Events+-+Past+&+Future

Wondering what I have been up to or what I am planning?

**Research Seminar** - **Monthly**
Have a key issue in science communication that you are eager to tackle? Thinking about studying for a PhD or masters by research?

The Science Communication Program at UNSW has been hosting a monthly seminar for research students and people considering returning to university for a research degree. That seminar series will be continuing in 2011.

If you would like to attend, let me know. Send one paragraph describing your background and current interests. That will be sent to current participants for informal 'approval' and to alert people who share your interests.

You are welcome to participate via Skype/online conferencing. Seminars occur on Monday or Tuesday evenings once a month. These evening meetings may be supplemented by lunch-hour discussions, depending on who is available and interested.

They begin with a 'check in' on how people are going. They then address one or two research-related topics suggested by a participant, such as how one can measure the effectiveness of a particular science communication effort.

We will not solve the world's problems, but we may make progress ...

**Australian Science Communicators 'trust' session - early 2011**
I have volunteered to organise a panel session for the New South Wales chapter of the professional organisation, Australian Science Communicators. The session is an outgrowth of a short presentation at the organisation's national conference in Canberra in February 2010.

My panel event, one of a number that ASC NSW puts on each year, will occur in September or October in a pub near Sydney's Central Station.

I am inviting colleagues from a range of disciplines to serve on the panel. The aim is to get beyond 'the usual suspects' and draw from fields that can provide valuable insights for science communication.

**Seminars in Uruguay - June 2010**
In June 2010, I was flown to Uruguay to present a set of seminars/workshops on my work in science communication. The invitation was offered as 'thanks' for helping to inspire university study of science communication at the University of the Republic of Uruguay in Montevideo. The inspiration was their participation in my World-Wide Day in Science project (WWDS) from 2003.

Participation there in WWDS grew from one student to a class of 30 students, selected from 100 students who desired to take the class in science communication. My collaborator in Uruguay, Prof Maria Pia Cerdeiras, turned the Day in Science into a national week of science and technology -- with workshops for members of the public and school students.

One of my seminars in Montevideo was hosted by a Uruguay-USA linkage association. The forum on science typically hosts winners of Fulbright Fellowships who are working in Uruguay. Here is a blog -- Science Corner -- with news and photos of the event -- search the page for 'Rifkin'.