Communicating your Research

Communicating Research to a Public Audience, presented in partnership with the Council for Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences (CHASS), was a session presented at the 2009 CAPA Roadshow: NSW on Friday 14 August.

This practical session offered postgraduate students skills development in pitching research stories to Australian media outlets, using real-life case studies. Session panellists debated the most effective means by which postgraduates can use traditional and new media channels to communicate their research to a public audience. In addition to developing postgraduates' skills in research communication, this seminar looked to promote the value of public intellecutalism and offer researchers the confidence to apply their knowledge and skills to the pressing questions and challenges facing Ausatralia's society, culture, economy and environment in the 21st century.

Presented by Professor Catharine Lumby, Director of the Journalism and Media Research Centre at the University of NSW. Professor Lumby is a well-known public commentator who has worked as a news reporter, feature writer and columnist for a range of key Australian and international print media, including the Sydney Morning Herald and the Bulletin magazine. Her first degrees are in Fine Arts and Law and she has worked as a contemporary art critic, curated exhibitions and served on the board of the Museum of Contemporary Art. She currently sits on the Education and Welfare Committee and the Research Committee of the National Rugby League, advising them on gender issues, and is on the international editorial board of the International Journal of Cultural Studies.

Panellists included:

Helen O'Neil, Executive Director, Council for the Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences. Helen has extensive experience in public policy advocacy, working on successful projects in the creative arts and media areas. She was Executive Director of the Australian Major Performing Arts Group for seven years, marketing and communications Director for Opera Australia, worked on media and Australian cultural policy issues as a policy adviser with the ABC, and then as a ministerial adviser and consultant to the Minister for Communications. She was part of the Foxtel start up team, was its first corporate affairs Director, and also worked on new media and media regulatory issues with News Limited. Helen reported on national politics for ABC Radio current affairs and state politics for ABC TV after training as a journalist.

Kate Crawford is an Associate Professor and Research Fellow at the Journalism and Media Centre at the University of New South Wales, working across the areas of media theory, cultural studies, new media and mobiles and the social and cultural uses of Web 2.0. Kate is the author of Adult Themes: Rewriting the Rules of Adulthood, which critiques generational categories and presents the wider patterns of change in political engagement, property ownership, family formation and cultural consumption in Australia. She is also a Centre for Policy Development fellow.

Tony MacGregor, Acting Arts Editor, ABC Radio National. Tony is a writer and radio documentary maker and has been executive producer of Radio Eye, The LIstening Room and Surface Tension. His documentaries have been broadcat in Europe, the United States and Australia, and he has worked for radio stations in Germany and Denmark. He has won a Walkley Award for the radio documentary Awakening from History?

James West is a 27-year-old Australian writer and radio guy. James worked as a ‘Foreign Expert’ in Beijing from 2005 to 2006, during which time he was basically a lackey for Chinese state-run radio. He wrote his first book, Beijing Blur (Penguin) about his mind-spinning journey through Chinese youth culture: punk rock, bloggers, queers and cadres. After completing a masters in journalism at New York University, James returned to Australia, where he is now the executive producer of triple j’s current affairs program, Hack. James blogs at jameswest.net.au.