This week we were absolutely thrilled to speak with one of our favourite people: Tilly Boleyn. Tilly (she/her) is the Head of Curatorial, Science Gallery Melbourne, University of Melbourne. Basically, she’s a massive nerd, curious about the world and everything in it. She is a collaborative creature at heart and heads the team with a mixture of organisation, chaos, humour and sassy backtalk. She loves connecting people, making space for thought, and challenging people to back up their opinions in an imagined recreation of Mad Max Thunderdome. Her background is in museums, galleries, education, events, festivals, broadcasting and research. Originally a microbiologist, Tilly ran from the lab to the ABC, where she discovered a talent for science gossip – talking about other people’s science rather than doing her own. She then morphed into a curator and has created exhibitions on health, medicine, experimentation, the voice, engineering, sustainability, mental health, dark matter, identity and genders. Tilly is delighted by blurring the boundaries between science, art, design, technology, maths, engineering and large-scale-batteries-powered-by-human-urine. Currently she plots with scientists and artists to deliver a rolling series of innovative and thought-provoking shows to engage audiences with the bleeding edge of human knowledge.

You can follow Tilly and learn more about her work here:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/tilly-boleyn-a5397535/

https://x.com/tillsify

https://www.instagram.com/tillyboleyn/

https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/ockhamsrazor/art-science-gallery-giant-urine-battery/102998322 (Tilly’s Ockham’s Razor talk)

https://collection.powerhouse.com.au/object/166791

https://collection.powerhouse.com.au/object/560724

https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/newslocal/inner-west/powerhouse-museum-curator-tilly-boleyn-feeds-leeches-who-are-part-of-an-exhibit/news-story/222bdadf317c15bb01c952e630d01631

This week we had a fabulous conversation with multi-award winning science journalist Dr Jackson Ryan. Jackson is a former molecular biologist and current freelance science journalist with a focus on longform and narrative non-fiction science writing. He served as the Science Editor at CNET.com between 2018 and 2023 and was the 2022 winner of the Eureka Prize for Science Journalism. In 2024, he is co-editing the Best Australian Science Writing anthology -- and you should buy it! His longform writing has appeared in The Guardian, The Saturday Paper, The Monthly and Nature.

You can follow Jackson and learn more about his work here:

https://www.jacksonwryan.com

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacksonryanscience

https://x.com/dctrjack

https://sjaa.org.au (Jackson is President of the Science Journalists Association of Australia)

https://www.linkedin.com/company/science-journalists-association-of-australia

You can read Jackson’s Antarctica stories here: https://linktr.ee/dctrj

Transcript: https://go.unimelb.edu.au/i4b8

This week we were privileged to have a wonderful conversation with Dr Rachel Nowak who is a consultant, an advisor, a scientist and a journalist. She has been working in science, technology and innovation on three continents.

Her specialities include science journalism, knowledge mobilisation, research and technology assessment, and stakeholder engagement.

She has been Washington Bureau Chief and Australasian Editor of New Scientist magazine. She was Director of Research Marketing and Communications at the University of Melbourne. She founded the social-good brain tech start-up The Brain Dialogue and is currently a Consultant Editor with Custom Media at the Nature Springer group.

Rachel did her PhD in agricultural science at the University of Leeds. She studied writing, alongside poets and novelists, at The Johns Hopkins University.

Her award-winning science journalism has changed R&D and medical practice, and research law and policy around the world.

Rachel immigrated to Australia on a Distinguished Talent visa for her international record of outstanding achievements in science communication.

You can follow Rachel and learn more about her work here:

https://www.nowakassociates.net/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-rachel-nowak-gaicd/

https://twitter.com/DrRachelNowak

Transcript: https://go.unimelb.edu.au/6nb8