On the 23rd of March, I found myself on a plane winging it down to Canberra. I had no idea what to expect. Sure, I had been told that it would an amazing experience, and that I would be provided with a lot of information in the coming days, but to be honest, I was still nervous.
So what
exactly is Science meets Parliament (SmP) and why was I nervous?
Science meets Parliament is an event run by Science and Technology Australia. Its goal is to provide
professional development and networking opportunities to scientists from around
Australia in order for them to better understand and communicate with media,
policy makers and parliamentarians. The program looked amazing, with an amazing
list of notables in the speaker line up, including Nobel Laureate Brian
Schmidt, Chief Scientist Ian Chubb and Minister for Science and Industry Ian
McFarlane. The list goes on and on.
So how does
one go about attending this event? If you are part of scientific society that
is a member of Science and Technology Australia, each Society is able to
register a certain number of participants. I had recently become a part of the
newly rejuvenated Women in Physics, of which our parent association the
Australian Institute of Physics (AIP) is a member. The committee agreed we
should submit a candidate from the Women in Physics group to the AIP.
Unfortunately we found our anticipated delegates unavailable, so I thought, I
really need to step up and put myself forward. I submitted my nomination to our
Chair, who accepted my nomination and submitted our nomination to the President
of AIP. You can see there is a bit of a process here, usually involving a lot
of emails. I myself had just recently finished organising our State branch’s
nomination so I knew process. When the news came back, there I was – on the
list of AIP representatives to the SmP! Now what to do?
First I
read through all the information in the delegates handbook and booked all the
necessary flights and accommodation. Unfortunately I didn’t realise we were at
different locations each day, and thinking I was being clever I booked a hotel
near Parliament house. I could walk it right? I then went through all the
instructions. Prepare an information sheet. I then prepared another one on
Women in Physics. Why would I do this? Because on the second day of the event,
each delegate who elected to, was paired up with a Senator or Member of
Parliament! This was why I was nervous! We were given lots of advice already in
the handbook. Don’t ask for funding, be prepared, that sort of thing… but I
just felt that until the meeting happened, I would never really know what was
expected of me.
On the 24th
March, the day’s events were held at the National Convention Centre. My plan
was to catch a bus (it was a fifty minute walk otherwise) to save using taxi’s,
but the weather blockaded my plan and provided sheeting rain instead (the first
in ages I was informed). A taxi arrived quickly and got me there in little
time, which lulled me into a false sense of security regarding taxi’s in
Canberra (which I was soon to be informed of otherwise and provided evidence of
later).
The day was spent listening and speaking to members of the media,
lobbyists, policy makers, eminent scientists, and science communicators who all
gave a range of advice, albeit occasionally conflicting. This wasn’t a bad
thing, because after further questioning about this, we found out it really
depended on what we were doing, how we were doing it and who we were speaking
to! It’s all in the details! The last session of the day was a mini-workshop,
where the science communicators had each person present, and speak for one
minute on their research to their fellows on their table. We had five minutes
to prepare, and then we were on. Each table selected their winner through
votes, and a second round of speaking was done with four to five tables of
winners. Finally, each of those rounds winners spoke to the entire group of
scientists, and we voted for the winner with applause. I would love to say I
was one of those speakers through to the next round, but sadly I didn’t compare
to some of the others on our table. I did myself a disservice, knowing I had
started well, but completely lost the focus of my talk. The others on my table
were kind but I knew I had to work on it! I feel like this session more than
anything, was the key thing to prepare me for the next day. I had to ask
myself, what did I want to say to the Senator I was meeting, what were my
goals, and what did I want to get out of this?
We finished
the day with reminders to be at the gala dinner on time. Only to be met with
the dreaded lack of taxi issue. Thankfully it didn’t last as long as it might
have, and we made it back to the hotel to quickly prettify ourselves before
hiking it up to Parliament house. By taxi because it’s still a fifteen minute
walk up the hill! The dinner was preceded by drinks in the front hall of
parliament house, then progressed into the ball room. The food was lovely and
speakers included Minister for Science and Industry Ian McFarlane, and
Opposition leader Bill Shorten, President of the Business Council Catherine
Livingstone, with Adam Spencer MC for the night.
The most
interesting thing was something I didn’t even realise until half way through
the evening. One of the people seated at our table didn’t show up straight away.
She later arrived, and introduced herself as Senator Lisa Singh, from Tasmania.
The table were curious about what she had been doing and she explained she had
been in the Senate chambers due to the bill they were currently debating (the legislation
covering the level of data retention by Australian phone companies). Whilst she
was chatting with the table, a bell sounded and small red lights flashed and
she excused herself. Senators (and Members of Parliament) can be called to vote
for a decision in the chamber (they keep an eye on the questions by watching TV
monitors around Parliament house if they are not in the chambers) at almost any
time, and they have only four minutes in which to get to the chamber to vote. She
did eventually manage to get some dinner but was called away again later
on.
I also had
a very interesting conversation with one of my table colleagues about progress
in her career and about challenges for women with families in the scientific
workforce. The biggest thing I learned from this conversation that an employer
who is flexible and understands the needs of all people with families
(and not just women) provides better opportunities for career improvement for
women in scientific careers. She cited an incident where her husband was
reprimanded for taking a day off to care for their children (he worked in a
different field) and was questioned with “where was his wife?” – well: “she was
attending an important meeting at work and they’re my children too!”.
The next
day started with an exciting announcement (not scheduled) at Parliament House,
by Chief Scientist Ian Chubb. The Importance of Advanced Physical and
Mathematical Sciences to the Australian Economy report was being released and
we had first look at the report (almost!). We learnt that a conservative
contribution of approximately 22% of the GDP could be attributed to the work
that is done by research in Australia. We learnt that a report like this is an
excellent way that policy makers can now consider policy design and
implementation regarding science in Australia. This announcement was followed
by a lively Q & A session with Senator Kim Carr followed a break in the
sessions.
A number of
participants then headed off to the National Press Club for the filming of the
nationally televised address by Chief Scientist Ian Chubb, but for some
participants (like myself), remained behind to attend our scheduled meetings
with Senators or parliamentarians. I was with three other scientists scheduled
to meet with Senator Claire Moore. We were escorted through Parliament House to
her office by a member of her staff. Unfortunately she did have to leave early
on in our meeting to attend a division in the Senate, however she asked us to stay.
Senator Moore’s staff taught us more about Parliament, and explained how the
voting system worked, and showed us the chambers being televised. Despite
having to leave initially, Senator Moore was able to spend quite a lot of time
with us afterwards. She was very interested to hear about us and what we did
and asked each one of us about our research areas. At one point she asked us as
a group “what did you want to speak to me about specifically” and due to
earlier conversations with my colleagues, I managed to spend a small amount of
time speaking to Senator Moore about Women in Physics, and Women in Sciences in
general. Senator Moore is currently the Shadow Minister for Women, communities
and carers, so I felt that Senator Moore was an appropriate connection for our
committee! We managed to spend nearly an hour and a half with Senator Moore,
and she discussed many different topics and issues with us before our time was
up.
The rest of
the day was devoted to finding some time for lunch, before quickly running to
line up to sit in the gallery of the Members for Parliament to watch Question
time. Finally the day ended with a Parliamentary forum about where Science and
Politics meet. The wrap for the day was cocktails, which I unfortunately had to
miss as I needed to see if I could get an earlier flight to get back to my own
house the same night (sadly the lack of taxis again proved my downfall and I
spent the night in Brisbane before heading home the next day.
All in all
it was an amazing experience, one in which I made many connections, and
hopefully managed to disseminate information about our newly reformed
committee! I certainly didn’t need to be nervous, but I admit I was exhausted
by the time I got home – we fitted quite a lot into two days! Science and
Technology Australia organised an excellent two days of experience for
scientists and I would recommend to any scientist that they pursue chances to
attend if they become available.
My thanks to the Australian Institute of
Physics for supporting my attendance, and I hope I made a good impression on
Senator Moore as a representative of our society!