Science Communication: From practitioner to scholar and back again

Dr Priestley talks about blending a professional career in science communication with her academic career at Victoria University of Wellington.

Provost Lecture Series

March 2018

Today’s science communicators work in a ‘post-truth’ world in which facts don’t matter and climate-change deniers can win elections. At the same time, celebrity scientists regularly fill lecture theatres with $100-a-seat tickets. How does a science communicator navigate this conundrum? Should they just preach to the choir or is it possible to engage diverse audiences in big and complex conversations?

There are few better to discuss these questions than Victoria University of Wellington’s Associate Professor Rebecca Priestley, winner of the 2016 Prime Minister’s Science Communication Prize and the 2009 Royal Society of New Zealand Science Book Prize. Join Rebecca as she talks about blending a professional career in science communication with her academic career at the University. As well as sharing examples of her work, she will discuss the challenges and rewards of integrating science communication scholarship and practice.

The Provost Lecture Series is hosted by Victoria University of Wellington Provost Wendy Larner and brings together local and international speakers to discuss the world of academia—interesting research, personal journeys and the future of universities.

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