! In scicomm, it’s inevitable to run into some expertise questions. There’s the matter of whether one has expertise in science, how that compares to the expertise of others, whether one feels confident in their own expertise, and how expertise is and isn’t respected. So, this week, we tackle questions like: Who defines expertise? ...2022-08-2526 min

MeteorScicomm jargon that mattersFirst, a reminder - applications for the first cohort of SciComm STEP are due TOMORROW: August 19, 2022! Listen to this episode for details and visit our website to apply! https://www.meteorscicomm.org/scicomm-step There’s a lot of jargon in science, so it’s no surprise there’s also a lot of jargon in scicomm. We’ve been chatting… aaaand ranting… about scicomm jargon for a while. So we thought we’d go out on a limb and say what jargon we think works, what matters, and what jargon debates feel unnecessary. Why does the jargon matter? B...2022-08-1826 min

MeteorFinding your voice, or someone else’sFirst, a reminder - applications are open for the first cohort of SciComm STEP! Listen to this episode for details and visit our website to apply! https://www.meteorscicomm.org/scicomm-step There’s a nuance to scicomm careers that can really bog down your mental energy…and even complicate how you think about your own identity. That is: doing scicomm well often requires taking on the identity and ‘voice’ of the organization - or project, place, or even species - that you’re representing or sharing about. So this week, we tackle things like: What...2022-08-1122 min $Let\'s Talk SciComm$ Let's Talk SciComm25. Interview with Professor Andy PaskWe’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 m...2022-08-0831 min

MeteorThe visibility monsterFirst, a reminder - applications are open for the first cohort of SciComm STEP! Listen to this episode for details and visit our website to apply! https://www.meteorscicomm.org/scicomm-step Visibility can mean influence, access, and power, which can lead to a sort of visibility monster issue (cue the Genie in Aladdin). Basically, visibility is often shorthand for credibility. But, we think there should be more to it than that. So this week, we tackle things like: Name recognition and credibility Balancing the need to uplift new voices with the nee...2022-08-0436 min

MeteorIs it time to make a stink?First, a reminder - applications are open for the first cohort of SciComm STEP! Listen to this episode for details and visit our website to apply! https://www.meteorscicomm.org/scicomm-step We’ve been talking a lot, without the recording button on, about when it’s time to stick our necks out to try to spin a negative situation into something positive. Basically, when’s it time to raise a ruckus?!? And how can we make a totally-outta-line request or situation into something that jives with our commitment this season to work actively toward the...2022-07-2832 min

MeteorCha, cha, cha, chaaaanges: weighing scicomm career and project transitionsFirst, a reminder - we launched applications for the first cohort of SciComm STEP last week! Listen to this episode for details and visit our website to apply! https://www.meteorscicomm.org/scicomm-step Now, change is basically a whole genre of opinion pieces, workshops, and podcasts right now. But, there are some specific, mid-career scicomm aspects of change that we want to tackle. So we’re putting a Meteor spin on it this week, talking about: Wrangling expectations - yours, mine, and ours Branding and tipping points Negotiations - how I get what I want...2022-07-2130 min

MeteorThe nitty gritty of scicomm collaborationFirst, a reminder - we launched applications for the first cohort of SciComm STEP yesterday! Visit our website to apply! https://www.meteorscicomm.org/scicomm-step Now. Collaboration is about so much more than finding people to collaborate with. There are hard decisions we cannot put on autopilot, no matter how a collaboration arises. Our theme this season is saying yes makes room for action, accountability, impact, and yep, even hope in the realm of scicomm. So, this week, we’re tackling: Applying an abundance mindset to collaboration Collaboration isn’t always about bringing...2022-07-1429 min

MeteorThe h*ll yes! of finding your peopleFirst - two big announcements: Season 2 is all about finding hope through action and saying yes. ✔ We’re running the first cohort of SciComm STEP this fall! Listen to this episode for details and join our email list (https://www.meteorscicomm.org/scicomm-step) for a ping when the application goes live! Now, we’re gonna say it. Finding and picking your people is not just nice, it’s crucial. There’s not enough time in the day, or energy in our overwhelmed, burnt-out selves, to compromise about who we spend our time with. [And yes...2022-07-0727 min $Let\'s Talk SciComm$ Let's Talk SciComm24. How to make time for SciCommGot a ridiculously long to-do list? Feeling overwhelmed by all the stuff you need to get done? Time management is something we all struggle with and it can sometimes be difficult to make time to share our work with different audiences. This week Jen and Michael invite our wonderful UniMelbSciComm colleagues, Linden Ashcroft, Catriona Nguyen-Robertson and Graham Phillips for a 5-way chat about the tips and tricks we've learned along the way about how to make time for the things that really matter to us. Transcript: https://go.unimelb.edu.au/56pe 2022-06-2932 min $Let\'s Talk SciComm$ Let's Talk SciComm20. How to get your thesis writtenWriting a thesis is hard! It’s probably the longest document you’ve ever had to write, and the experience is often accompanied by a tendency to procrastinate and feelings of overwhelm and imposterism. This episode will help! Jen and Michael briefly talk about their thesis writing experiences and share their top tips. But most of the episode is filled with advice and tips from eight of our UniMelb SciComm alumni who have recently written theses. They’ve been right where you are now and have so much wisdom to share! You’ll hear from Nancy Ri...2022-06-0124 min $Let\'s Talk SciComm$ Let's Talk SciComm17. Interview with physicist and science comedian Dr. Jessamyn FairfieldWelcome back to Season Three of Let’s Talk SciComm – we couldn’t be more excited to be back talking about science communication with you. To launch our new season, we’re joined by the fabulous (and funny) Dr Jessamyn A. Fairfield, a lecturer in the School of Physics at the National University of Ireland Galway. She leads research in neuromorphic nanomaterials, physics education, and public engagement with science. She is also an award-winning science communicator, and the director of Bright Club Ireland, a comedy night bringing academic research to the public. You can follow Jessamyn...2022-05-1130 min $Let\'s Talk SciComm$ Let's Talk SciComm10. How to build a professional online profileWe’ve all heard the phrase ‘Publish or perish’. But what about the more recent maxim ‘Be visible or vanish’? Regardless of your career stage, there are many advantages to having a professional online presence: it will bring new opportunities, connections and visibility. But it can be hard to know where and how best to invest your time and energy when it comes to social media. In this episode, Michael and Jen talk about why to build your profile, where and how to start, and how to ensure you are developing your profile strategically. We also specifically consider the value of Li...2022-02-0933 min $Let\'s Talk SciComm$ Let's Talk SciComm9: Interview with science radio broadcaster Dr Shane Huntington OAMWelcome to Season Two of Let’s Talk SciComm! We’re thrilled to introduce you to our first guest for this season, Dr Shane Huntington OAM. Shane is the Chief Executive Officer of Little Big Steps; a charity helping kids with cancer. Shane is also a speaker, trainer and facilitator. He has been providing consulting services in communication and strategy for over 20 years. He is the host and producer of 3RRR’s science radio program Einstein A Go Go. Over the last 30 years he has interviewed thousands of scientists and explained hundreds of scientific concepts to the...2022-02-0234 min $Let\'s Talk SciComm$ Let's Talk SciComm8: How to tackle the imposter syndromeOn the outside you appear confident, composed and on top of your game. But on the inside, you are wracked with self-doubt. You feel like a fraud and as though someone is about to tap you on the shoulder and ask you what you think you’re doing. You’re sure you’re not good enough, experienced enough or smart enough to be doing what you’re doing. This week Jen and Michael chat about the Imposter Experience, better known as the Imposter Syndrome. Listen for our thoughts and advice on how to tackle feeling like an imposter...2021-12-0829 min

MeteorLet’s give ‘em something to talk about: Season 1 close-out Q&AIn this episode, we’re really talking with you about scicomm. We are answering YOUR questions, and we’re excited to rove widely through topics and questions you’ve sent us. We touch on the big picture and the nitty gritty of: How we approach the on-going work of staying on top of convos around justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion and how they relate to scicomm. Framing up a scicomm CV (or do you really need a resume?!?). Pitching scicomm experimentation to clients, coworkers, or supervisors. Getting back to scicomm basics when talking a supervisor or client into...2021-12-0237 min $Let\'s Talk SciComm$ Let's Talk SciComm6. How to improve your science writingIn 2014, Steven Pinker published a piece in The Chronicle of Higher Education titled ‘Why academic writing stinks’. While we might take offense at the notion that our writing ‘stinks’, there’s no question that the way many of us have been taught to write as researchers and scientists can be difficult for our readers to make sense of. In this episode, Michael and Jen chat about why science writing can be so hard to read and a number of different approaches to improve the clarity and readability of our writing. We focus particularly on the style of writing that is most ef...2021-11-2434 min

MeteorBalance, schmalanceWe (Bethann and Virginia, not the collective ‘we’) actively resist the notion of “work-life balance”. It has too many vibes of work and life being mutually exclusive, as if they’re balanced against each other on a scale. And, in a lot of #SciComm, work and life are already so stinkin’ integrated. So, we lean into the framework of “work-life harmony”. We aim for getting work done and fulfilling ourselves along the way. This gets complicated when we’re doing scicomm for someone else: How fully do you want to “assume” the identity of that brand? When do you...2021-11-2427 min

MeteorGrappling with our science wife identityOur last episode for this season will be an open Q&A. Send us your questions, ideas, puzzles and dilemmas by November 22, and we’ll fit in as many as we can for the December 2 episode! There’s a lotta baggage around being someone’s partner, especially a wife, especially in science. These issues leak over into scicomm for many folks, whether you’re a ‘science wife’ or navigating some other kind of partnership. This week, we tackle:What we wish we’d known about being a science wife before started our relationships. Things about being marri...2021-11-1831 min

MeteorDrop everything... for something newOur last episode for this season will be an open Q&A. Send us your questions, ideas, puzzles and dilemmas by November 22, and we’ll fit in as many as we can for the December 2 episode! There's a whole sticky mess of having time vs. making time, and it can drag you down, make you question your sense of accomplishment, and even put you at odds with folks you care about. This week, we tackle some ways of re-thinking time, timelines, and commitments. There’s the friction of timelines in scicom...2021-11-1119 min $Let\'s Talk SciComm$ Let's Talk SciComm4. How to give a better science talkAll scientists need to give talks but being able to give a brilliant talk takes skill. Are you wondering how to best keep your audience’s attention? How to design slides that enhance, rather than distract from what you’re saying? And how to tackle your inevitable nerves? This week Jen and Michael chat about how to give a better science talk. Listen for our thoughts and advice on how to plan, design and deliver a fantastic talk plus tips from two of our UniMelb SciComm students, Randy Mann and Stephanie Wong. Here are a few...2021-11-1034 min

MeteorThe privilege of volunteeringNo one can decide what you do for free but you. Volunteering is often a portal into relationships and career experience. It’s also a way to give back to our community or professional environments. But, unpaid labor is often exploitative (or not possible for some of us). It’s a rotten conundrum. ⚖ An equitable system should do away with volunteer opportunities and every opportunity should instead come with payment or other meaningful compensation. 💸 However, we gotta recognize that the system will not change overnight. So even if people believe that everyone should get paid for...2021-11-0425 min $Let\'s Talk SciComm$ Let's Talk SciComm2. How to NOT be boringThis week Jen and Michael chat about the important topic of ‘How to NOT be boring’ when communicating about science. We’re sure you can all remember sitting through an incredibly boring science talk or struggling to read a boring piece of science writing. If you want to get your message across, it’s essential you capture your audience’s attention and convince them what you’re writing or speaking about is of relevance to them. Listen for our thoughts and advice on how to be more engaging when communicating about science plus tips from two of our U...2021-10-2729 min

MeteorThis is the beginning (or not) of a beautiful friendshipWe are going to assume that #1: you agree that we could all benefit from expanding our networks, but #2: there’s a cultural treatment of networking as if it has a bad aftertaste. 🤢 There are some real challenges here: How do you find people, or pick people to contact? Especially if you’re offering even a pipsqueak-sized platform or you’re inviting them into a space that will reflect on you or your brand? How do we ask for people’s attention in respectful ways that leave puh-lennnnty of room for them to say no? 😣 Whaddya do if you can’t pa...2021-10-2126 min $Let\'s Talk SciComm$ Let's Talk SciCommWelcome to Let's Talk SciCommWelcome to Let's Talk SciComm! In this trailer episode, hosts Dr Jen Martin and Dr Michael Wheeler introduce themselves and season one of the podcast. For updates, be sure to follow us @LetsTalkSciComm on Instagram and Twitter, and Let's Talk SciComm Podcast on Facebook.2021-10-1304 min

Beyond the Bench39. Citrus Genome Editing and SciComm with Dr. Karl Haro von MogelHow can citrus genome editing help in the fight against huanglongbing, and how can we think outside the box to be better science communicators? Dr. Karl Haro von Mogel, a PostDoc in botany and plant sciences at the University of California Riverside and Science & Media Director of Biology Fortified, discusses his long-term research to protect citrus against huanglongbing and his recent research investigating face mask efficacy. He also shares how he communicates science by making awesome shirts. Follow Karl on Twitter @KarlHvM! Learn more about the tools used in the battle against huanglongbing and view...2021-10-121h 00

MeteorGoals in science communication— life raft or dead weight?How can we set and use scicomm goals so they lift us up instead of drag us down? We suggest: Clearly articulate your goals from the beginning of any scicomm project or whenever you have an inflection point in your career. Give yourself permission to give self-reflection the time, energy, and respect it needs to serve you well. Allow yourself to use your goals as a “living document” and recognize that your goals will change over time. That’s life, not failure. How to get started setting your own goals in just a few minutes: 2021-09-3021 min

MeteorWhat we think scicomm needsWe want to talk more with fellow science communication professionals (like you!), and we have lots of opinions! We think scicomm needs: More funding, A reliable way to hold people with power accountable, Leadership and development opportunities that extend beyond basic skill-building, More integration between practice and research, and Buy-in and formalized support from those with funding and power. Which is why we made Meteor! (https://meteorscicomm.org/) We want to talk with STEM professionals who are exploring science communication as a component of their career and with people who are pursuing...2021-09-2316 min