SCANZ President Sarah-Jane O’Connor joined several other SCANZ members ‘over the ditch’ at the Australian Science COmmunicators (ASC) conference in Perth. She reports back.
Panoramic shot of the Swan River, Perth.
The ASC could easily be considered the ‘sister organisation’ to SCANZ, and we have been rebuilding our relationship between the two societies since I took over as SCANZ President in late 2022. We have so much in common, but between COVID-19 and the general challenges of volunteer-run societies we haven’t had much scope to collaborate in recent years.
This year the stars aligned so that I was able to join their annual conference in Perth 17-20 June, and what a delight to find four other Kiwis there: Ceridwyn Roberts (SCANZ executive committee), Dianne Sika-Paotonu (2023 SCANZ conference keynote speaker), Gerry LeRoux and Nancy Longnecker.
Gerry, Sarah-Jane, Ceridwyn, Dianne and Nancy in Perth.
Professor Peter Klinken - chief scientist of Western Australia - opened the conference on the Tuesday morning, and highlighted the 15 Nobel Prizes won by Australians as evidence of the high quality of local research. Of course, it wouldn’t be a bit of friendly trans-Tasman banter without a response, which Dianne provided in her Wednesday keynote with a nifty bit of data visualisation showing Aotearoa outpacing our Aussie counterparts in Nobels on a per capita basis. Where would the NZ ego be without per capita calculations?!
Wednesday morning also included an international panel facilitated by Jonathan Burgess from Te Pūnaha Matatini on science communication as a social good. This was livestreamed from the International Communication Association pre-conference in Brisbane with participants beaming in from across Australia including: Dianne and Temilade Sesan in Perth; Sujatha Raman and Siouxsie Wiles in Brisbane; and Ann-Maree Long joining virtually. It was really special to be able to connect with another conference and hear from a variety of speakers without everyone needing to make the same time and emissions intensive travel to a single venue.
A particular highlight for me was an incredible session about Two-way Science and its role in connecting Indigenous knowledge and science for students in Australia’s most remote community: Kiwirrkurra. I encourage everyone to take time to watch the video below to find out more - there’s a lot happening in Australia that mirrors some of the conversations we’re having in Aoteatora.
Across the five New Zealand representatives, we participated in one keynote, two panels, and seven talks (shout out to Ceridwyn who did a massive three of those talks), along with all the networking, reconnecting with old friends and plotting ideas and collaborations with new friends.
Something else that really stood out to me was the great use of local science communication facilities: from the Pawsey Centre for the opening “introduction to science communication” workshop, to the kickoff event at SciTech, and the conference dinner and awards at the WA Museum Boola Bardipa beneath the majestic remains of “Otto” the blue whale (after we’d checked out the To the Moon exhibit). Keep these kind of ideas in mind for next time our SCANZ conference is coming to your town and please do suggest potential venues for hosting our conference-related events.
This year the ASC has introduced four new awards, which were presented at Wednesday night’s dinner. Alongside the Unsung Hero of Science Communication, which went to Catriona Nguyễn-Robertson the Singing Scientist (and yes, she did point out the irony of receiving the ‘unsung’ award), the ASC also awarded:
The Science Communication Hero of Australia: Niall Byrne and Sarah Brooker
The Inspiring Project in Science Communication: AusSMC Collaborative Journalism Project
The Scientist Communicator of the Year: Paola Magni
The Australian Science Communicators President’s Medal: Emma Johnston
ASC President Tom Carruthers spoke about his passion and pride in introducing this wider breadth of awards to recognise the gap that exists in current reward systems for those who research and do professional practice in science communication. This is definitely something SCANZ can be thinking about as well, and I’d be interested in hearing others’ thoughts on how we can make sure our awards fill the gaps otherwise unfilled by existing current science communication prizes.
One of the best things I took from the ASC conference was seeing how such a similar group runs their conference. There’s lots that we can learn from our Australian colleagues, and it also reassured me that much of what we’re already doing in our events and wider community are shared by the ASC. We hope this conference exchange will become an ongoing part of our SCANZ-ASC relationship, and look forward to welcoming ASC members to our 2024 conference so we can continue learning from each other and sharing our passion and insights into science communication.