Important, accurate messages delivered by the right people at the right time are crucial in a pandemic. Ziyaad Douglas/Gallo Images via Getty Images

Three key drivers of good messaging in a time of crisis: expertise, empathy and timing

For science communicators to be effective, best practice principles need to be applied to the design of messages, the choice of who conveys those messages, and their tone and timing.
Otim Joseph (front centre) donates native tree seedlings for Ugandan students to grow. Ugandan National Forest Authority

Sowing seeds of hope with revived forests and farms

Otim Joseph first started planting trees to protect his mother and sisters from being raped. Growing up amid a civil war, he watched as the Ugandan army cut down swathes of forest to make it easier to…
Climate Commissioners, such as Veena Sahajwalla, talked with the public about climate science and ways to respond: who will do that now? Climate Commission

Axing the Climate Commission splits Australians from science

The new Abbott Government decided today, just one day into governing, to axe the Climate Commission. This decision demonstrates to the Australian public the government is not interested in talking to them…
Australia is stuck in a “deficit model” of science communication. -{GP}-

Science engagement in Australia is a 20th century toy

Science engagement in Australia is trapped in the 20th century. It operates under an outdated model that aims to promote and celebrate science, rather than encouraging the public to participate in, and…
At the moment, estimating tuna numbers - these are skipjack - is a kind of sophisticated guesswork. Flickr/dachalan

Counting the tuna in the Pacific

Tuna are vital to the ecology and economy of the Pacific, and maintaining their stocks at a sustainable level exercises the minds of thousands of scientists, bureaucrats, fishers, consumers and conservationists…
Australian researchers are frustrated with a funding system that makes job prospects unreliable and often ties them to short term contracts. AAP

Australian researchers held back in struggle for jobs, funding

There’s a lot of bitterness, anger and frustration out there in the world of Australian research. A new survey has shown that researchers like their work, but not the system in which they work. It’s the…

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