Have you decided a PhD is the right thing for you? Congratulations! Now it’s time to make decisions about what you’re going to spend the next three of four years learning, thinking, reading and writing about.
Take a break for 5 minutes and listen to Jen and Michael’s thoughts about what you need to take into account when deciding what you’re going to do your PhD on.
You can find more great advice here:
Subscribe to our podcast newsletter, The ChitChat: https://letstalkscicomm.my.canva.site
This week we have the great pleasure of speaking with Dr Ariel Zeleznikow-Johnston, a neuroscientist based in Melbourne, Australia, and the author of The Future Loves You: How and Why We Should Abolish Death.
Ariel is currently a Research Fellow at Monash University - working with the Monash Neuroscience of Consciousness laboratory - where he investigates novel methods for characterising the nature of conscious experiences to aid in the ongoing quest to understand the neural basis of consciousness. Before that, Ariel obtained his PhD from The University of Melbourne in 2019, where he researched the mechanisms by which genetic and environmental factors affect cognition in healthy and diseased brains. He has published widely across the field of cognitive neuroscience, from the decline, preservation and rescue of cognitive function at different stages of the lifespan, through to characterising people's conscious experience of colour.
As an author, Ariel describes how recent neuroscientific advances may enable the suspension of death through brain preservation, potentially offering the dying the chance of future revival (while also exploring the medical, neuroscientific, and philosophical background required to understand this seemingly absurd claim).
You can find out more about Ariel and his work here:
You can watch the interview between Ariel and Jen at The Wheeler Centre here: https://www.wheelercentre.com/news-stories/2025/watch-how-to-live-forever
Subscribe to our podcast newsletter, The ChitChat: https://letstalkscicomm.my.canva.site
Feeling like you’ve lost your love of science? Wondering if you should be doing something different? Wishing you felt the same passion you used to feel for your study or work?
Settle in for 5 minutes and listen to Jen and Michael’s top advice about how to rediscover your curiosity and feel motivated and excited about science again.
You can find more great advice here:
https://medium.com/better-humans/how-to-rekindle-your-innate-curiosity-db4f55ca365a
https://www.ifocusandwrite.com/post/how-to-get-your-motivation-back-as-a-scientist
Subscribe to our podcast newsletter, The ChitChat: https://letstalkscicomm.my.canva.site
This week we had a fascinating chat with Troy Beer whose diverse experiences have led him from digital content creation to communication lead roles across multiple sectors: from environmental charities and health NGOs to government, universities, research centres and even retail. Each role has required him to work closely with stakeholders and subject-matter experts – interpreting complex information into compelling content for diverse audiences.
Troy says he has tried to work for places that make a difference, work with smart people who can teach him something and deliver creative work that in some way contributes to making positive change. Along the way he has seen the astoundingly complex work cancer researchers do, learnt how critical antibiotics are and how addictive nicotine is, seen threatened greater gliders fly from trees, stood heartbroken at the edge of forest destroyed for paper, plumbed the depths of fossil fuel follies, watched systems slowly change and been gently shown the insight 40,000 years in a place provides. He’s produced 1000s of webpages, a few apps, edited ideas and stories into real books and magazines, video and data into news, shorts and documentaries, plus kept asking people to care, to stop scrolling, and to think while on socials.
His approach begins with understanding stakeholder needs, identifying key audiences and the challenges they face—then to work across teams to map outcomes and connections that deliver creative solutions. All the while monitoring metrics and engagement to improve what his teams are trying to do: basically to tell a better story.
We’re sure you’ll enjoy listening to this conversation as much as we enjoyed having it!
You can find out more about Troy and his work here:
Transcript: To be completed
Our newsletter: https://letstalkscicomm.my.canva.site
Still thinking about a talk you gave that didn’t go as well as you’d hoped? Maybe you’re dreading your next talk as a result? In this episode we tackle the all-too-familiar challenge of bouncing back after giving a talk that didn’t go to plan.
Take 5 minutes to hear our advice on being kind to yourself, treating mistakes with curiosity, and turning reflection into a concrete plan for next time.
You can find more great advice here:
Newsletter: https://letstalkscicomm.my.canva.site
Transcript: https://go.unimelb.edu.au/jq3p
This week we loved chatting with Dr Kira Hughes, an aerobiologist and award-winning science communicator who is passionate about helping other researchers learn how to effectively communicate their science and advocating for underrepresented groups in STEM.
Kira has over five years of experience in science communication. She's presented at several public events, ranging from international conferences to comedy shows, and has been interviewed as a scientific expert for news articles, radio shows, magazines, & podcasts. She has applied her science communication skillset through outreach ventures encouraging students to pursue careers in STEM, as well as coordinating research-focused content for marketing campaigns. Kira has received numerous awards in science communication, including the 2023 Deakin University Three Minute Thesis Runner-Up & People's Choice Winner. Due to her outstanding work in science communication, she was recently named a Superstar of STEM by Science & Technology Australia. Currently, Kira works as a Research Grants Officer at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, where she helps scientists effectively communicate their work to secure funding for important cancer research.
Kira is an expert in aerobiology: the study of airborne allergens like pollen & fungal spores. While completing her PhD with the NeuroAllergy Research Laboratory (NARL) at Deakin University, her research focused on understanding the underlying factors of thunderstorm asthma and developing better ways to monitor allergens. Kira also worked on developing an innovative real-time sensor that could detect airborne allergens in less than one hour, which is not only significantly quicker than current technology, but may serve as an effective real-time warning system for thunderstorm asthma to help save lives. Her research will help scientists learn more about how these events unfold and create better methods for predicting future asthma epidemics.
You’ll love hearing about Kira’s passion for science communication and all the things she’s learned along the way over the past five years.
You can follow Kira and learn more about her work here:
https://scienceandtechnologyaustralia.org.au/profile/kira-hughes/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5R4jctjTGnI&list=PLeEQNZMTnnINcTA_lWJBqiTkla2qJnv5H&index=9
Transcript: https://go.unimelb.edu.au/yd3p
So the time has come to really nail your 3MT talk? Perhaps you’ve progressed from your local final to a Grand Final? Congratulations!
Take five minutes to tune into Jen and Michael’s top tips on how to craft a winning Three Minute Thesis Talk!
You can find more great advice here:
Welcome to Season 15 of Let’s Talk SciComm. We’re so thrilled to be back with another season after a bit of a break.
To get the season off to a wonderful start, we’re VERY excited to chat with the incredible Melissa Cristina Márquez. Melissa, (AKA Mother of Sharks) is a bilingual Latina marine scientist, science communicator, and award-winning author currently pursuing her PhD. Melissa’s scientific research focuses on the ecology, conservation, and public perception of elasmobranchs (sharks, skates, and rays), with a particular interest in how science can inform more equitable conservation policies. She has worked with a range of species across the globe, from tiger sharks in the Bahamas to Greenland sharks in the Arctic fjords of Svalbard. In addition to her scientific work, Melissa is an internationally recognized science communicator dedicated to making science more inclusive, accessible, and engaging. Her work has appeared in National Geographic, BBC Wildlife, and Forbes Science, where she is a regular contributor. She has appeared as a host and expert on programs for Discovery Channel’s Shark Week, NatGeo, and Animal Planet, and is a TEDx speaker, with her talk “Sharks and Female Scientists: More Alike Than You Think” challenging stereotypes in science and media.
Melissa is also a passionate author of children’s literature, including the middle-grade Wild Survival! series (published by Scholastic), Mother of Sharks and Sea of Constellations (both available in English and Spanish and published by Penguin Random House), as well as the forthcoming Leo's Lobo and Coral Keeper, and ocean-themed board books for babies and toddlers. Her stories combine adventure, education, and empowerment to encourage young readers — especially those from underrepresented communities! — to connect with nature and science. She also provides free, multilingual resources to educators and the public to foster greater understanding and appreciation of wildlife and nature. She has been invited to speak at global platforms such as the United Nations, the National Academy of Sciences, Oxford University, the University of Western Australia Global Leader Experience, and the National Science Policy Symposium. Through these avenues, she advocates for greater diversity in STEM, equitable conservation, and culturally relevant science communication. A proud Puerto Rican and Mexican woman in STEM, Melissa uses her voice to champion intersectional environmentalism, inspire the next generation of ocean advocates, and reframe the public narrative around sharks and the scientists who study them.
You will absolutely love hearing about Melissa’s incredible passion for sharing her work with diverse audiences.
You can follow Melissa and learn more about her work here:
Melissa’s TEDx talks: Sharks & Female Scientists: More Alike than You Think and How your thoughts can protect sharks
https://www.instagram.com/melissacristinamarquez/
https://www.threads.com/@melissacristinamarquez
https://www.facebook.com/MelissaCristinaMarquez/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissacmarquez/
Selected writing: https://www.forbes.com/sites/melissacristinamarquez/
You can find Melissa’s books here:
https://www.penguin.com.au/books/mother-of-sharks-9780593523582
https://www.penguin.com.au/books/sea-of-constellations-9780593753514
https://www.amazon.com.au/Crocodile-Survival-Melissa-Cristina-M%C3%A1rquez/dp/1338635050
https://www.amazon.com.au/Swimming-Survival-Melissa-Cristina-M%C3%A1rquez/dp/1338635085
https://www.amazon.com.au/Chasing-Jaguars-Wild-Survival-3/dp/1338635115
Are you working on a piece of writing and feel like everyone else has already written about the same thing? Are you looking for a way to make the topic fresh?
Stop for 5 minutes and tune into Jen and Michael’s top tips on how to find a new approach to writing about a popular topic.
You can find more great advice on writing here:
Have you got a group project coming up? Maybe you’ve had some bad experiences of working in a team before and you’re wondering how to make it better this time? Drop everything for 5 minutes and tune in.
In this week’s episode, Jen and Michael share their top tips on how to work harmoniously and productively in a group.
You can find more great advice here:
Have you lost your motivation? Do you need to get lots of things done, but you’re finding it hard to get started? Wondering how to get your mojo back?
Stop for five minutes and tune into this week’s episode of ‘Listen To This If….’ for Jen and Michael’s advice on how to rediscover your motivation.
You can find more great advice here:
Are you graduating soon, or have you recently graduated? Are you looking for ways to get ahead in your career?
Take a five-minute break to listen to Jen and Michael’s top tips on how to kickstart your career.
You can find more great advice here:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/networking-tips-early-career-scientists-lessons-from-science-tpfke/
https://conductscience.com/10-networking-tips-to-kickstart-your-graduate-career/
https://www.uopeople.edu/blog/12-networking-tips-for-students-who-want-to-get-the-best-jobs/
Transcript: https://go.unimelb.edu.au/jq8p
Is your writing too formal? Too boring? Or too hard to read? Have you been given the feedback that you need to make your writing more conversational?
Take five minutes to tune into Jen and Michael’s top tips on how to make your writing easier to read.
You can find more great advice here:
https://www.masterclass.com/articles/how-to-write-conversationally
https://www.ukri.org/what-we-do/developing-people-and-skills/mrc/the-secrets-of-science-writing/
https://entomologytoday.org/2014/11/25/5-ways-to-improve-your-science-writing/
Transcript: https://go.unimelb.edu.au/7t8p
It's that time of year when many of us are feeling overwhelmed by our to-do lists. If you have a big task on your list that you’re struggling to make headway with, it’s time for your 5-minute Friday pep talk.
Join Jen and Michael for their top tips on how to manage a sense of overwhelm and get stuff done!
You can find more great advice here:
https://www.calm.com/blog/what-to-do-when-you-feel-overwhelmed
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/12/well/mind/task-paralysis.html
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-manage-any-overwhelming-large-project-ellen-delap-cpo-3xuwc/
https://hbr.org/2019/10/how-to-deal-with-constantly-feeling-overwhelmed
Transcript: https://go.unimelb.edu.au/qj8p
Got a talk coming up? Worried your powerpoint slides are boring? Think your audience might get distracted or even doze off while you’re talking?
Stop for 5 minutes and tune into Jen and Michael’s top tips on how to improve your Powerpoint slides.
You can find more great advice here:
https://pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/articles/how-to-avoid-death-by-powerpoint
https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/this-working-life/how-to-avoid-death-by-powerpoint/104210448
Transcript: https://go.unimelb.edu.au/3jsp
Keen to start a new habit? Maybe you want to exercise regularly, read more papers or get more writing done? Well, if you’ve got 5 minutes, Jen and Michael are back with a new season of Listen To This If….
This week they’re giving you a quick Friday pep talk with their top tips on how to get started with a new habit. Listen now!
You can find more great advice here:
Three years later and we couldn’t be more excited to be sharing Episode 100 of Let’s Talk SciComm with you. We are so proud to still be creating this podcast and couldn’t be more grateful to YOU, our fabulous listeners, for continuing to support us.
To celebrate reaching episode 100 and the end of Season 13, Jen and Michael decided to turn the spotlight inwards and ask each other some of our favourite quick-fire questions, with a few new questions thrown in for good measure. We hope the result is a fun conversation in which you can get to know us a bit better and learn something about effective science communication along the way.
We’ll be back with more episodes of ‘Let’s Talk SciComm’ and ‘Listen To This If…’ in February 2025 and in the meantime, we wish you all the best for a lovely Festive Season and hopefully holidays filled with fun and rest.
We’d love to connect with you here:
Jen
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jen-martin-scicomm/
https://bsky.app/profile/scidocmartin.bsky.social
https://www.instagram.com/scidocmartin/
Michael
https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-wheeler-3872b869/
https://bsky.app/profile/michael-wheeler.bsky.social
It’s hard to believe this is the 99th episode of Let’s Talk SciComm!
As you can imagine, we are very excited to still be producing our podcast three years and 99 episodes later. To celebrate, we invited the rest of our fabulous teaching team - Dr Catriona Nguyen-Robertson, Dr Linden Ashcroft and Dr Graham Phillips back to the podcast. The five of us spend half an hour reflecting on the highs and lows of our science communication experiences and what we’ve learned along the way about how to be more effective communicators. We hope you’ll find our reflections helpful!
You can connect with us here:
Jen
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jen-martin-scicomm/
https://bsky.app/profile/scidocmartin.bsky.social
https://www.instagram.com/scidocmartin/
Michael
https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-wheeler-3872b869/
https://bsky.app/profile/michael-wheeler.bsky.social
Catriona
https://www.linkedin.com/in/catrionanguyen-robertson/
https://bsky.app/profile/nyuroscientist.bsky.social
https://www.instagram.com/nyuroscientist/
Linden
https://www.linkedin.com/in/linden-ashcroft-08640b59/
https://bsky.app/profile/lindenashcroft.bsky.social
https://www.instagram.com/lindenashcroft/
Graham
https://www.linkedin.com/in/graham-phillips-80b3b920/
https://www.instagram.com/grahamphillipsscience/
This week we had a fascinating conversation with speech pathologist and science communicator Dr Georgie Johnson. Georgie is a clinical researcher with an interest in childhood stuttering treatment and addressing the psychological impact of stuttering for children. Georgie completed her PhD in 2024 investigating management of stuttering during the school years. Part of this program of research was a treatment trial of an intervention to support 6-12 year old children who stutter from across Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and Hong Kong. From this trial, Georgie and colleagues have published a range of freely accessible practical recommendations and clinical resources for community clinicians to use to optimise treatment outcomes for their school age clients. Georgie is also one of the Directors of the Stuttering Association for the Young Australia (SAY AU) and continues to work in the field to explore psychosocial support for young people who stutter.
You can follow Georgie and find out more about her work here:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/georgie-johnson-5a87971b5/
https://bsky.app/profile/georgiejspeechpath.bsky.social
You can find out more information about SAY AU and their programs for young people who stutter at www.sayaustralia.com.au
This week we had the most wonderful conversation with wildlife scientist, woman in STEMM/STEAM, science communicator, author and vessel operator, Dr Vanessa Pirotta. You’re going to love hearing Vanessa’s infectious enthusiasm for all things science and science communication.
Vanessa’s research uses innovative technologies for wildlife conservation. Vanessa works collaboratively across both marine and terrestrial environments merging cutting edge technology to access animals in unique ways. Most notable works include drones to collect whale snot and the use of computer algorithms and AI for the detection of illegal wildlife trafficking.
Vanessa is a passionate and experienced science communicator who plays an important role in society by making science accessible across generations. Vanessa’s spoken on the TEDx platform and has been recognized by the Australian Financial Review as one of the top 100 Women of Influence and recently, a 2024 finalist in the Australian’s Museums Eureka awards for promoting understanding of science and winner of the 2024 Women’s Agenda Leadership Awards Emerging leader in Science.
Vanessa is working collaboratively with indigenous knowledge holders such as the Gamay Rangers, to learn more about the marine mammals in our blue backyard but also identifying appropriate ways scientists can respectfully incorporate First Nations perspectives into marine research. Vanessa is also the lead scientist of the citizen science program Wild Sydney Harbour, connecting community with its blue backyard.
Vanessa is also a proud children’s book author, with her book The Voyage of Whale and Calf, serving as an annual reminder of humpback whale biology and ecology in Australian waters. In 2024, Vanessa also released two additional books; The Humpback Highway: Diving into the mysterious world of whales and a second children’s book, Oceans At Night.
Vanessa is a highly experienced presenter and was the invited MC for the prestigious Prime Minister’s Prizes for Science at Parliament House, Canberra in 2023/24.
You can follow Vanessa and learn more about her work here:
https://www.vanessapirotta.com/
https://www.wildsydneyharbour.com/
https://www.instagram.com/drvanessapirotta/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/drvanessapirotta/
https://www.facebook.com/DrVanessaPirotta/
https://scienceandtechnologyaustralia.org.au/profile/dr-vanessa-pirotta/
