116. Listen To This If…You’re trying to choose a PhD topic
Have you decided a PhD is the right thing for you? Congratulations! Now it’s time to make decisions about what you’re going to spend the next three of four years learning, thinking, reading and writing about.Take a break for 5 minutes and listen to Jen and Michael’s thoughts about what you need to take into account when deciding what you’re going to do your PhD on. You can find more great advice here:https://study.uq.edu.au/stories/how-to-decide-phd-topichttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIk5cshQfKghttps://thesiswhisperer.com/2010/10/13/5-ways-to-know-you-have-the-right-thesis-topic/ Subscribe to our podcast newsletter, The ChitChat: https://letstalkscicomm.my.canva.site
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115. Interview with neuroscientist and author Dr Ariel Zeleznikow-Johnston
This week we have the great pleasure of speaking with Dr Ariel Zeleznikow-Johnston, a neuroscientist based in Melbourne, Australia, and the author of The Future Loves You: How and Why We Should Abolish Death. Ariel is currently a Research Fellow at Monash University - working with the Monash Neuroscience of Consciousness laboratory - where he investigates novel methods for characterising the nature of conscious experiences to aid in the ongoing quest to understand the neural basis of consciousness. Before that, Ariel obtained his PhD from The University of Melbourne in 2019, where he researched the mechanisms by which genetic and environmental factors affect cognition in healthy and diseased brains. He has published widely across the field of cognitive neuroscience, from the decline, preservation and rescue of cognitive function at different stages of the lifespan, through to characterising people's conscious experience of colour.As an author, Ariel describes how recent neuroscientific advances may enable the suspension of death through brain preservation, potentially offering the dying the chance of future revival (while also exploring the medical, neuroscientific, and philosophical background required to understand this seemingly absurd claim).You can find out more about Ariel and his work here: https://www.arielzj.com/ https://www.arielzj.com/the-future-loves-you https://preservinghope.substack.com/ https://x.com/ariel_zjhttps://bsky.app/profile/arielzj.bsky.social https://scholar.google.com.au/citations?user=kREqIeKKQMgCYou can watch the interview between Ariel and Jen at The Wheeler Centre here: https://www.wheelercentre.com/news-stories/2025/watch-how-to-live-forever Subscribe to our podcast newsletter, The ChitChat: https://letstalkscicomm.my.canva.site
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114. Listen To This If You've fallen out of love with science and need to rekindle your curiosity
Feeling like you’ve lost your love of science? Wondering if you should be doing something different? Wishing you felt the same passion you used to feel for your study or work? Settle in for 5 minutes and listen to Jen and Michael’s top advice about how to rediscover your curiosity and feel motivated and excited about science again. You can find more great advice here:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPdg7hGaDJIhttps://medium.com/better-humans/how-to-rekindle-your-innate-curiosity-db4f55ca365ahttps://www.ifocusandwrite.com/post/how-to-get-your-motivation-back-as-a-scientist Subscribe to our podcast newsletter, The ChitChat: https://letstalkscicomm.my.canva.site
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113. Interview with Communications and Partnerships Manager, Troy Beer
This week we had a fascinating chat with Troy Beer whose diverse experiences have led him from digital content creation to communication lead roles across multiple sectors: from environmental charities and health NGOs to government, universities, research centres and even retail. Each role has required him to work closely with stakeholders and subject-matter experts – interpreting complex information into compelling content for diverse audiences.Troy says he has tried to work for places that make a difference, work with smart people who can teach him something and deliver creative work that in some way contributes to making positive change. Along the way he has seen the astoundingly complex work cancer researchers do, learnt how critical antibiotics are and how addictive nicotine is, seen threatened greater gliders fly from trees, stood heartbroken at the edge of forest destroyed for paper, plumbed the depths of fossil fuel follies, watched systems slowly change and been gently shown the insight 40,000 years in a place provides. He’s produced 1000s of webpages, a few apps, edited ideas and stories into real books and magazines, video and data into news, shorts and documentaries, plus kept asking people to care, to stop scrolling, and to think while on socials. His approach begins with understanding stakeholder needs, identifying key audiences and the challenges they face—then to work across teams to map outcomes and connections that deliver creative solutions. All the while monitoring metrics and engagement to improve what his teams are trying to do: basically to tell a better story.We’re sure you’ll enjoy listening to this conversation as much as we enjoyed having it! You can find out more about Troy and his work here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/troybeer/https://wilderness.org.au/journalhttps://wilderness.org.au/iconic-placeshttps://wilderness.org.au/environment-award-for-childrens-literaturehttps://www.oceanaccounts.org/Transcript: https://go.unimelb.edu.au/t5zpOur newsletter: https://letstalkscicomm.my.canva.site
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112. Listen To This If You Need to Recover Your Confidence After Giving a Bad Talk
Still thinking about a talk you gave that didn’t go as well as you’d hoped? Maybe you’re dreading your next talk as a result? In this episode we tackle the all-too-familiar challenge of bouncing back after giving a talk that didn’t go to plan. Take 5 minutes to hear our advice on being kind to yourself, treating mistakes with curiosity, and turning reflection into a concrete plan for next time. You can find more great advice here:https://medium.com/@Johndavidson1/the-6-best-ways-to-recover-from-giving-a-bad-presentation-9e5e92204888https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1r6dqGHboeshttps://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-recover-from-bad-presentation-jim-gray/Newsletter: https://letstalkscicomm.my.canva.siteTranscript: https://go.unimelb.edu.au/jq3p
Hosted by Associate Professor Jen Martin and Dr Michael Wheeler, Let’s Talk SciComm is a podcast from the University of Melbourne’s Science Communication Teaching Program. Listen for advice, tips and interviews about how to communicate science in effective and engaging ways.
Show notes, transcripts and more info: https://science.unimelb.edu.au/engage/lets-talk-scicomm-podcast
Australia