Awarded the ATSE Technology Scholarship to attend Science Meets Parliament 2026!
Awarded the ATSE Technology Scholarship to attend Science Meets Parliament 2026!
I travelled to Canberra to attend the Science Meets Parliament 2026.
Science & Technology Australia put on a packed two days of talks, meetings with parliamentarians and informative sessions, with too many lessons and moments to cover in this post ! We learnt about how to effectively communicate our research to parliamentarians and to the media, how our government actually works, and the processes we can engage with as scientists and researchers. We even had lunch at the National Press Club and watched the address by the Minister for Industry and Innovation, Senator the Hon Tim Ayres.
Being in Canberra really brought me back to my time as a policy officer in the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water, and it was great to have the dedicated time and space to consider the ways I can engage effectively with policy now as an academic.
I was very fortunate to have a fascinating conversation with Senator Peter Whish-Wilson about the impact we are making with AI and robotics in marine conservation, and also about disinformation in climate science caused by AI. I also enjoyed discussing the new AI disinformation report and its implications with Senator Michelle Ananda-Rajah.
Another highlight was meeting Greg Jennett from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), and hearing his insights on media, science communication and how to get the word out about our research.
It was a pleasure to meet fellow SMP scholarship awardees and hear about all of your amazing work, looking forward to seeing more of what you achieve ! Great to get to know you Nathalie Simmonds, Johannes Wolfram Debler, Carolyn Heward and Simon Conn.
Finally a huge thankyou to Australian Academy of Technological Sciences & Engineering CEO Professor Kylie Walker AM and the ATSE organisation for supporting me with a scholarship to attend #SMP2026, it was an honour to attend and a transformative experience.
Acknowledging support from, and research collaborations with:
- QUT (Queensland University of Technology)
- QUT Centre for Robotics
- Reef Restoration and Adaptation Program
- Australian Institute of Marine Science
