ASC2018 - 11-15 Nov, Sydney

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Actions, Not Words – Achieving Gender Equity in STEM

When: Monday 12th November, 1:55pm – 3:25pm
Where: L2, Level 2 to the left of the registration/foyer area, down the hallway and through the doors on the right
Hashtag: #M12

The Australian Academy of Science and the Academy of Technology and Engineering are developing a Women in STEM Decadal Plan – a 10-year roadmap for sustained increase in women’s STEM participation and progression from school through to careers in all sectors. Science communicators are uniquely placed across multiple sectors, giving them a broad ranging perspective of challenges faced by female and female identifying members of the STEM community. They are also likely to be part of the mechanisms involved in implementing any form of plan or strategic initiative to enhance gender equity in STEM, a challenging communication task. For any Plan or initiative like this to succeed it requires sector, and societal, ‘buy in’. This interactive session will provide participants with an opportunity to see an exposure draft of the plan and discuss its implications and challenges for those working in the STEM, and science/STEM communication fields. How do science communicators best communicate within their sectors to elevate female participation in STEM, engage the necessary stakeholders and collaborate to enact change which will shape future STEM participation in Australia?

Session Producer/Workshop Facilitator:

Merryn McKinnon, Policy Analyst, Women in STEM Decadal Plan, Australian Academy of Science

Workshop Facilitators:

Sandra Gardam, Policy Analyst, Australian Academy of Science

Emily Finch, Research and Policy Officer, Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering

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Human language meets machines: how does this work in 2018?

When: Tuesday 13th November, 2:00pm – 3:30pm
Where: L1, Level 2 to the left of the registration/foyer area, down the hallway and through the doors on the right
Hashtag: #T10

Is learning language complicated?

If humans struggle with it, how is it that computers understand, interpret and manipulate human language?

How far have we come with the capacity to have our machines work with human language?

When we talk about computers interfacing with human language we talk about “natural language”. Natural Language Processing (NLP) is the branch of artificial intelligence concerned with getting computers to do useful things with human languages.

In this talk we take a look at what it means for a machine to understand or use a natural language like English, German or Chinese. We will look at six key areas in the marketplace today: speech technologies, conversational agents, text analytics, machine translation, natural language generation, and text correction. In each case we provide examples of what is possible, separating the reality from the hype that surrounds artificial intelligence technologies; and we mull over what might be coming down the road towards us.

Presenter

Robert Dale, NLP Consultant, Language Technology Group

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Case studies: Education

When: Wednesday 14th November, 8:45am – 9:45am
Where: L3, Level 2 to the left of the registration/foyer area, down the hallway and through the doors on the right
Hashtag: #W5

Science education in schools and of the public is so important in this day and age so how do we effectively educate our children and the general public. Hear from our speakers who are working on ways to get science to the people.

The session is structured into four 10-minute talks and will wrap-up with a 20-minute Q&A for delegates questions and comments.

The session will include the following talks:

Session Producer

 

Session Chair

 

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Captivating Presentations

When: Thursday 15th November, 12:00pm – 4:45pm (including lunch)
Where: Powerhouse Museum, 500 Harris St, Ultimo
Room: L1, Level 2 to the left of the registration/foyer area, down the hallway and through the doors on the right

Purchase separately or free for conference+workshop delegates (RSVP during registration).

Register now!

We’ve all seen presenters that just knock ‘em dead. Even on quite boring subjects the audience just seem to be in the palm of their hand. This workshop gives you the tools to wow the crowd and leave a lasting positive impression.

Working through practical exercises you will learn to create captivating visuals and avoid death by PowerPoint. You’ll learn to develop stage presence, add drama to your story and use your voice and body to connect with the audience.

At the end of this session you will have created a mini-talk on your own research/material – bring a paper or some background material that you want to tell the world about.

We’ll cover:
– Developing a clear message and delivering it in a way that sticks.
– Tips and tricks for making classy PowerPoint presentations.
– Warm ups and techniques to relax your body and conquer nerves
– Unlocking the power of your voice.
– Timing pitfalls to avoid at all cost.
– Connecting with your audience and keeping them on side.
– Adding that little extra magic

Workshop Facilitator

Dr Phil Dooley, Galactic Commander, Phil Up On Science and ASC National co-vice-president

Purchase separately or free for conference+workshop delegates (RSVP during registration).

Register now!

**This is a public event. Register to save your seat!**

Share on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1049576325220833/

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TasAgFuture: Mobilising Tasmania’s agriculture and food sector to help determine future scientific research

When: Wednesday 14th November, 10:20am – 11:20am
Where: Theatrette, Level 2 behind the registration/foyer area
Hashtag: #W6

TasAgFuture is a social research project that is informing future research to support prosperous and sustainable agriculture and food sectors.

Through the TasAgFuture project, the Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture (TIA) has mobilised the Tasmanian agriculture and food sector to have their say in the sector’s future through in-depth interviews and an online survey. As a result, agrifood peak bodies, the State Government and TIA will better understand goals of the sector, and the research, development and extension (RD&E) needs into the future.

This presentation outlines the strategy and impact of TasAgFuture’s communications through the traditional media, social media and stakeholder engagement – a significant contributor to the project’s success.

Session

Case studies: Environment and community engagement

Presenter

Claire Baker, Research Communications Officer, Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture (TIA) – a joint venture of the University of Tasmania and the Tasmanian Government

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The Rescue Project Podcast – Stories of Kind Acts of Environmental Rescue

When: Wednesday 14th November, 10:20am – 11:20am
Where: Theatrette, Level 2 behind the registration/foyer area
Hashtag: #W6

**Have you ever rescued a riverbank? A tract of bush, an eroded beach, a waterway, some farmland, a garden or a native tree? A native animal or bird? What do you feel as you tend to tired earth, or engage with the intrinsic value of an old-growth giant, or as you look into that creature’s eyes? And, in some way, do these things rescue you?**

The Rescue Project is citizen storytelling in online and podcast form.
Launched in early October it is a public invitation to contribute a 500-word story to the Rescue website – a collaboration between Landcare Australia and Gretchen Miller/UNSW. The stories are currently growing there with opportunity for anyone to read and respond.
The next stage will be The Rescue Project Podcast, beginning production in early 2019 – 10 of the stories read aloud by the writers and set to sound. The podcast series will also include an audio documentary focusing on one special habitat rehabilitation site selected from the uploaded stories.
“Rescue” is an organic, living website, changing by the day and inviting its contributors to feel a part of something bigger. It functions as an online clubhouse for discussion of the personal power of taking action to benefit habitat, animals and the humans who get involved. The intention is to reflect the rich experience, both practical and psychological, that engaging with environment brings, building a deeper recognition of how little things can grow bigger ones.
https://landcareaustralia.org.au/rescue

Session

Case studies: Environment and community engagement

Presenter

Gretchen Miller, Rescue Project Director/Producer, Media Consultant, Gretchen Miller Media

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Disruptive Sci Comm; How the Arts can help Scientists Escape Deficit-Model Communication

When: Monday 12th November, 10:25am – 11:25am
Where: L1, Level 2 to the left of the registration/foyer area, down the hallway and through the doors on the right
Hashtag: #M5

The deficit model is deficient. Facts are dead. Feeling is the new thinking.

Meet the science communicators that are harnessing the arts to connect with their audience in a non-educational way. Although many scientists see the way the arts appeals to the emotional side of their audience as anathema, these are examples of science pitched straight at the heart and soul. But does it succeed? And what is success anyway?

Come prepared to take part, heckle and debate with:

Dr Phil Dooley, musician and storyteller for Phil Up On Science. He wants to know what Schrodinger’s cat thinks about still being a box 100 years later.

Craig Cormick, fiction writer and immersive science communicator.

Heather Catchpole, co-founder Refraction Media, who poetry to encapsulate ideas using minimum words and maximum effect. With poetry, humour and music she hopes to create empathy towards science.

Michael Mills, stage performer and alter ego to the singing palaeontologist Professor Flint who has been connecting local communities to their prehistory through music and storytelling.

Dr Michael Leach and Rachel Rayner who will challenge us to debate and create our own science-inspired visual poetry. If the right energy is supplied – swing dancing – Rachel may also undergo a phase transition from solid to liquid to gas.

David Harris, science communicator and artist. It’s an uneasy truce…

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Risk Communication in the Risk Society

When: Wednesday 14th November, 8:45am – 9:45am
Where: L2, Level 2 to the left of the registration/foyer area, down the hallway and through the doors on the right
Hashtag: #W4

Modern society is governed by consideration of risks. Social, economic and environmental risks abound and their impact enhanced by social media. In this session, Mary Anne Waldren interviews Kate Hughes about how risks of pollution remediation are communicated by experts to the public. Kate’s recent research inquiry finds that scientists need more than scientific literacy to communicate risks because, all risks are ultimately socially constructed. Kate’s insight about social literacy are worth hearing. They are new, and draw their pedigree from her experience of remediation at the Homebush Olympic site in Sydney, and the adjacent and infamous dioxin contaminated site once owned by Union Carbide. When it comes to risk, it’s context that matters, and this session really starts a new conversation about experts’ risk communication.

Session Chair

Mary Anne Waldren, Consultant, MAW Action Pty Ltd

Presenter

Kate Hughes, Research Communications and Advocacy, Right To Know Publications

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Using Smartphones to Turn Students into Scientists

When: Wednesday 14th November, 8:45am – 9:45am
Where: L3, Level 2 to the left of the registration/foyer area, down the hallway and through the doors on the right
Hashtag: #W5

Governments are cutting education funding, student anxiety is increasing, and student performance in STEM is at an all-time low. Add to this a shortage of skilled science teachers and it is easy to see that our education system is failing students. Recognizing that 94% of students own a smartphone and 45% of these can’t live without one, Arludo is using the resources that students are most drawn to – smartphones – in unique ways to become a leading innovative education company. Arludo is developing a library of mobile applications that use the full range of smartphone sensors and cameras to create immersive social learning experiences in STEM. From single and multiplayer games, to group games that use augmented reality, to applications revolving around problem-based learning, each unique mobile application allows students to explore a singular topic. The mobile applications are designed to encourage students to work together, and as they interact, students collect scientific data that are displayed in real-time on a dashboard. Using these real-time data visualizations, teachers can easily lead class discussions about the topic being taught by working through the data students collected. Teachers thus quickly become science experts and students intuitively become data-literate scientists through meaningful social experiences.

Session

Case studies: Education

Presenter

Michael Kasumovic, Associate Professor, UNSW

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Yes, Scientists can be Brilliant Science Communicators. Ask Us How!

When: Wednesday 14th November, 10:20am – 11:20am
Where: L1, Level 2 to the left of the registration/foyer area, down the hallway and through the doors on the right
Hashtag: #W7

At Mater we believe that scientists speaking about their own research make the best science communicators.

Effective communication skills are critical to create awareness of research beyond the scientific community, yet researchers rarely receive training to help them better engage with the general public.

The inability to communicate science to a general audience can decrease the impact and translational potential of research. Consumers also represent a critical—and often overlooked—engine of research funding.

To improve researcher interaction with consumers and attract interest from potential donors, Mater has launched the BRIDGE program.

This program provides scientists with comprehensive training on how to effectively engage with consumers and convey the importance of their research in an accessible way.

Workshop Facilitators

Shannon Ryan, Engagement Coordinator, Mater Group

Mark Ryan, Senior Manager Engagement – Strategy, Mater Group

Australian Science Communicators

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Questions? Please contact Kali on asc2018@asc.asn.au.

Acknowledgements

© 2018 Australian Science Communicators

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