National Science Week – Talent backgrounder
Siouxsie Wiles ....................................................................................................................2
SciBabe – Yvette d’Entremont ...............................................................................................2
Derek Muller ......................................................................................................................3
Brad Tucker.......................................................................................................................3
Alan Duffy .........................................................................................................................3
Amanda Bauer ...................................................................................................................4
Dr Sarah McKay.................................................................................................................4
Josh Richards – Science comedian & Mars One candidate ........................................................5
Young Tassie Scientists........................................................................................................5
‘Venom Doc’ Bryan Grieg Fry...............................................................................................5
Paul Willis .........................................................................................................................6
Chris Smith – ‘The Naked Scientist’ ......................................................................................6
Ben Britton ........................................................................................................................7
Imogen & Freya Wadlow .....................................................................................................7
Dr Karl .............................................................................................................................7
Bernie Hobbs .....................................................................................................................8
Ruben Meerman .................................................................................................................8
Gary Cass.........................................................................................................................8
Will Steffen........................................................................................................................9
Chris Lassig ......................................................................................................................9
Katie Mack ...................................................................................................................... 10
Clare Hampson................................................................................................................. 10
Questacon senior execs – Kate Driver & Dr Stuart Kohlhagen .................................................. 10
Limited availability ............................................................................................................................................................................ 10
Neil deGrasse Tyson ......................................................................................................... 10
Chris Hadfield ................................................................................................................... 11
Siouxsie Wiles
NZ scientist touring Australia talking about her twin passions of bioluminescence (think glow worms and
fireflies) and infectious diseases.
Contact: (for WA leg of tour) Christine Allen, [email protected] or 08 9215
0739; or (for TAS leg of tour) Wayne Goninon, [email protected] or 0408 388
881
Dr Siouxsie Wiles is in Australian talk about her research using bioluminescence to understand
how nasty bacteria cause infections and to search for new antibiotics.
Siouxsie has made a career of combining her twin passions of bioluminescence (think glow
worms and fireflies) and infectious diseases. In a nutshell, Siouxsie and her team make nasty
bacteria glow in the dark to understand how some deadly bacteria make us sick, and how we
can stop them. She still can’t believe she gets paid to do this for a living.
Siouxsie is also a keen tweeter, blogger, podcaster and radio commentator and has worked with
a number of artists to showcase how beautiful bioluminescent bacteria can be. For the last few
years she has also worked with Australian graphic artist Luke Harris, and his team, to make a
series of short animations describing some of nature’s amazing glowing creatures and the many
uses of bioluminescence in science. Did you know NASA use fireflies to search for extraterrestrial life?!
For her efforts, Siouxsie has been awarded the NZ Prime Minister’s Prize for Science Media
Communication and the Royal Society of New Zealand Callaghan Medal.
Science Week involvement:
 Art collaborations with Perth artists
 Perth Science Festival – http://www.scienceweek.net.au/perth-science-festival/
 Glow Girl and SciBabe in Hobart - http://www.scienceweek.net.au/glow-girl-and-scibabe-in-hobart/
SciBabe – Yvette d’Entremont
Yvette d’Entremont famously took an overdose of homeopathic sleeping pills. Not surprisingly she
survived. She’s touring Australian debunking pseudoscience.
Contact: Tania Ewing, [email protected] or 0408 378 422 or (for TAS leg of
tour) Wayne Goninon, [email protected] or 0408 388 881
In Australia for National Science Week, she’s the internationally famous blogger, SciBabe,
dedicated to debunking pseudoscience.
SciBabe is always looking at the alternative medicine and pseudoscience movements with a
skeptical eye, using a combination of real science and humour.
A resident of Southern California, she holds a BA in Theatre, a BSc in Chemistry, and an MSc in
Forensic Science, with a concentration on biological criminalistics and toxicology.
SciBabe knows a thing or two about attention-grabbing stunts in the name of science, like the
time she downed 50 homeopathic sleeping pills for a YouTube video (no stomach pumps
needed!).
Science Week involvement:
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Market of the Mind – http://www.scienceweek.net.au/market-of-the-mind/
Living Science at the Queen Victoria Market – http://www.scienceweek.net.au/livingscience-at-the-queen-victoria-market/
A sceptical look at pseudoscience (Adelaide) – http://www.scienceweek.net.au/askeptical-look-at-alternative-medicine-and-pseudoscience-2/
Scibabe in Australia (Sale) - http://www.scienceweek.net.au/scibabe-in-australia/
Glow Girl and SciBabe in Hobart - http://www.scienceweek.net.au/glow-girl-and-scibabe-in-hobart/
Derek Muller
Derek visited the world’s hot spots including Chernobyl and Fukushima for the new SBS series Uranium:
Twisting the Dragon’s Tail. His YouTube channel Veritasium has brought him global attention.
Contact: Jessica Parry, SBS publicity, [email protected], 0428 767 836 or
9430 3786
Derek Muller is an Australian-Canadian science communicator, filmmaker and television
presenter. He is best known for creating the YouTube channel Veritasium. Derek is a former
reporter for ABC’s Catalyst and is the host of the landmark new SBS series Uranium: Twisting the
Dragon’s Tail.
Back in Australia 21 August
Science Week involvement:
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TV series Uranium - http://www.scienceweek.net.au/uranium-twisting-the-dragonstail-episode-1-the-rock-that-changed-the-world/
WA event 26 August - http://www.scienceweek.net.au/derek-muller-meet-theuranium-documentary-maker/
WA event 27 August - http://www.scienceweek.net.au/science-busk-at-dusk-scitechfun-for-adults-only/
Sydney event host – Neil deGrasse Tyson 22 August http://www.scienceweek.net.au/an-evening-with-dr-neil-degrasse-tyson-2/
Canberra event host – Neil deGrasse Tyson 23 August http://www.scienceweek.net.au/an-evening-with-dr-neil-degrasse-tyson-2/
Brad Tucker
Brad is the brains behind the Science Week Guinness Book of World Records Stargazing record
attempts, led by Mt Stromlo Observatory. They plan to not just break it but to smash it, with thousands of
people using telescopes this weekend.
Contact: [email protected], 02 6125 6711 or 0433 905 777
Brad Tucker is an Astrophysicist/Cosmologist. He is currently a Research Fellow at the
Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Mt. Stromlo Observatory at the Australian
National University, and in the Department of Astronomy, University of California, Berkeley.
Brad is the brains behind the Science Week Guinness Book of World Records Stargazing record
attempts, led by Mt Stromlo Observatory.
Brad received Bachelor’s degrees in Physics, Philosophy, and Theology from the University of
Notre Dame. He then undertook a PhD at Mt. Stromlo Observatory at the Australian National
University, working with Nobel Laureate Brian Schmidt. He is currently working on projects
trying to discover the true nature of Dark Energy, the mysterious substance causing the
accelerating expansion of the Universe, which makes up 70% of the Universe. He is the lead of
the Kepler Space Telescope Key Program to understand why and how stars blow, and leading a
project to create a network of ultraviolet space telescopes to be built in Canberra.
Science Week involvement:
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CSA ambassador
World Record Stargazing - http://www.scienceweek.net.au/world-record-stargazing/
Border Stargaze - http://www.scienceweek.net.au/border-stargaze/
Alan Duffy
Alan Duffy is a gun young astronomer. He wants Australians to get online and classify galaxies – real
science, part research into how galaxies evolve.
Contact: [email protected], 03 9214 3876
Research Fellow at Swinburne University.
I'm a professional astrophysicist and passionate science communicator. I investigate how
galaxies form as well as studying the larger properties of the Universe, and try to explain it to as
wide an audience as possible. Currently I am at the Centre for Astrophysics and Computing at
Swinburne University. Before then I was a postdoctoral researcher at the University of
Melbourne, and a postdoctoral research associate with ICRAR at the University of Western
Australia. Prior to all this antipodean fun I obtained my PhD from the Jodrell Bank Centre for
Astrophysics and spent a year or two as a postgraduate at the Sterrewacht, Leiden Observatory
in The Netherlands.
@astroduff
Science Week involvement:
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Galaxy Explorer
Amanda Bauer
Amanda Bauer is an up and coming astronomer and communicator. She’s just m/ced two Neil deGrasse
Tyson talks and wants Australians to get online and classify galaxies – real science, part research into
how galaxies evolve for the national experiment – Galaxy Explorer.
Contact: [email protected], 02 93724852
Amanda Bauer is an American professional astronomer and science communicator, currently
working in Australia. She is a Research Astronomer at Australia's largest optical observatory,
the Australian Astronomical Observatory (AAO), where her principal field of research concerns
how galaxies form, how they create new stars, and particularly why they stop creating new
stars. She is better known to the public through her efforts as the AAO Public Outreach Officer.
@astropixie
Science Week involvement:
 Galaxy Explorer
 Host of Neil deGrasse Tyson events in Melbourne and Brisbane
 Astronomy night, Penrith - http://www.scienceweek.net.au/astronomy-night/
Dr Sarah McKay
Dr Sarah McKay is a neuroscientist turned science writer who translates mind and brain research into
simple strategies for health and wellbeing.
Contact: [email protected] or 0412 002 226
She lives on Sydney’s Northern Beaches where she combines running her science
communications business with raising two little surfer dudes.
Sarah completed her DPhil at Oxford University where she spent her time examining
neuroplasticity in the developing brain before moving to Sydney in search of sunshine. After five
years postdoc research she hung up her lab-coat to pursue a career in science writing. Instead of
examining neurons and synapses through the microscope lens, Sarah now considers the
workings of the brain through the lens of everyday life.
Sarah blogs about neuroscience (Your Brain Health), and speaks and writes about the brain to
help others discover, understand, and implement the latest findings from the world of
neurobiology.
Science Week involvement:
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Among the brains (pardon the pun) behind Neural Knitworks (multiple events)
http://www.scienceweek.net.au/neural-knitworks/
Panellist for Science of Wellness - http://www.scienceweek.net.au/sydney-ideasbringing-science-to-wellness/
Josh Richards – Science comedian & Mars One candidate
Physicist, Explosives Engineer, Soldier, Stand-Up Comedian and Astronaut Candidate – one thing Josh
Richards can never be accused of is being boring. Now he hopes to go to Mars.
Contact: [email protected], 0481 303 457
In the last decade he’s picked up booby traps for the Australian Army, slogged through mud
with the British Commandos, used napalm in a music video for U2, been a science advisor to the
richest contemporary artist in the world, and performed with some of the world’s top
comedians while wearing a giant koala suit to confused audiences from Los Angeles to
Edinburgh.
Josh found his true calling in late 2012 when he discovered the Mars One project. Selected from
over 200,000 initial applicants, Josh is now one of 100 worldwide astronaut candidates shortlisted to leave Earth forever and become the first to colonise Mars in 2025.
Science Week involvement:
 Festival of Bright Ideas – TAS – http://www.scienceweek.net.au/josh-richards-frommars-one-10am/
 Putting Oxygen & Art on Mars – Adelaide, Sydney and Melbourne
 How to become an astronaut – Laneway Learning – VIC http://www.scienceweek.net.au/how-to-become-an-astronaut
Young Tassie Scientists
Meet the Young Tassie Scientists – a group of communicators who are travelling around the state talking
to schools and the broader public.
Jeremy Just will be taking an explosive look at the science of light and its impact on the human race at
the Festival of Bright Ideas in Hobart. In the lab and field, Jeremy is a ‘barista scientist’ – using a coffee
machine, packed with plant specimens, to extract organic natural products for chemical analysis. Jeremy
is studying Chemistry & Science Communication at the University of Tasmania.
Aimee Bliss is planning her next big trip – an expedition to Antarctica with 42 other selected female
scientists from around the globe. She is a Bachelor of Science Student at the School of Biological
Sciences, University of Tasmania.
Contact: Sarah Bayne, [email protected] or 0419 472 539; or Adele Wilson,
[email protected], 03 6226 2287 or 0449 013 689
More Young Tassie Scientists
Science Week involvement:
 Events across the state - http://youngtassiescientists.com/event/
‘Venom Doc’ Bryan Grieg Fry
Deadly snakes, milking them for venom. What more do I need to say.
Contact: Bryan Grieg Fry on [email protected] or 0400 193 182
Science Week involvement:
 Venom Doc book launch and author talk - http://www.scienceweek.net.au/venom-docauthor-talk/
 Should science be sexy? - http://www.scienceweek.net.au/should-science-be-sexy-howcan-we-inspire-future-scientists/
Paul Willis
Palentologist and head of the RI Aus, Paul will be ‘Making Babies’ this weekend – or at least discussing
how to make a healthy baby in the 21st Century at a public forum in Adelaide.
Contact: [email protected] or (08) 7120 8600
Dr Paul Willis is a respected leader in the science community, and joined RiAus in 2011,
continuing an impressive career in science and science communication.
Dr Willis has a background in vertebrate palaeontology, studying the fossils of crocodiles and
other reptiles. He also has an extensive career in science communication working for the ABC on
TV programs such as Catalyst and Quantum as well as radio and online. He’s written books and
articles on dinosaurs, fossils and rocks, and now, as Director of RiAus, he’s finding new ways to
engage the people of Australia with the science that underpins their world.
Dr Willis has a solid research career in vertebrate palaeontology, and has the distinction of
having discovered a number of significant vertebrate fossil specimens, including a small
dinosaur and a large ichthyosaur. He has led eight public expeditions to Antarctica, authored
and co-authored seven books on dinosaurs, rocks and fossils and authored many popular
articles on science subjects across a wide range of topics.
Science Week involvement:
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RiAus sci-ku competition – http://www.scienceweek.net.au/riaus-sci-ku-competition/
My Research Rules (Adelaide) - http://www.scienceweek.net.au/the-great-debate-myresearch-rules-2/
Chris Smith – ‘The Naked Scientist’
Virologist and Naked Scientist Chris Smith is visiting from Cambridge. His hundreds of radio
appearances around the world include a regular slot on Fran Kelly’s show on RN.
Contact: Christine Allen, [email protected] or 08 9215 0739 or 0468 676
933; Jane McNamara, [email protected] or 0418 391 124
Dr Chris Smith BSc MB BChir PhD FRCPath - "the Naked Scientist" - is a consultant virologist and
a lecturer based at Cambridge University where he is a fellow of Queens' College. He is also a
science radio broadcaster and writer, and presents the Naked Scientists, a programme which he
founded in 2001, for BBC Radio and other networks internationally, as well as 5 live Science on
BBC Radio 5 Live.
In addition to the Naked Scientists, he appears live every Friday morning on Australia's ABC
Radio National Breakfast with Fran Kelly, supplying an update of the week's leading science
news. He is also a contributor to Robyn Williams' The Science Show on the same station, and
also appears on Johannesburg-based South African station TalkRadio 702 for thirty minutes
every Friday morning with a half hour science news round up and listener question phone-in.
Radio New Zealand National's This Way Up show, hosted by journalist Simon Morton on
Saturdays, also includes a Naked Science contribution from Chris, and since 2013 BBC Radio
Norfolk have been running a Naked Scientists Wednesday teatime science phone-in as part of
their Drive Time offering.
Science Week involvement:
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Perth Science Festival – http://www.scienceweek.net.au/perth-science-festival/
Southwest Science Spectacular – Light the Future Science Show
http://www.scienceweek.net.au/light-the-future-science-show/
Animal, human, environment – where is the next challenge coming from? http://www.scienceweek.net.au/animal-human-environment-where-is-the-nextchallenge-coming-from-2/
Ben Britton
Ben Britton is the Director of Wild Animal Encounters, and face of Nat Geo Wild on the National
Geographic Channel.
Contact: Christine Allen, [email protected] or 08 9215 0739 or 0468 676
933
He is passionate about wildlife and believes strongly in
conservation through education. Ben has more than 20 years
professional experience in animal husbandry and wildlife
displays. Ben has appeared in a number of documentaries and
on various television programs educating people about
wildlife conservation.
Science Week involvement (largely Perth events):
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Perth Science Festival Saturday, August 15 2015 till
Sunday, August 16 2015. 11:00 AM - http://www.scienceweek.net.au/ben-britton-atperth-science-festival/
Saturday, August 15 2015. 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM Kanyana Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre
http://www.scienceweek.net.au/ben-britton-at-kanyana/
Monday, August 17 2015. 12:00 PM to 2:00 PM http://www.scienceweek.net.au/benbritton-at-meet-the-scientist/
Monday, August 17 2015. 7:00 PM to 8:30 PM http://www.scienceweek.net.au/animalhuman-environment-where-is-the-next-challenge-coming-from-2/
Imogen & Freya Wadlow
The science twins are multi-award winning 20 year old NSW twin go-getters performance science
circuses in shopping centres because they can.
Contact: Erika Wadlow (mum), Email: [email protected], Phone: 0415 532 080
Having set-up Planet Patrol at the age of 10, Imogen & Freya had
a few years to become used to presenting in public. They've stood
on information stalls, ran educational groups in libraries, been
guest speakers and organised and lead many environmental
events. They're creative, organised and fairly unflappable.
For three years, they've co-curated ‘The Amazing Science Circus’
for National Science Week at the Powerhouse Discovery Centre.
This year the Amazing Science Circus hits a shopping centre!
They have an innate ability to communicate clearly and instantly create a good rapport with all
ages and positions. With a real passion for all things science - kids respond to their whacky
sense of humour, whilst organisations have appreciated their ability to understand issues from
a business perspective.
Imogen and Freya are currently undergraduates in Science and Politics at Macquarie University.
Science Week involvement:
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http://www.scienceweek.net.au/amazing-science-circus
Science Circus ringmasters, Imogen and Freya, will be on hand to help you get your geek
on for National Science Week. Join the Hills own science twins for a celebration of what’s
cooking in the lab at Castle Towers Centre Court.
Dr Karl
Australia’s crazy-shirted science guru.
Contact: [email protected], 02 9351 2963
Science Week involvement:
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Galaxy Explorer advertisements on ABC
Southwest Science Spectacular – Light the Future Science Show
http://www.scienceweek.net.au/light-the-future-science-show/ and school event
http://www.scienceweek.net.au/science-outreach-at-the-super-science-spectacularsouth-west/
Uluru Astronomy Weekend - http://www.scienceweek.net.au/uluru-astronomyweekend-2/
Bernie Hobbs
ABC Science Online writer, broadcaster, The New Inventors judge, funny girl and former medical
researcher.
Contact: via [email protected]
Bernie Hobbs is an award-winning science writer and broadcaster with ABC Science Online.
Best known as a regular judge on ABC TV’s The New Inventors, Bernie is also the brainchild
behind the online science game ABC Zoom, where you zoom down to the microscopic and
molecular levels to make repairs in everything from a synchrotron to a retina. Bernie writes a
regular column exploring science basics, and she can be heard talking science on radio each
week, and hosting science events around the country. In previous lives she’s been a science
teacher, medical researcher and one of the stars of the ABC kids’ science show the
experiMENTALS. Bernie has worked in the digital sphere for over 15 years, which may explain
why she’s not on Facebook and doesn’t tweet.
Science Week involvement:
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2015 Menzies Debate host – prostate cancer checks –
http://www.scienceweek.net.au/2015-menzies-debate/
Cooks River Day Out - http://www.scienceweek.net.au/cooks-river-day-out/
Ruben Meerman
Better known as the Surfing Scientist, Ruben is a broadcaster, science communicator and now fatbusting myth-busting PhD student.
Contact: [email protected]
Ruben Meerman, mostly known as The Surfing Scientist, is a Scientist, Australian Television
Science Presenter and Public Speaker also commonly performing science demonstrations for
school kids. The Surfing Scientist frequently appearing on ABC's children's television show
Rollercoater until it ended in 2010. Ruben is a proud supporter of free education of literacy,
numeracy and science for all, he was educated on the free Australian public education himself.
The Surfing Scientist often performs scientific demonstrations for school children, usually using
liquid nitrogen in his demonstrations. He is currently working on research on the science of
weight loss and researching where does the fat go when you lose weight.
Science Week involvement:
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Southwest Science Spectacular – Light the Future Science Show
http://www.scienceweek.net.au/light-the-future-science-show/ and school event
http://www.scienceweek.net.au/science-outreach-at-the-super-science-spectacularsouth-west/
Gary Cass
One third scientist, one third artist, and one third entertainer
Contact: email [email protected]
Gary Cass has been a key scientific collaborator with numerous art
and science projects based at the University of Western Australia,
contributing a vast range of skills in agricultural and biological
sciences to ongoing research projects.
He’s the Scientific Director (aka Crazy Scientist) of The Scientific Creativity Initiative. Our best
description of Gary is that he’s one third scientist, one third artist, and one third entertainer!
"Knows a little bit about science, a little less on safety and probably nothing about art!"
Science Week involvement:
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Made the dress made of beer, on the runway at
Gastronimical! at Perth science Festival http://www.scienceweek.net.au/gastronomical/
Microscopic crystal art workshop in Bunbury http://www.scienceweek.net.au/microscopic-crystalworkshop/ and http://artpartnersbunbury.com/eventsactivities/crystal-photography-workshop/
Will Steffen
Professor Will Steffen is a climate change expert and researcher at the Australian National University,
Canberra. He’s among the panel discussing ‘can science save humanity?’
Contact: [email protected], 02 6125 7265
Will Steffen has a long history in international global change research, serving from 1998 to
2004 as Executive Director of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP), based
in Stockholm, Sweden, and before that as Executive Officer of IGBP's Global Change and
Terrestrial Ecosystems project.
Prior to taking up the ANU Climate Change Institute Directorship in 2008, Steffen was the
inaugural director of the ANU Fenner School of Environment and Society. From 2004 to 2011 he
served as science adviser to the Australian Government Department of Climate Change. He is
currently a Climate Commissioner with the Australian Government Climate Commission; Chair
of the Antarctic Science Advisory Committee, Co-Director of the Canberra Urban and Regional
Futures (CURF) initiative and Member of the ACT Climate Change Council.
Steffen's interests span a broad range within the fields of sustainability and Earth System
science, with an emphasis on the science of climate change, approaches to climate change
adaptation in land systems, incorporation of human processes in Earth System modelling and
analysis; and the history and future of the relationship between humans and the rest of nature.
Science Week involvement:
 Can Science Save Humanity? - http://www.scienceweek.net.au/can-science-savehumanity-how-analytical-science-controls-our-lives/
 Is this how you feel? (exhibition in Melbourne) - http://www.scienceweek.net.au/isthis-how-you-feel/
 Best festival ever: how to manage a disaster - http://www.scienceweek.net.au/bestfestival-ever-how-to-manage-a-disaster/
Chris Lassig
Physics, eco and science communication guru and all-round nice guy Dr Chris Lassig is talking time
machines, physics and his science hero this Science Week. He also presents ‘Lost in Science’ on radio
3CR.
Contact: via Natalie Bedini, [email protected], 0420 908 096
Science Week involvement:
 Laneway Learning: Build your own time machine http://www.scienceweek.net.au/build-your-own-time-machine/
 The Laborastory National Science Week edition 2015, VIC http://www.scienceweek.net.au/the-laborastory-national-science-week-edition-2015/
 Astronomy and Light Festival at Scienceworks http://www.scienceweek.net.au/astronomy-and-light-festival/
Katie Mack
Astrophysicist and Twitter star
Contact: via Natalie Bedini, [email protected], 0420 908 096
Science Week involvement:
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The Laborastory National Science Week edition 2015, VIC http://www.scienceweek.net.au/the-laborastory-national-science-week-edition-2015/
Astronomy and Light Festival at Scienceworks http://www.scienceweek.net.au/astronomy-and-light-festival/
Clare Hampson
Dr Clare Hampson is a trainee pathologist, medical advisor for the ABC series The Doctor Blake
Mysteries and a Eurovision enthusiast.
Contact: via Natalie Bedini, [email protected], 0420 908 096
Science Week involvement:
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The Laborastory National Science Week edition 2015, VIC http://www.scienceweek.net.au/the-laborastory-national-science-week-edition-2015/
Questacon senior execs – Kate Driver & Dr Stuart Kohlhagen
Questacon’s Acting Director Kate Driver and Director of Science and learning Dr Stuart Kohlhagen are
passionate about involving Australians from all walks of life in science and National Science Week.
Contact: Rian Kent [email protected] or phone 02 6270 2947
Kate brings experience across a number of fields including: law; strategic policy; programme
management; policy implementation; corporate governance; change management; property;
security; business continuity; and human resource management. Drawing from her skills and
experience across a variety of senior roles in the public sector in the last seven years, and prior
to that as a private practice solicitor, Kate’s reputation has been built on a foundation of
delivering quality results with an emphasis on excellence in stakeholder management and
leadership.
Stuart has worked with Questacon since 1979, working with the founding Director to help
establish many aspects of our current activities. During this time he has lead the design and
development of interactive exhibits, he has also helped shape and deliver many of the
programmes, shows and demonstrations that form a key part of Questacon’s activities and
outreach programmes. Stuart has lead the delivery of numerous international workshops on
exhibit development and has been especially active in supporting professional development of
science centre staff from diverse countries.
Stuart is closely involved with the University of Canberra’s School of Science and Education in
facilitating the development of the new Masters of teaching course and is President of the
Australian Science and Technology Exhibitors Network (ASTEN).
Science Week involvement:
 Big picture
Limited availability
Neil deGrasse Tyson
Astrophysicist, author, celebrity, wrestler, world-recognised badass, currently touring Australia with gigs
in Sydney and Canberra this weekend.
Contact: Suzi Jamil, [email protected] or 0424 805 323
Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson is an astrophysicist, author, celebrity, wrestler, world-recognised
badass. After a behemoth teenage expression of interest in the universe which caught the
attention of legendary astronomer Carl Sagan, young Neil deGrasse Tyson graduated Harvard
University where he majored in physics, moving on to Columbia University where he earned
Master of Philosophy and Doctorate of Philosophy degrees in astrophysics.
In the more public spheres, Tyson is renowned as a science communicator and host of Cosmos: A
Spacetime Odyssey (the follow-up to Sagan’s own 1980 series Cosmos: A Personal Voyage), and is
recognised widely for his views extending outside the realms of science, in his own words
governed by two main philosophies: “…know more today about the world than I knew
yesterday, and lessen the suffering of others.”
The author of books such as The Sky is Not the Limit: Adventures of an Urban Astrophysicist
(2000), co-authored Origins: Fourteen Billion Years of Cosmic Evolution (2004), and Death by
Black Hole: And Other Cosmic Quandaries (2006), Tyson serves as a reminder for the wonders of
scientific discovery and the universal interest in, well, the universe. He strives to make science
and rational thought accessible to audiences of all ages, genders, nationalities, and professions,
with equal parts relevance, reverence, and humour.
Science Week involvement:
 Tour details on Science Week website
Chris Hadfield
A spaceman and musician who performed A Space Oddity in orbit. Touring Australia with gigs in
Melbourne and Sydney this week.
Contact: Nikita at IP Publicity [email protected]
Chris Hadfield has lived a life most of us can only live vicariously. ‘A Spaceman’s View of the
Planet’ takes us on a journey to the International Space Station, where Chris Hadfield’s daily life
is dedicated to countless scientific experiments studying the universe, testing spaceship design,
and monitoring the human body’s reaction to weightlessness – ultimately to enable mankind to
travel into deep space.
Science Week involvement:
 Tour details on Science Week website
Australia’s eighteenth National Science Week will be one of Australia’s largest festivals, with
1,500 plus registered events expected to reach over a million people.
The festival is proudly supported by the Australian Government; partners CSIRO, Australian
Science Teachers Association and the ABC; and sponsors NewScientist, Cosmos, Popular Science
and PrimaryConnections.
National Science Week General media enquiries:
Tanya Ha – [email protected] or call 0404 083 863
Niall Byrne – [email protected] or call 0417 131 977