2 PM - Seminar: Unscientific Communication
3 PM - Workshop: Inspiring greater creativity and confidence for all researchers

This programme is free thanks to our sponsors

Major Sponsor : Forrest Foundation
Median Sponsors:
- ARC Centre of Excellence for Engineered Quantum Systems (EQUS)
- ARC Centre of Excellence for Dark Matter Particle Physics (CDM)
Minor Sponsor: Australian Institute of Physics WA Branch.

SEMINAR - UNSCIENTIFIC COMMUNICATION

How do we get people to pay attention to science that really matters? Some research gets ignored, some gets disputed, and the results can be disastrous. For example, human response to climate change has been too slow - we are decades behind an ideal response - and science communication has played a big role in that disaster. Why did it go so wrong?

How could we have communicated with people in a way that provoked a positive response, instead of opposition and political polarisation? We need a new paradigm for science communication, that really connects with people and engages them in a way that leaves them feeling good about themselves - one that will work in many different contexts for different audiences.

The catch is, it needs to be unscientific!

WORKSHOP - Inspiring greater creativity and confidence for all researchers

1 hour workshop 3 PM - 4 PM

This workshop is a taster for a new way to think about communication of academic results that will leverage researchers’ passion and harness their creativity in a way that brings much greater reach.

We’ll cover how to grab your audience with a great hook, how to keep them with great story telling and how to conquer nerves and deliver your message in a captivating way.

Bring your own research that you’d like to communicate more clearly, and we’ll try the techniques out!

The Speaker

Dr Phil Dooley is manager of communications for ANU Physics, which hosts Australia’s largest ion accelerator HIAF. He’s also worked for ANU media office, at University of Sydney running outreach for Physics School and at JET nuclear fusion experiment.

Under the banner of Phil Up On Science he is a freelance science writer, trainer and entertainer. He’s written for Cosmos Magazine, New Scientist, the American Institute of Physics and more and has been selected for the Anthology of Best Australian Science Writing three times. He’s performed his own brand of science, music and comedy in science shows and festivals around the world including Glasgow, Sydney, Adelaide and London.

His creative approaches to science communication have included covers of Beatles songs, rap, poems, kitchen videos, bedtime stories, plays, improv theatre, stand up comedy and lewd limericks (see philuponscience.com.au for more).

Phil has a PhD in laser physics and is a long-serving office-bearer in the Australian Science Communicators. He is a qualified trainer (Certificate IV in Workplace Training and Assessment).