The Open Desk

Margie Beilharz

Freelance editor and writer in science, environment, education, health

Tag: science communication

  • Plantastic!

    Plantastic!

    I enjoyed writing the Teacher Notes for CSIRO’s new picture book, Plantastic! A to Z of Australian plants. I took the opportunity to speak to the author, Cat Clowes, and the illustrator, Rachel Gyan, about producing the book. You can read my article and check out the book on the CSIRO blog.

  • Science and communication in Brisbane 2016

    The Australian Science Communicators are holding their annual conference in Brisbane on Friday 11 March. It’s networking and professional development for people who communicate science and technology to the general public, students or other audiences. Registration is now open. The trip to Brisbane will be doubly worthwhile as you can also go along to the  inaugural…

  • Australia’s best science writing 2015

    Australia’s best science writing 2015 If you’re in Sydney next Tuesday (27 Oct 2015), you could attend the launch of the Best Australian Science Writing 2015 anthology, edited by science journalist Bianca Nogrady. The winner of the $7000 Bragg UNSW Press Prize for Science Writing will also be announced. More info and link to registration on the UNSW Science website.…

  • Citizen science: Deciphering old specimen notes for the Natural History Museum

    Here’s another citizen science project – especially for those who have a good eye for old-fashioned handwriting. The Natural History Museum in London is being helped by online volunteers who are transcribing old hand-written descriptions of the 780,000+ bird specimens in their collection. Some of the records date back to the 1830s but they were being handwritten…

  • Citizen science: measure 3D beak scans to help study bird evolution

    From your computer you can help Uni of Sheffield, UK, scientists study the evolution of biological diversity in birds. They are looking at beaks, which say a lot about a bird’s ecological niche (think hummingbird, toucan or pelican). The help they are after is marking ‘landmarks’ on 3D scans of beaks from birds in museum…

  • Science videoblog comp

    Got a science story to tell? Make a short video about it and enter RiAus’s Video Blog Competition [update: old link removed]. They are after creative, inventive and entertaining stories. There’s a ‘how to videoblog’ instruction video on the competition website. Entries close 16 October – then the video entries will be up online for…

  • FameLab Australia

    If you’re a young researcher passionate about science, want to up your presentation and media skills and fancy a trip to the UK’s leading science festival… read on. Applications for FameLab Australia 2015 are open Tuesday 27 January – Friday 27 February 2015. http://au.live.solas.britishcouncil.net/programmes/science/famelab. [Update – old link removed]

  • Ten or more of just about everything science communication

    You know how blogs posts/tweets etc entice you in with a number in the heading (ten best …, five tips on …)? Here’s even better: a compilation of lists and articles on all aspects of science communication from this week [update – old link removed], put together by Kirk Englehardt, Director of Research Communication and Marketing at Georgia Institute of…