Kōrero | Presentations
Keynote speakers
Ben Kennedy
Last year's winner of Te Puiaki Whakapā Pūtaiao Prime Minister's Science Communication Prize, Professor Ben Kennedy is a volcanologist at the University of Canterbury.
Volcano Dad - a questionable science communication experiment with artificial intelligence generated artwork.
Ben will tell his origin story with the help of artificial intelligence generated images, he will then reflect on his science communication projects and the role of art collaborations. Expect the silly and the serious. In Ben’s presentation he will recount tales of some of the most diverse science communication scenarios he has been engaged in from volcano fart jokes with kids to legal proceedings and visits from policemen. Ben hopes to prompt discussions on the role of art and humour in science communication and how science communicators are represented on the internet.
Juliet Gerrard
Dame Juliet Gerrard DNZM HonFRSC FRSNZ was New Zealand's Prime Minister's Chief Science Advisor for six years, from 2018 to 2024.
Photo credit to Elise Manahan
Science communication and the government: lessons learned, challenges ahead
In her talk Juliet will reflect on what she has learned about science communication to the government over six years as the Prime Minister’s Chief Science Advisor, and pull out some lessons learned for researchers interested in influencing policy in the messy world of politics.
Siouxsie Wiles
Dr Siouxsie Wiles is a microbiologist specialising in infectious diseases. She is also a passionate science communicator with decades of experience working with mainstream and social media and collaborating with artists and illustrators.The dark side of science communication
Photo credit to Elise Manahan
According to the WHO, during the COVID-19 pandemic, we experienced a parallel “infodemic” defined by the spread of malevolent, misleading, incorrect, and fake information about the pandemic. Unsurprisingly, this resulted in researchers and science communicators being targeted for harassment, experiencing everything from attacks on their credibility to threats of physical or sexual violence or even death. But what happens when institutions don’t take the harassment seriously?
In this presentation, Dr Wiles will explain what happened when, in 2020, she and her colleagues found that their institution’s policies for dealing with external harassment were simply not fit for purpose. Instead of fixing the policies, the institution chose to fight its researchers in a battle that went all the way to New Zealand’s Employment Court. Dr Wiles hopes that being open about her experiences will help researchers better prepare for becoming a target for harassment and push institutions to ensure they have effective structures in place to support affected staff.