What we are working on in May

• designing an online knowledge portal on bioenergy for primary industries, for the Rural Industries R&D Corporation
• rewriting scientific documents in plain English for the Office of the Gene Technology Regulator
• interviewing people in the Federated States of Micronesia and the Cook Islands for case studies on climate change adaptation, for the federal Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency
• running a Talking science with the media workshop for the Waite Research Institute, University of Adelaide
• running a ‘Communication for success’ event for the Aquatic Agricultural Systems research program, WorldFish, in Penang, Malaysia
• interviewing farmers who have recently joined the Climate Champion program (Albury)
• writing about grains research, for the northern region of the Grains R&D Corporation
• developing an urban biodiversity program, for the Gold Coast City Council
• developing an iBook showcasing the research outcomes of the Queensland University of Technology Business School
• developing a communication plan for the Inspiring Australia / University of Queensland project, ‘Locating science: Mapping ecological themes in Australian film and literature’
• developing 6 science journalism training modules for Inspiring Australia (with The University of Queensland, the Australian Science Media Centre and the University of Western Australia)
• developing a website for Inspiring Australia’s national audit of science engagement activities
• advising on Inspiring Australia’s evaluation tool project
• publishing the next edition of CliMag, for the national Managing Climate Variability program
• writing a brochure on careers for women in the tuna fishing industry for the Secretariat of the Pacific Community
• providing communication support to the Pacific region’s Heads of Fisheries (Noumea)
• making 2-minute videos for the ‘Talking Scientists’ program of the Queensland Department of Science, Information Technology, Innovation and the Arts

• My team experienced an early Christmas wish when Econnect rescued a highly technical document and turned it into something readable by a general audience (thank-you Mary and Sarah). While we greatly appreciated your wordsmithing skills, we equally appreciated the calm, reasonable and reliable approach to the job. So thank-you!

  Joan Meecham

  Queensland Government - Healthy HeadWaters CSG Water Feasibility Study, 2012

• I like this monthly e-newsletter. I trust it. It communicates. That’s because the authors do the hard work for the reader. When it arrives, the reader knows it will need only 3-4 minutes to read. And for that small investment there’s nearly always a dividend. The authors make it attractive and easy to navigate. The sentences are short. This makes the ideas less complicated. This means it communicates. And when the message is always positive, it quickly builds the reader’s trust. You can’t say that about most e-newsletters.

  Greg Clough

  Communication Specialist, Center for International Forestry Research, Indonesia

• You’ll be pleased to know that I trash most newsletters, but always try to have a look through yours. As you say, the art of capturing an idea in a visual way is to simplify without being simplistic.

  Richard Stirzaker

  Principal Research Scientist, CSIRO Land and Water

• The workshops together with booklets were fantastic - managing the media I thought was harder than "climate change" - now it’s been made easier. Good fun - nice group interaction left feeling good /worthwhile allocation of time.

  Jennie Hawkins

  Farmer and participant in the Climate Champion program