How to nominate

Nominations for 2010 are now closed. Nominations for 2011 will open early next year. Selection criteria will be similar to those detailed below.

Fresh Science 2010 will be held in Melbourne from Monday 7 to Thursday 10 June 2010.

Please:

Why nominate for Fresh Science?

Fresh Science offers the potential for wide media exposure for your work. It helps young researchers develop expertise in presenting their ideas clearly to a general audience and to the media.

Fresh Science also assists the media to identify and publish accurate stories about Australian science, and demonstrates that science in Australia is exciting, vibrant and successful. Fresh Science encourages and provides recognition for Australia’s best young scientists and engineers.

The selected researchers are likely to gain substantial media exposure. In previous years our Fresh Scientists have attracted national and international interest resulting in hundreds of media stories in Australia and overseas.

Details of previous winners and their press releases can be seen on the Alumni page.

The Fresh Scientists will:

  • participate in a one-day media and communication training course
  • have access to experienced science communicators to advise them on talks, media releases and interviews
  • swap ideas with other participants
  • present their research to the media and to public audiences
  • take part in a Fresh-Science-at-the-Redback event
  • attend an evening event with representatives from business, government, research and the media
  • have the opportunity to, and be expected to, participate in talks in their home state during Science Week.

Travel and accommodation will be provided for participants from outside Melbourne. Melbourne-based participants will be provided with accommodation for the key nights of the event.

Selection criteria

The sixteen Fresh Scientists will be selected by the Fresh Science selection committee, which comprises scientists, journalists and science communicators. The committee is looking for people who can tell an interesting story in everyday language about their significant, peer-reviewed, scientific achievement.

The selection will be made on the basis of the nomination form submitted. This means how your application is written will be used as a guide to your ability to communicate in everyday English.

You must write your own entry.

You must have peer-reviewed results and you must be able to explain what you have found, not what you are hoping to find or discover.

The committee will select the Fresh Scientists not only on quality of their science, but also on the newsworthiness of their topics. Our selection will also include a spread of disciplines, topics, gender and states.

  • Your research must have been conducted in Australia or you must be an Australian scientist.
  • Your research must have reached a significant milestone and produced peer-reviewed results. You must present evidence of peer review.
  • Your research must be newsworthy, but it must not have had significant media coverage.
  • Your research must be current, that is, it will have been published or concluded since 1 January 2009.
  • Your research must be cleared for public and media presentation. You may need to consult with your collaborators and commercial partners before nominating.
  • You must demonstrate the ability to present your research to a lay audience in a clear, interesting and informative way.
  • You may represent a research team if you have played a substantial role in the research and so can be named as spokesperson. If chosen, you will be the only team member invited to participate in Fresh Science.
  • You must be an early-career scientists, for example an honours  or PhD student or a post doc. Age per se is not a criterion but you must have completed your PhD (if you have one) no more than five years ago.
  • You must not have an established media profile.

We will only receive nominations online using the Fresh Science nomination form.

  • Note: we are using SurveyMonkey to collect the nomination information – this makes it much easier for us to manage the nomination and judging processes – without the complexity of designing our own interactive interface.
  • We recommend that you use the Word version of the nomination form to prepare your nomination. You can complete the form off-line, save it and then cut and paste the information into the online form to submit your nomination.
    Here is the Word version: Fresh Science 2010 nomination form in WORD or right click on this link to save the file on your computer.
  • Then jump online to the nomination form.

Fresh Science is supported by the Federal government’s Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, Museum Victoria and New Scientist.

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