And the Winner Is ...

STEM Public Speaking Grand Final 2022

Written by Georgie Aiuto

Edited by Yvette Marris

It is already November! Wow, the year has gone by so fast. 

A month ago, the Let’s Torque crew held the Grand Finals for their STEM Public Speaking competition. It had been a massive year with three workshops building our fellow undergraduate’s Science Communication comprehension, workshops for John Monash Secondary School, multiple blogs, podcasts and other online content. But all of our work had come to a head for our final event of the year. 

Held at Royal Society of Victoria (RSV) in Melbourne, five incredible Grand Finalists presented their speeches to a sold out audience that Monday night. Hosted by Clare Mullen, a Senior Climate Science at the Bureau of Meteorology and a professional science communicator, these finalists went head to head for the 2022 Championship.

The grand finalist presented their speeches: 

• Amelia Safai with “Therapeutic Cloning - Will a sheep save lives?”

• Bianca Mazzucheli with “Auditory Sensory Prevention Technology”

• Breana Galea with “Designing our Destiny’s presentation: How Protein Predictions can Change the World.”

• Reah Shetty with “Revolutionising Society with a Chip”

• Nicholas Tze Hoe Chan with “Teaching ML to Smell: making machine learning more versatile”

Getting to the Grand Finals was no easy feat. Participants not only had two rounds of elimination, but also submit a compelling proposal of their STEM idea and its applications economically, environmentally and socially. They were really pushed to think outside the box, and they did so terrifically. The semi-final, held at the University of Melbourne’s busy on-campus bar, challenged them to communicate their ideas to the general public in a noisy and crowded setting. Once again, competitors excelled. 

Finally making it to the Grand finals at RSV, the finalists were presented with a new challenge, to give their speech in a professional lecture style room in front of an audience of 50 people. Here, we were fortunate enough to have three extraordinary professional science communicators to be our judges.

Alanta Colley; a comedian, science communicator and storyteller. With a background in International public health, her shows have been; 'Parasites Lost', 'Days of our Hives', and a recent science comedy debate series 'Sci Fight'. 

Chris Thompson; the Director of Education at the Biomedicine Discovery Institute, Monash University and publisher in the fields of spectroscopy and computational chemistry. More recently in the field of science education and is co-author of Australia's most popular foundation chemistry textbook. 

And Sara Webb; a researcher focused on observational transient astronomy and a passionate science communicator who has presented on various national/international TV news programs, ABC radio, Joy FM, TikTok, face-to-face, and online presentations.

Not only did we have the incredible Grand Finalists’ presentations, but we also hosted three guest speakers to discuss their career and how science communication has helped them with their journey. 

Phoebe de Wilt; a Meteorologist at the Bureau of Meteorology took us through her personal science journey and how she was offered a role in various science communication jobs due to her passions for sharing her work to those who it affects, and being weather - that is everyone! 

Daniel Langley, a senior scientist at Universal Biosensors presented about his journey through various disciplines of science. A lot of his work overlapped with quite a few of the grand finalists topics, such as proteins and cloning. 

And finally, Ruwangi Fernando, an IT specialist and co-founder of STEMSisters and iSTEM explained the importance of communicating sciences to diverse audiences and how she strives to support women of colour in all STEM fields. 

All these incredible presentations were followed by a networking session for everyone to expand their connections. We were also treated with light refreshments and canapés. Let’s Torque crew member Jess has this to say about the event:

“The grand finals was an excellent evening! It was fascinating to hear all the speeches, and I got to hear about a whole variety of topics that I didn’t know much about - plus all of the participants were excellent speakers. It was also so valuable to be able to hear from industry professionals, and what brought them into science communication - the food and networking opportunities were great fun.”

Now, for the moment you’ve probably been waiting for (you might have even scrolled all the way to the button just to read this part), the winners of the 2022 STEM Public Speaking Competition! 

People’s Choice: Breana Galea with “Designing our Destiny’s presentation: How Protein Predictions can Change the World.”

Runner Up: Reah Shetty with “Revolutionising Society with a Chip”

And the grand winner of 2022…

Amelia Safai with “Therapeutic Cloning - Will a sheep save lives?”

Winners in the various categories were awarded an array of prizes, from cash to book vouchers, and some coveted memberships to some of Melbourne's greatest science establishments.

All these incredible speeches are uploaded to our YouTube Channel. Check out the playlist right here.

Sad you missed out? Stay tuned for next year’s competition or look out this November to see how you can join Let’s Torque’s 2023 team. 

2021 Let's Torque Grand Final

Amidst the excitement of Science Week, Let’s Torque held their annual STEM public-speaking competition.

We were honoured to witness the sharp and engaging presentations from some of the finest undergraduate science communicators!

Our fantastic judging panel featured esteemed science communicators: Catriona Nguyen-Robertson (@CatrionaNR), Dr Leonie Walsh (@lkw_sci) and Dr Shane Huntington (@DrShaneRRR).

The keynote address from Zoos Victoria’s wonderful Dr Marissa Parrott (@drmparrott) discussed the need for effective science communication to tackle misinformation and spark environmental protection.

It was inspiring to learn about the widespread impact of campaigns such as “When Balloons Fly, Seabirds Die”. Although this began as a call-to-action initiative discouraging plastic balloon use, the campaign succeeded with the recent statewide balloon ban.

Moving on to the competition. Another special thanks to each of the grand finalists for your enthusiasm and diligence behind the scenes. We are deeply grateful for your swift adaptation to the online transition of competition.

Fourth-place finalist, Luke Antzoulatos provided an insightful introduction into the novel application of nanoparticles against bacterial infection. Will a “cocktail” of nanoparticles become a remedy in the near future?

Nano-Terminators - Luke Antzoulatos

Sticking to the theme of a small-scale concept catapulting into far-reaching effects, audience favourite, Georgina Aiuto pondered how a snappy second affects GPS accuracy. Following the 2019-2020 bushfires, conservation of native animal populations may depend on how we define a “second”…

Take a Second for the Future - Georgina Aiuto

Just narrowly short of first-prize, Sanjeeban Chattopadhyay’s impactful delivery addressed a fresh solution to urban flooding. To keep your stroll in the streets flood-free, permeable pavements can absorb and redirect excess rainwater.

Permeable Pavements: A Key Design for a Water-sensitive Future - Sanjeeban Chattopadhyay

Finally (drum roll please), our first-place winner, Joshua Nicholls glimpses into the technical advancement of the bionic eye. Although replicating an organ is its own feat, it will have profound benefits for the visually impaired community.

Bionics: Seeing into the Future - Joshua Nicholls

Deepest gratitudes to RSV and our advisory board, as well as the Let’s Torque team for pulling this event together.

Missed the livestream? Don’t fret! Watch the 2021 Grand Final here.

2021 Semi-Finals

In the lead up to the exciting GRAND FINAL, let’s look back on our semi-final.

As well as the Olympics, early August held another spectacular competition.

Let’s Torque had the chance to meet our talented semi-finalists and listen to their stunning presentations.

Topics ranged from the recycling of cells from umbilical cords for medical application to the novel use of nanoparticles to fight against bacterial infection!

Although our fierce competitors were behind monitors, their charisma and passion were received loud and clear.

The snappy 4-minute time-limit definitely proved to be a challenge. However, our semi-finalists successfully assured us of a fascinating future for STEM ahead.

A warm congratulations to our semi-finalists, we’re incredibly proud of you all!

Get into the spirit of Science Week and join us this Saturday (20 August) for our GRAND FINAL from the comfort of your own home.

Don’t miss your chance to watch the next generation of STEM communicators.

• Georgina Aiuto - "Take a Second for the Future"

• Joshua Nicholls - "Bionics: Seeing into the Future"

• Luke Antozoulatos - "Nano-Terminators"

• Sanjeeban Chattopadhyay - "Permeable Pavements: A Key Design for a Water-sensitive Future"

Judging some of the most promising future STEM solutions will be the esteemed: Catriona Nguyen-Robertson, Dr Leonie Walsh FTSE, and Dr Shane Huntington OAM.

Visit our Facebook event for more info and to find the link to our livestream. Hope to catch you there!

STEM Public Speaking Grand Final 2020

Thank you to all participants for your hard work and commitment to enhancing your science communication skills. After a lengthy discussion, we’re proud to announce our six Grand Finalists for 2020. They will be judged through a live Q&A panel made up of three expert science communicators.

Tune into our Facebook livestream on 22 August at 6pm to support our competitors and vote for the People’s Choice Award!

2020 FINALISTS

Amy Xie

Bobby Le

Declan Jackson

Nathan Higgings

Sam Mackay

Rachel Stewart

Grand Final Judges

Dr Jen Martin

Jen is a former field ecologist who founded and teaches the University of Melbourne's award-winning Science Communication Teaching Program. She talks about science every week on 3RRR and was named the 2019 Unsung Hero of Australian Science Communication.

Twitter | Linkedin | Personal Blog

STEM Women Network | Unimelb Science Communication Blog

Professor Alan Duffy

Alan is a Swinburne astronomer working on dark matter, galaxy formation and cosmology. As Lead Scientist of the Royal Institution of Australia, he regularly communicates science on TV, radio and print as well as public events nationwide.

Twitter | Website

Alanta Colley

Alanta is a comedian and science communicator with a Masters in International Public Health.  She has toured nationally with her science comedy debate series 'Sci Fight', and was a recipient of the 'Inspiring Australia' Science Arts Grant in 2019.

Facebook | Website

5 ways to come up with an idea for your Talking Points

With the deadline for talking points coming up, we’ve been hearing a few people have been struggling to come up with topic ideas. So, we’ve put together five ways to find something to talk about!

1.      Something from a lecture
Has your lecturer been talking about some super cool research or science that you could talk about? Maybe this is a chance to look into it a little further?

2.      News sites
Websites like Cosmos or The Conversation have loads of interesting articles that could spark a speech topic. Try searching by your STEM field to see what you find!

3.      Things that you care about
Do you love the environment? Maybe there’s an amazing new piece of technology that extracts pollution from the atmosphere. Or is public health a passion? What about an exciting new, low-cost medical treatment to improve the lives of many?

4.      Research to address an issue in your area
Think of an issue affecting your area. Is traffic out of control? Water pollution reaching an all-time high? Mental health issues becoming a bigger problem? Look online for research trying to address this issue, who knows what exciting solutions you might find!

5.      Topic of a university project
Have you spent the last 12 weeks focused on one nitty gritty topic? Well you’ve already got half the content sorted – talking points will be easy! You’ll also nail any questions.

Remember, your talking points don’t need to be about something you’ve come up with on your own. All you have to do is find some exciting STEM research, and communicate it!

The Art of Presentations

Imagine the photos that adorn the various surfaces of your home; those photos are probably displayed within frames of different shapes, sizes and materials. Now, have you ever considered how your choice of frame can change mood and message conveyed with your photo? Exhibits displayed below.

One frame exudes a feeling of modern moodiness and mystery; the other frame manifests a vintage vibe. In the same way a frame can influence how a photo is perceived, so too can our mannerisms influence how our presentation is perceived by others. Undoubtedly, we have all met passionate people who have sent us to sleep when talking about their passions. Not necessarily because the content was sleep-inducing , but because the way those people spoke didn't do their topic justice.

We may be passionate and have the best ideas or information in the world, but if we can’t present it in a succinct, relatable, engaging manner, then our audience misses out. If that's the case, what can we do to put ourselves in the best position? As you craft a presentation, or even communicate in the everyday, consider the following:

• TEMPO - the speed at which you speak

• BEATS - the change in volume and speed. Imagine a drum - it can heavily influence the mood that music exudes simply by changing the rate and depth of percussion

• ENUNCIATION - the oft-underrecognised reason why people struggle to convey ideas. Avoid being a mumbler.

• MOVEMENT - use the "stage" to your advantage. Occasional movement to and fro will help your presentation become more dynamic and engaging. Similarly, an appropriate amount of hand gestures can help you emphasise your points and provide a physical frame for your words

• EYE CONTACT - the first thing people think of when they want to make a good presentation. Remember that eye contact should be made to EVERYONE. Do slow scans of the room to ensure you are providing equal amounts of direct speaking time to different parts of the room

A great example of the above can be seen here in Simon Sinek's presentation on "Why good leaders make you feel safe".

Next time you do any form of speaking, remember that your frame is just as important as your picture.

Audilia Sujana

Head and Heart

Have you ever wondered what persuaded you to buy a particular product? Maybe it was those new pair of earphones you bought last week even though you have various pairs lying around your home. Did you buy it because the sales assistant was cute? Probably not. Chances are, they presented an excellent sales pitch to you. Perhaps, they even made an appeal to your head and heart. But what exactly do we mean by "your head and heart"?

An appeal to the head is done through the presentation of knowledge and logic. This may come in the form of facts, statistics and graphs. On the other hand, an appeal to the heart made through an emotional connection. Storytelling and a call to action are often used.

Now, going back to our cute sales assistant. Maybe they started off by informing you of the features and benefits of these earphones. Portable, noise-cancelling, stylish. Yet that was insufficient in convincing you to make the purchase. Thus, they moved on to sharing why you personally needed the product. These earphones would revolutionise your life and provide you with the perfect auditory experience. Whether it be during study, travel or workouts, these portable gadgets would provide amazing sound clarity and were ergonomically perfect. Bam, you were hooked.

In the same way, we should always consider how we can appeal to the heads and hearts of individuals. Why should people believe you and why should they care? If we can answer these two questions for anyone (whether it be in a presentation or day-to-day conversation), then we’ve paved the way for them to come on board with us and take up our point of contention or call to action.

Some excellent strategies to be used are:

HEAD

• Use statistics, graphs, figures

• Structure your presentation in an ordered manner e.g. Cause-Effect-Solution

• Features and benefits

HEART 

• Use personal, individualistic stories

• Mention people and show faces - humanise the issue

• Utilise emotive language

• Explain the consequences of not agreeing with what you have to say

Remember, the aforementioned tips are only a starting point. You are the creator of your own presentation. How will you appeal to your diverse audience?

Audilia Sujana

Why does science communication matter?

Talking – a mastery of humanity. Communication, however, is an art, one that must be tailored to engage the audience. The words themselves need to be understood, and not only by colleagues but by outsiders and the general public.

Communication is an essential part of everyday life as a scientist. They must connect with a variety of audiences, by writing papers and proposals, presenting talks, and educating others both within and outside of the science community. Science has been around for thousands of years, and one would have thought that with such experience in communication, scientists would have the art down pat. No such luck. Whilst there has been an improvement in the past decades, a gap remains between the science community and the general public.

Science is exciting and thrilling, providing the opportunity to experiment and research. We are seeing ever more ambitious and pioneering studies being conducted globally, and into space. However, this rapid growth has led to increasing outflow of information and a change in the way scientific information is valued.  The media frequently controls this, giving priority to the speed of information dissemination to the public, rather than focusing on the reliability and quality of the source. “Frightful risk” and “new miracle cure” have become common headlines in our local and national papers despite the uncertain reliability of information sourced from a single study.

Uncertainty is inevitable in science, and scientists understand that their research often provides a mere snapshot of reality, and that cognitive bias may play a role in their interpretation of results. However, those who are uninformed about the uncertain nature of science may react to findings with unwarranted alarm or misguided hope. Others see findings and dismiss them, no longer trusting a scientific community which seems to regularly publish unhelpful and conflicting claims. The media regularly inflates these issues.

Effective science communication can remedy this problem by providing stronger evidence for claims and a link to the relevance of the research within society. Effective communication focuses on conveying a message clearly, simply and succinctly. The audience relies on engagement by the writer or presenter, prompting them to question the relevance of the information being offered.

Outstanding communication can capture the mind and imagination. It stimulates meaningful conversation and debate, granting science greater importance within society. Science festivals and television shows have already allowed this to occur, bringing popular science and research into the public domain. The uncomfortable awareness that I cannot set foot in the wild without David Attenborough’s soothing voice playing in my ear convinces me of this!

Scientists have a deep understanding of certain subjects. They are experts, but in order to communicate effectively they must be driven by the words of Albert Einstein:

“If you can’t explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough.”

Scientists must know their audience and adapt their words accordingly to present the essential messages – why does it matter? Why is this research important?

Science must be made accessible to the public. In turn this will create a stronger union between scientific and public values. Effective communication has the potential to escalate the impact of science in multiple spheres.

Amelia Pearson - Let's Torque Content Manager