Science to the people

Last week I attended the Australian Science Communicators conference in Sydney on behalf of the Bushfire CRC.

The purpose of the event was neatly summed up by Paul Willis, the new Director of the RiAus, an organisation dedicated to the promotion of science which has as its motto “bringing science to people and people to science.”

In a post-conference blog, Paul wrote: “The message has come down from above that scientists need to get their message out to the wider audience of the Australian public. No longer can scientists beaver away undisturbed in some hidden laboratory conducting research largely at the public expense. If the research is paid for out of taxes, then the scientists ought to give an account as to how those dollars have been spent.”

Much of the research in the Bushfire CRC is now entering a stage where we are ready to do a good show and tell. A field trip to north-east Victoria, a seminar series at RMIT, a new video explaining the Fire DST project – these are only some of the activities happening now that are proving that Bushfire CRC researchers are not hiding in their labs.

Our scientists are indeed “bringing science to the people and the people to science” and there’s going to be a lot more of it in 2012.