ASC2018 - 11-15 Nov, Sydney

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Engaging Regional Communities with Science – the Power of the People

When: Monday 12th November, 11:55am – 12:55pm
Where: Theatre, Level 2 down the stairs to the right of the registration/foyer area
Hashtag: #M7

How can we bring science to where people go? Find out how Inspiring Australia fosters lasting collaborations with regional communities to take science to new audiences. Learn how to grow science engagement activity and infrastructure through working with established networks. Discover what works and what doesn’t, the importance of working in partnership with local communities and understanding stakeholder needs.

Science engagement from the ground up – the NSW experience
Building STEM capacity in a rapidly evolving, global innovation system requires national effort on many levels – particularly at the grass roots. Inspiring Australia’s NSW Regional Science Hub network offers a low-cost response to this challenge. With modest funding support that is matched by partner investment, Science Hubs involve hundreds of organisations that come together at a local level to share skills and explore scientific issues. This capacity building approach helps increase scientific literacy through the delivery of creative and engaging public programs led by local communities. Discover how Science Hubs take the lead to create, collaborate and connect scientists with a diverse public, through festivals, events and programs that provide rich and memorable experiences for people of all ages. 

Finding our way through discovery and creativity – the SA experience
Inspiring South Australia has experimented with a number of regional engagement strategies and has found a few to be especially effective in engaging communities with science. Its regional Science and Arts Working Together program is designed to tell the stories of science through the arts, bringing together science and arts organisations, groups and practitioners to create fascinating projects that feature local stories and discoveries while engaging the community in the development and in the telling. Another effective regional program is a partnership between Libraries SA, the Children’s Discovery Museum and Inspiring SA that equips librarians to deliver science programs to 3-5 year olds. Covering a range of concepts, Little Bang Discovery Club empowers both children and their accompanying adults as co-learners and collaborators in the investigative process.

Session Producer, Session Chair, Presenter

Jackie Randles, Manager Inspiring Australia NSW, Inspiring Australia

Presenter

Sheryn Pitman, Programme Manager Inspiring South Australia, South Australian Museum

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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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Community Perceptions of Coastal Hazards in New South Wales

When: Tuesday 13th November, 2:00pm – 3:30pm
Where: Theatre, Level 2 down the stairs to the right of the registration/foyer area
Hashtag: #T8

Much is known about the physical nature of coastal hazards in New South Wales (NSW) and management interventions available to mitigate their impacts. However, much less is known about social dimensions of communities and coastal users who are, or may be, affected by these hazards. This project aims to assess existing understanding and perceptions of coastal hazards by the NSW ‘coastal community’, specifically relating to inundation and erosion caused by coastal storms and sea level rise, by analysing sources of information and the level of trust regarding these sources.

A multi-tiered survey instrument was disseminated between November 2017 and April 2018 in order to gain information on a cross-section of the NSW coastal community. A total of 1065 survey responses were obtained from teachers (n=355); surf life saving club members (n=307), coastal accommodation visitors (n=237) and managers (n=61), indigenous communities (n=22), ‘frontline’ coastal residents (n=23), and coastal management professionals (n=60).

Results show that most NSW coastal users have a good understanding of coastal erosion and inundation, their associated consequences, and the various hard and soft solutions available to manage their impacts. However, some confusion exists regarding the future rate and impacts of sea level rise on the NSW coast and a significant number of respondents indicated they would still buy, and live in, a house at risk of coastal erosion and inundation.

This study highlights several important differences in perceptions and opinions of coastal hazards between coastal users and coastal management professionals in relation to different coastal environments and the best methods to communicate and educate the coastal community. The results from this study will be freely available through an online resource pack of information targeting various types of end users.

This project is funded by the NSW Department of Justice and supported by the Sydney Coastal Councils Group, Office of Environment and Heritage and Surf Life Saving New South Wales.

Session

Evidence-based scicom: Research exploring knowledge, beliefs and perceptions

Presenter

Anna Attard, Research Assistant and Masters Student, University of New South Wales

Co-Author
Robert Brander

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University of Sydney Mathematical Research Institute Launch

When: Monday 12th November, 6:00pm
Where: Sydney University

The University of Sydney will be launching its Mathematical Research Institute at 6pm on Monday 12 November. The institute will be led by world-renowned mathematician Professor Geordie Williamson, who this year became the youngest living fellow of both the Royal Society and the Australian Academy of Science.

It aims to be a high-level mathematical resource for all of Australia and be considered with similar regard as the Max Planck Institute for Mathematics in Bonn and the Institute for Advanced Studies in Princeton.

ASC Conference attendees who would like to report on or blog about this launch – or who are particularly focused on the mathematical sciences – are invited to attend the event.

Please send enquiries about attending to Marcus Strom marcus.strom@sydney.edu.au

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21st century comms: emerging digital, technical and social trends to anticipate: Simulation case studies from AIE

When: Tuesday 13th November, 9:15am – 11:15am
Where: Theatre, Level 2 down the stairs to the right of the registration/foyer area
Hashtag: #T2

This presentation focuses on emerging digital, technical and social trends in Virtual and Augmented Reality as 21st century communication technologies. We will first introduce the facilities and infrastructure used in a number of pioneering research projects in the last 15 years at the Virtual Reality (VR) lab and the Simulation Hub of Macquarie University, and explore Academy of Interactive Entertainment’s educational philosophy and involvement in digital content creation. Then, explaining the differences between Virtual, Augmented, and Mixed Reality concepts, we will discuss emerging trends by reviewing a number of most recent VR & AR market reports and survey results. Finally, we will demonstrate a number of simulations developed by VISOR (Virtual and Interactive Simulation of Reality) team at Macquarie University, reflecting on our past experiences in research funding. Thus, we hope to be able to project what might possibly be in demand and get funded in the near future.  Survey results state that startup founders, tech executives, investors, and consultants expect gaming to attract the most investment for the coming year. More social and collaborative applications of AR and VR are expected to appear as well as smartphone applications. High prices, overhyped hardware, and lack of compelling content are seen as the biggest missed opportunities in this domain. Number of headsets sold are expected to increase and AR market is predicted to be four times bigger than VR, due to its accessibility. The top unsolved problems include comfortable locomotion, light and inexpensive headsets, as well as quality content. We will conclude the presentation by listing the challenges ahead as well as the potential solutions to these. Major challenges are listed as lack of skills due to the face pace of technology and being up to date with the practical skills, low number of domain experts, the number of start up funds and the size of grants, the limited amount of proper digital content, high costs of hardware, as well as mindset of corporates. Solutions we suggest are university and vocational education courses focusing on VR and AR content development, collaboration and close-knit partnerships to build learning communities, novel subscription models for sharing infrastructure and expertise, tech industry friendly immigration laws allowing knowledge transfer, better and easier access to large funding, easy to use VR and AR libraries and toolkits, and encouraging the corporates to take risks for long term benefits rather than short term rewards. We recommend to build an Australian version of Silicon Valley and a large VR and AR Training Center to drive innovations and industry access to talent.

Presenter

Associate Professor Manolya Kavakli, Academic Director of AIE Institute (Academy of Interactive Entertainment) and Director of the Virtual Reality Lab at the Simulation Hub, Macquarie University

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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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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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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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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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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

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

Acknowledgements

© 2018 Australian Science Communicators

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