Phenomics Australia hosted a Science Communication Internship in collaboration with the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science (CPAS) at the Australian National University (ANU).
We were looking for an enthusiastic student to help keep our audience up to date with the latest breakthroughs and impactful stories, and Bridget was the perfect candidate.
Read Bridget’s story below.
‘Over the past six months, I have had the opportunity to be an intern with Phenomics Australia, under Dr Marina Trigueros, the Communications and Outreach Coordinator. An opportunity I will forever be grateful for. Phenomics Australia is such an amazing network and to be a part of that is something I will never forget. ”
When I first started, I had never heard of Phenomics Australia, coming into the internship without foundational knowledge of how Phenomics Australia worked deepened my experience through learning what we do whilst being involved in the background processes. Working within the executive office gave me opportunities to work not only on communications but also to learn how the service worked on a larger scale.
I had the opportunity to sit in on a couple of the NCRIS Health Group comms meetings as they prepared for a presentation at a conference for an international audience. It was amazing to learn about the comms of an organisation in terms of writing social media articles, graphic design, responses to comments and media, and coordination between different groups and researchers.
I also had the opportunity to tour our facilities at JCSMR and the Australian Phenomics Facility (APF). Being able to see inside our facilities inspired my love of science and biology even more and I was absolutely fascinated by all the technology and the work it can produce. The tour of the APF was fascinating and I was able to watch one of the senior technical officers conduct an embryo transfer in mice.
It has also given me the opportunity to meet other communication officers in the science community and many researchers across our nodes. Meeting the NCI Communication Officer was incredibly helpful for the podcast I have been able to produce and gave an insight into what comms looks like at another organisation.
I have been lucky enough to produce a podcast during my time with Marina and Phenomics Australia. It has been a long process to get to where I am now, with three episodes recorded and waiting for production. As I learned more about what Phenomics Australia did and how we support researchers, I wanted to showcase this support and guidance through the podcast.
From an undergraduate student’s point of view, I wanted to highlight the support that Phenomics Australia provides and to encourage researchers to consider Phenomics Australia for their work. To me, the opportunity to work in an environment that supports researchers from the beginning to the end and opens multiple opportunities for collaboration with other researchers both within their node and across Australia is something that isn’t offered by other providers.
Coming from a country town, the research world can seem like something that is very difficult to break into, so the guidance that Phenomics Australia can provide is something that I want to make more aware not only for students but for any researcher looking for stability and an opportunity to conduct research with high-class technology and support.
“Phenomenal Science: The Journey of a Researcher with Phenomics Australia” emerged. We wanted to show the national connectivity of our nodes, so we contacted researchers from different nodes and services. I had the opportunity to interview two researchers, Dr Martin Pal (WEHI) and Dr Simon Jiang (ANU), and Ms Tina Cardamone (UOM). These three phenomenal people gave such invaluable insight into the expertise of our services, how our services are provided and the impact of precision medicine in society. Across these three episodes, I am able to showcase the experience of a researcher within Phenomics Australia (expertise), a user (impact) and a service manager (service), all three aspects of Phenomics Australia infrastructure. (Stay tuned for the podcast launch!)
‘This internship has been invaluable, it has given me so many opportunities to experience different aspects of the research world and I have gained many connections with researchers across Australia. I have learnt so much more about science communication from an industry view and the consideration that must be taken when creating social media posts and writing articles. The executive office has been an incredibly supportive environment to work in. They were always open to my ideas and having me participate in the meetings and showed their value for my work and presence. I have loved working with Phenomics Australia and the opportunity to shadow a senior communications officer and experience what science communication looks like from their view. Thank you, Marina and the office, for making my experience incredibly rewarding and fun. ”
CPAS (ANU) Science Communication Internship
The aim of the course is to enable students to apply their science communication knowledge, skills, and principles within a professional organisation. Students are placed in a government, education, industry, or NGO organisation for approximately one day per week for a semester.
Students will experience a real-life science communication workplace and understand how their science communication and professional skills and knowledge can be used there. They will also be able to demonstrate functioning science communication knowledge, both new and existing, and identify areas of further development for their future careers.
