I really enjoy science communication and astronomy outreach. I think it’s both really important and really fun! Here you can find details, links and photos from some of my recent and favourite outreach projects. You can also read my blog!
The Naked Scientists in Croatia
In October 2017 I collaborated with the Australian Embassy in Croatia to bring Dr Chris Smith – from the internationally renowned Naked Scientists radio show and podcast – to Zagreb, Croatia for a two-day science communication extravaganza!
We ran a Science-Meets-Government session, a presentation skills workshop for students, an academic reception, a media meet-and-greet, high school visit, podcast interviews with scientists and a live show for the general public. It was incredible fun and I’ve written a series of blog posts about the experience, which you can find on The Naked Scientists website. You can watch the entire Naked Scientists live show here.
COSMOS outreach and communications coordinator
I’m currently the outreach and communications coordinator for the COSMOS team. COSMOS is a survey of a two-square-degree patch of sky that has been observed by many of the world’s ground and space-based telescopes. We are a team of more than 200 astronomers from all over the world who work together to share data and expertise for the purposes of studying galaxy evolution.
As an international team spread over many countries, it can sometimes be difficult to share our work with the world. That’s why myself and the communications team have been working on an online and social media presence for COSMOS.
You can find our website here, and also follow us on Facebook, Twitter and You Tube.
The COSMOS team meets once a year for our annual conference. During our 2016 meeting in Baltimore, USA, we teamed up with the Public Outreach people from the Space Telescope Science Institute to run a COSMOS edition of Astronomy on Tap. This was a great way for the general public to learn about science while also enjoying a beer!
Press Release
My research group at the University of Zagreb recently published a series of papers in a special edition of the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics. Alongside this, we published a press release explaining our work to the media and general public. You can check it out here. We also produced a series of short videos about our work. You can watch them on the COSMOS You Tube page in the VLA-COSMOS 3GHz Large Project playlist.
Public Lectures
I sometimes give public lectures or talks in high schools around Australia and Croatia. I’m always amazed at the incredible and intelligent questions asked by school students.
Recently I was also invited by the Australian Embassy in Croatia to present to Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop during her visit to Zagreb. We discussed robots in space and the upcoming Square Kilometre Array telescope!
Podcasts
How awesome are podcasts?! I’m a recent convert and can’t stop listening to them these days.
I was recently interviewed on the Jodcast podcast during a conference on star formation in Manchester, UK.
You can also listen to my dulcet tones on this Astrophiz episode.
