Soapbox science set to take research to the streets

University of Queensland researchers will be among 12 women taking to the streets to share their passion for science at Australia’s first Soapbox Science event on Saturday 20 August. 

Co-organiser and UQ ARC Centre of Excellence for Environmental Decisions postdoctoral research fellow Dr Alienor Chauvenet said Soapbox Science Brisbane 2016 was a fun and interactive event with audience participation.

It will be a highlight of National Science Week 2016.

“This is the first Soapbox Science event in the southern hemisphere,” Dr Chauvenet said.

“We have selected 12 Australian women scientists from Queensland and New South Wales who will get on a soapbox and take their science to the streets.

“We showcase all career stages, from PhD students to lecturers and through to professors.”

PhD student Ms Caitlin Syme will share her passion for dinosaurs and explain how a fossil is like a crime scene; Dr Megan Saunders will discuss how sea level rises will change our coasts, and what Australians can do about it; and Professor Vicki Clifton  will explore how people could form attitudes to risk-taking before they even leave the womb.

 Dr Chauvenet said the aim was to promote the amazing work of these women; to challenge gender stereotypes, implicit bias and perceptions of what a scientist does and looks like; to bring science to the people direct from the experts; and to inspire new generations of scientists.

Soapbox Science was founded in the UK in 2011 by women academics from the Zoological Society of London and the University of Bristol.

Soapbox Science Brisbane 2016 is supported by the Queensland Government’s Advance Queensland initiative, the ARC Centre of Excellence for Environmental Decisions, and UQ’s Global Change Institute. A full list of sponsors can be found  here.

Soapbox Science Brisbane 2016 will be held from 1-4pm on Saturday 20 August in King George Square, Brisbane CBD.

Media: Dr Alienor Chauvenet, a.chauvenet@uq.edu.au, +61 431 281 940.

@SoapboxBrisbane, @SoapboxScience