I am a passionate science communicator and have founded two science outreach initiatives: Science in the Pub Adelaide and Science in the Pub Tasmania in Adelaide, South Australia and Hobart, Tasmania, respectively. I also enjoy presenting my research and my science story to the public. Here are some public presentations of mine:

National Science Week 2018: BeakerStreet@TMAG pop-up science bar keynote presentation (audience: adult general public): “Planetary Health: cities, Flies, and the dirty side of well being”

National Science Week 2018 student luncheon (audience: science students (10-18 years old), and their parents/teachers): “The excitement and challenges of a life in science”

 

The principal goals of SciPub are to make science engaging, accessible and accountable to the public, and to enhance the ability of people with only a basic understanding of science to critically evaluate scientific data. SciPub events are held from 6-7:30 pm in a pub to foster a relaxed, congenial atmosphere for scientists and non-scientists to learn, discuss and think critically about hot topics in science.

Each monthly SciPub event features three panellists from varied backgrounds that all research a central topic. Each panellist delivers a 10-12 minute presentation related to the topic for the evening. In order to help non-scientists improve their ability to evaluate scientific evidence we ask that each panellist include at least one data slide in their presentation, and that the panellist provides an explanation about how the data were acquired and how they interpret the data. Following the short presentations the panellist then respond to questions from the audience via a moderator (me).

We attempt to select panellists who are not only enthusiastic and knowledgeable about a topic but are known as engaging science communicators. We have been floored by the positive feedback we have received from the community in response to this initiative. We plan to keep it up as long as we have topics and panellists at our disposal (which, in Hobart, will be for a long time!).