Last month I had the privilege of flying to Dublin to attend this year’s “Effects of Noise on Aquatic Life” conference, also known as Aquatic Noise 2016. Not only was I able to present the first two chapters of my PhD thesis, but I was able to contribute to the conference itself as part of the Media Committee.
Members of CMST attending the Aquatic Noise 2016 Conference in Dublin
Over 300 people from 23 countries attended the week-long conference, including representatives from universities, government research institutions, fisheries, and industry groups. Talks were given regarding a variety of acoustic topics, including descriptions of noise sources, sound propagation analyses, and the responses of numerous animal species. Conference attendees also included ten members of my lab, the Centre for Marine Science and Technology (CMST). It was great to head overseas as a team, presenting our research to an international audience!
My talk was part of the student speed sessions – five minutes to describe our research and findings, followed by an evening poster session where we had the chance to answer questions, engage in discussions, and network. I feel the talk went well, despite my nerves. I’m much more used to interactive presentations involving members of the public than presenting to seasoned professional scientists. But even without any audience participation, dramatic displays or unexpected explosions, I think I did alright! You can view my poster by clicking here: Marley AN2016 Poster.
Being on the Media Committee meant I was part of a team responsible for promoting the conference, particularly our public evening. This was attended by over 70 members of the public, who had an evening of lectures and short videos (more about this in my next post!). I was also involved in live-tweeting the conference. This was a way of extending the conference reach to the masses, scientists or otherwise, by posting summaries of each talk on Twitter under the conference hashtag. I’ve now summarised each day of talks as a separate story using a combination of Tweets from myself and other conference attendees, which are available for anyone to read using the links below:
MC Robyn Williams revs up the crowd at the FameLab Australia Final 2015 (Photo: OK White Lane)
My last post spoke of my experience competing in the WA State Heat of FameLab. Although I was delighted to be voted the Peoples Choice by audience vote, unfortunately only the winner and runner-up of each state heat progress to the National Final.
Or so I thought…
But a couple of weeks after the State Heat, I received a phonecall from FameLab Australia organiser Chris Hodge, inviting me back to present again as the British Council Wildcard entrant. So I made it to the Final by a fluke!
Sussing out the Competition
The FameLab Australia Final involved entrants from New South Wales, Victoria, ACT, Queensland and Western Australia. A mix of PhD students, post-docs, and scientists-with-real-jobs we covered a range of subjects from coughing guinea pigs to spider behaviour, gut bacteria to brain function, biofuel to artificial intelligence. A mysterious group of people at the best of times, especially when most of us had never met before!
I had the chance to suss out one of the competitors, David Farmer, on a radio interview with ABC Melbourne presenter Lindy Burns. Ironically, when discussing the Australian competition, the station had managed to select two Scottish people to interview. So this combined with dolphins, lasers and squishy brains made for some great banter in a pretty unique interview!
With competitors like that, it was obviously going to be some stiff competition…
Love and Science
Media trainer Malcolm Love (far left) with some of the FameLab Australia 2015 finalists (Photo: OK White Lane)
The lead-up to the National Final included two days of media training with science communication guru Malcolm Love. Chief Trainer of FameLab International, Malcolm was originally a freelance journalist in South America before working for the BBC as a producer on features and documentaries for over 20 years. He is now a specialist in the public engagement of science, giving lectures on the subject at the University of West England and providing training for a range of science-stakeholders, as well as hosting his own weekly radio show “Love and Science“. So this guy knows what he’s talking about.
In the training, we covered a variety of topics including body language, story-telling and interview tips. But one of the best things about it was interacting with people who love science communication. Many scientists still hold onto a fear of presenting to the public, and worry about “dumbing down” their research or coming across as boring. But all the participants were obviously people who were passionate about their research, and it is hard not to get swept up in that kind of enthusiasm! So it was an awesome two days of being a science geek with other science geeks and discussing how to turn other people into science geeks too!
The Final
Nothing like a bad dolphin joke to kick-start your presentation… (Photo: OK White Lane)
A sell-out event with over 200 people in attendance, the final was a bit more nerve-wracking than the state heat. But I always tell presenters that you just have to try changing the nervous energy into excited energy, so when I stepped up to the spotlight I tried to remember my own advice. Unfortunately, I still felt my performance lacked the right mix of enthusiasm – even as I was speaking, I knew it sounded over-rehersed. So although the crowd laughed in the right spots and seemed keen, I knew it wouldn’t be a winning presentation. But that’s okay – there will be others!
Science is a serious business – need to work on that intense expression! (Photo: Ok White Lane)
The overall winner of FameLab Australia 2015 was Dr Sandip Kamath, with Dr David Farmer coming a close second. Sandip is studying shellfish allergies at James Cook University, and spoke of his ambition to help people overcome these reactions – with the help of Mr Pinchy the lobster, his side-kick slash prop. David moved away from squishy brains and lasers to give a fascinating description of his research at the Florey Institute of Neuroscience, investigating the cough reflex and brainstem function. To see photos from the night, check out the British Council Flickr Page.
And, of course, we all had fun celebrating at the FameLab after-party! The official function was in the WA Maritime Museum, with some speeches and lots of well-wishers… But the scientists and British Council crew headed out into Fremantle to celebrate afterwards! After all, we’re twelve of the top young science communicators in the country!
So now, as Sandip flies to the UK to compete in the FameLab International Final at the Cheltenham Science Festival, for the rest of us it is back down to Earth. I’m back in a world of fieldwork, marking student assignments, and desperately trying to finish the first scientific paper of my PhD. I can see all my new sci comm pals talking about the same reality bump on Twitter. But to be honest, getting back to research is quite exciting enough… for now!
One of the things many scientists find challenging is how to explain their research in an interesting manner.
It’s one thing preparing your research for academic publications – there is a recognised structure to follow, certain items to always include, and feedback from co-authors and reviewers to improve your writing. But presenting that same information to the general public is a whole other ball game. How do you keep a class of undergraduates interested for a whole 2hr lecture on underwater acoustics? How do you encourage community volunteers to develop scientific thinking skills? How do you explain your research to media personnel in a way that makes it exciting and worth sharing?
These are problems that I find really interesting. Obviously traditional science communication (academic publications and presenting at scientific conferences) is important. But I’ve spoken before of the importance of also becoming a virtual scientist, and learning new science communication techniques to promote your research. So I was pretty chuffed last week to find myself at a day-long workshop on “Science Communication and Presentation Skills” as part of FameLab Australia.
Bringing Science into the Spotlight
Taking the Stage at FameLab Australia WA Competition to discuss underwater acoustics
FameLab is one of the world’s leading science communication competitions. It aims to get people “talking science” by mentoring young scientists and engineers to turn them into awesome communicators. Similar to the 3-Minute-Thesis Competition (3MT), speakers are given only 3mins to explain their area of research – no powerpoint, no labcoats, no jargon! Organised by the British Council, there are over 45 countries participating in the event, having their own national finals to determine their competitors for the final FameLab International Competition in the UK.
I was encouraged by Curtin University to enter, so went along last Thursday to the workshop, which culminated in the WA State Finals that evening. The workshop was held by three local science communicators – Emma Donnelly (Science Outreach Coordinator; Curtin University), Sarah Lau (Communication Managed; ChemCentre), and Renae Sayers (Theatre and Events Coordinator; Scitech). We spent an amazing day bouncing around between flaming hands, personal brands, communication platforms, and vocal toolboxes. It was like a step back into my former Science Presenter life… If I could find a way to incorporate explosions, liquid nitrogen, and / or flaming limbs into my dolphin presentations, I would be complete!
Like Taking a Keyboard from a Baby
For my talk, I really wanted to get people thinking about underwater soundscapes. To do this, I wanted to use an example that people could relate to – and since I knew my audience would majorly consist of young to middle-aged adults, I figured comparing the underwater environment to a bar would be a pretty nifty metaphor! Almost everyone in the audience had probably experienced the masking effects of background noise in a pub at some point, so it nicely familiarised the problem faced by dolphins.
How do a keyboard and a martini glass explain underwater noise?
But how to illustrate this on stage? FameLab requires the use of a prop, which I struggled with for a while. I got a friend to record some bar sounds from his weekend exploits, but playing them on stage quickly became a logistical pain. The rules didn’t allow me to use the FameLab sound system, and bringing my own wasn’t feasible.
But a brainwave on the treadmill (I often problem-solve whilst walking) reminded me of the last time I was babysitting. Owen wandered over to the electric keyboard, switched it on, and pressed the ‘random filler’ option to churn out some beats before dancing around in circles for ten minutes.
Random cheesy filler music would make a great bar-sounds alternative – loud enough to make the point, whilst being tacky enough to be funny. Win!
Two Dolphins Walk into a Bar…
The resultant talk wasn’t filmed as part of FameLab, but Phil managed to catch the talk on his phone. The volume is a bit low, but still gives a pretty good video of my performance!
“Tursiops Wins Again!” – Lyn Beazley presents me as the FameLab WA People’s Choice winner
I was delighted to be awarded People’s Choice by audience vote, but unfortunately I didn’t make it through to the Australian Finals. The judges consoled me afterwards by saying that it was my lack of results rather than my performance which hindered my progression to the next round, and strongly encouraged me to come back next year. Although, as a friend kindly pointed out, it means I got the votes of 200 audience members as opposed to 3 judges!
Regardless, I still enjoyed the whole experience! I always enjoy the chance to talk about dolphins and get people excited in science! And it was a wonderful opportunity to meet some fellow science enthusiasts whilst flexing my science communication skills. Plus applause isn’t something you get often in research, so that was pretty appreciated!
A massive congrats go to Amber Beavis (WA Museum) and David Gozzard (UWA) who were the winner and runner-up for the WA competition. I can’t wait to see you guys at the Australian final down at Fremantle in May!
Any More Talks?
But looking at the birthday card I got from the department this week, perhaps I should be focusing more on my research for a while – I appear to be getting a bit of a reputation 😛
For the last few weeks I have been working on the first chapter of my PhD describing the underwater soundscape of the Swan River. Overall, this has been a really good way of becoming more familiar with identifying underwater sounds. By far the most baffling of which have come from fish.
All about that bass: Hard-core headphones are becoming my default fashion accessory at the moment…
It turns out that many fish species produce a whole variety of ridiculous sounds, including quacks, knocks, grunts, sirens, trumpets and even Rolf Harris impersonations (sounds like his infamous wobble-board). These sounds are all produced in different ways: some are made using sonic muscles located on or near the swim bladder; others sounds are the result of the fish rubbing together or striking its skeletal components; and sometimes even changes in swim speed or direction can result in noise production.
But, like many animal sounds, the purpose of many fish noises is still to be determined. Sound production might be intentional, in the form of vocalisations or calls, in which case noises are most likely signals to other animals (e.g. to attract mates, warn off competitors, co-ordinate with conspecifics, or raise the alarm about predators). However, sounds can also be produced unintentionally as the result of feeding or swimming. And when your subjects are mostly occurring in the cold, dark oceanic depths it can be pretty tricky to figure out the behavioural context of recorded sounds!
The majority of sounds produced by fishes are of low frequency, typically less than 1000 Hz. By themselves they can be pretty hard to pull out of a large dataset, thus requiring a systematic search through potentially months of data. But a really cool characteristic of some fishes is that they call in choruses. This is when multiple (dozens or even hundreds) of individual fish within the same area produce the same call.
3MT Trans-Tasman 2014 Sarah Marley and Rosanna Stevens
“… Sarah Marley from Curtin University“
When I heard those words, my heart stopped. I did the “shocked-actress-wins-award” face. I hugged my friends sitting on either side. I repeatedly gasped “oh my goodness“. I may have even made a rather embarrassing Oscar-worthy acceptance speech. Now over a week later and I am still riding the high 🙂
View the talk below:
Now let’s back up a bit.
The 3-Minute-Thesis (3MT) competition was developed by the University of Queensland back in 2008. It was intended to be an exercise in communication for graduate students, giving them just three minutes to explain their PhD to a generalist audience. Since then, the competition has expanded to universities around the world.
I’ve known about this competition for a couple of years now, after seeing various friends compete to present their own PhD at other universities. I couldn’t wait to become a student myself and give it a go! So when Curtin University emailed around to announce that registration was open for the 2014 competition I immediately sat down, wrote my talk in 20mins, and started practicing!
The Curtin heats were a couple of months ago, where I surprised myself by not only making it through to the Curtin Final top ten but also by winning my heat. “A great start,” I thought. “Now back to fieldwork!” as I prepared for the second trip up to the Kimberleys. A few weeks later, I made the special one-night-only trip back from Broome to Perth for the Curtin Final, and won both the Final and the People’s Choice award! Certainly justified the trip down!
All the competitors from the 3MT Trans-Tasman 2014 competition at UWA
But the Trans-Tasman Competition was the hardest yet. I was competing with winners, so you can imagine that the standard of talks was extremely high! Most amazing of all was the team spirit – everyone was so nice to each other! After every presentation, the speaker would return to the “green room” amid cheers and high fives from their opposition 🙂 It was a great vibe!
Then it was time to give my talk…
Not a stutter in sight! Quite different to 4 yrs ago…
As I stepped on stage, I felt such a buzz. I love the work that I do, and the opportunity to talk about it always gets me excited! Quite a far cry from four years ago, when I could barely give a short talk to a group of friends without blushing and stuttering my way through the presentation. So I felt a certain glow of accomplishment at having enjoyed something that just a few years would have terrified me!
From a happy glow to radiating surprise, I was ecstatic to be chosen as winner of the 3MT – but the whole experience was a delight! From the thrill of presenting to the team spirit backstage to the happiness of making new friends, the whole 3MT journey has been a blast. If you ever have the opportunity to take part I would thoroughly encourage you to do so! Even if you’re not confident of your presenting skills, just ask yourself – when will you get a better opportunity to try?
But work on your potential acceptance speech beforehand, and practice your photo face:
Me laughing manically as I receive my giant novelty cheque from sponsor James Mercer. Sorry James…
Now all that is left is for me to thank my partner, my friends, my family, my university, the organisers, the sponsors, the judges, the competitors, the audience, the backstage staff, my high school science teacher, my pets…
My talk was part of the student speed sessions – five minutes to describe our research and findings, followed by an evening poster session where we had the chance to answer questions, engage in discussions, and network. I feel the talk went well, despite my nerves. I’m much more used to interactive presentations involving members of the public than presenting to seasoned professional scientists. But even without any audience participation, dramatic displays or unexpected explosions, I think I did alright! You can view my poster by clicking here: Marley AN2016 Poster.
Dr Sarah Marley 