Science Media Centre

There’s a new media movement run out of Australia that has been gathering momentum in recent years and which now has a foothold in New Zealand. The Conversation is a series of websites featuring commentary from academics on big issues facing society. It is headquartered in Melbourne, but now also has websites in Australia, the […]

A new fund to support science-related journalism projects is now taking applications. The Aotearoa New Zealand Science Journalism Fund is offering grants of between $500 and $10,000 for projects exploring science-related issues of importance to New Zealand. The independent fund is the first of its kind in New Zealand, the brainchild of Dr Rebecca Priestley, […]

If you think science and comedy don’t mix you are missing a trick. The last decade has seen a blossoming of science-related comedy, from stand-up comedian and physics Dara O’Briain to the Brian Cox and Robin Ince-hosted Infinite Monkey Cage BBC programme to Australian comic Tim Minchin, who considers himself a “gateway drug” to science, […]

The Prime Minister’s Science Prizes have been presented in Wellington today, dishing out a total of $1 million across five categories. The University of Otago team behind the world-renown Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study has been awarded the top prize of $500,000. The Dunedin Study, led by Professor Richie Poulton, has been following the lives […]

We love evidence, here at the SMC. So when the chance came up to put our own work under the microscope, we jumped at the opportunity. Earlier this year, we set out to evaluate the impact of the work we are doing with scientists, journalists and editors, with a particular focus on our Science Media SAVVY […]

The Science Media Centre is looking for a new team member to join our busy Wellington-based team of four. See the job ad on Seek and contact us below for a full job description. Media coordinator role Are you an excellent writer, able to translate complex science papers into crisp, readable summaries? Can you demonstrate strong news […]

RNZ’s Veronika Meduna, one of the country’s most experienced and respected science journalists, finished up co-hosting the popular Our Changing World show last week. After 17 years at the broadcaster, most spent producing and fronting science and environment stories for Our Changing World, it wasn’t her choice to go. Frozen budgets at RNZ and restructuring […]

If you think a well-written science article is still the key to communicating your research, think again. Despite promising news that the smartphone is actually conducive to consuming longform journalism, numerous studies into how we read stories online show most of us don’t finish the article. Many of us skip onto the next thing after a matter of seconds. […]

The new book Silencing Science, by University of Auckland physicist Professor Shaun Hendy highlights some recent examples of where scientists have been missing in action when the public needed their knowledge and insights the most. I can personally relate to this. During the Fonterra botulism scare, the 2014 Yersinia outbreak and for periods in the […]

The Science Media Centre and Mohawk Media will team up again in March to offer their popular science video training workshops in Wellington and Auckland. These Science Media SAVVY workshops focus on giving scientists the tools and skills to communicate their research in 90 second videos aimed at an online audience and leveraging platforms like Youtube […]