Entering the science communication space: experience from emerging voices

LINDA JANE KEEGAN

Linda Jane is an environmental educator, writer and parent, based in Tāmaki Makaurau.

She teaches kids in the bush, has written a children's book and writes academically on ecology.

Linda Jane loves chocolate biscuits and jumping into cold bodies of water.

CAROLLE VARUGHESE

Carolle started her science communication journey as an Astro-tourism guide after graduating with a B.Sc in Astronomy. She has spent the last five years in various science communication roles, the most recent one being a Physics Teacher.

Carolle’s current roles include being a full-time hype-woman for STEM (science, technology, engineering, maths) with Massey University, the education group leader for the Royal Astronomical Society, and a councillor for the Auckland Astronomical Society.

She is working towards her Master in Public Policy to continue her mission to empower rangatahi, young women, and other underrepresented groups of people into STEM pipelines.

SHANANDORE BROWN

Shanandore Brown is a promoter of STEAMM (science, technology, engineering, maths and mātauranga Māori) education in Aotearoa.

She is a specialist teacher of technology at Papakura Intermediate School. In 2019 she and her students created NZ’s first Māori Astronomically Aligned School Playground.

In 2020 she received a Teacher’s Study Award and is working toward completing a Master of Technological Futures, where she is exploring how emerging disruptive technologies can be used to enable effective communication of live environmental data with a modern, cultural twist. This includes the concept of projecting a 3D Digital Avatar as a ‘kaitiaki’ of a river system whose appearance is determined by live environmental data sourced from an IoT (Internet of Things), giving nature a voice and body. This fundamentally creates a picture that paints a thousand words - a picture that can speak and communicate scientific data.