BRING YOUR SCIENCE TO THE PARTY
LOOKING FOR PUBLIC OUTREACH OPPORTUNITIES, A WAY TO EXPAND YOUR NETWORK, SOME STELLAR PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT, AND A REALLY GREAT TIME?
BECOME A BEAKER STREET ROVING SCIENTIST! (ALSO OPEN TO ALL ANTARCTICANS WHO’D LIKE TO TAKE PART IN HOBARTICA 2025.)
Beaker Street’s Roving Scientist Program is your golden ticket to hone your skills as a science communicator extraordinaire while captivating an eager adult audience. The program is open to PhD candidates, post-docs, academics, science communicators, non-academic scientists, or people working in a STEM field.
Plus, our new Hobartica program is open to all Antarctic workers, including researchers, tractor drivers, station chefs, plumbers… and anyone who’s worked on the ice!
Roving Scientists are the heart and soul of Beaker Street Festival – a week-long celebration of science in Lutruwita/Tasmania each August. During the Festival you’ll be stationed at bar tables at our lively Roving Scientist Bars, plus you’ll get opportunities to present your work to the public in fun and relaxed settings, as well as access to professional development and networking events. Share your expertise, make some new friends, build your CV, and actually have fun while you’re doing it.
Roving Scientist Program Offering
In 2025, the program will include:
- An invitation to The Roving Scientist Day: a full-day of upskilling through workshops on science communication, media training, developing your elevator pitch, and more.
- An invitation to The Collider: a swanky but nerdy networking event with science communicators and journalists, policy makers, industry leaders, philanthropists, and celebs.
- The chance to appear on local and national radio, including The Science Show with Robyn Williams.
- Inclusion in our scientist database (shared with national media) and your research profile hosted on our Festival website.
- Special discounts on numerous Festival events and at Hadley’s Orient Hotel, the best place to stay during the Festival and where you’ll find all our visiting scientific participants and media.
- Your own amazingly flashy, highly coveted LED-lit name badge.
What’s involved
- Join us at Beaker Street Festival, in Nipaluna/Hobart between 12 and 19 August 2025 (you don’t need to come to the whole thing, but you totally should).
- Be a participant in one of Beaker Street’s Roving Scientist Bars (you’ll choose your preferred time slot/s once you’re selected).
- Chat with punters, answer questions about your research, share some specimens or oddities, be up for having some fun.
- Please note, while all above elements are offered free of charge to Beaker Street Roving Scientists, travel and accommodation are not included in the program. However, some university faculties and departments offer travel assistance for science outreach and professional development.
Want to know more?
Email any questions to Olly, our Roving Scientist Program Manager, at [email protected].
Not quite right for you? Why not be a Festival volunteer, or simply come along to all the Festival fun. Subscribe below to receive updates and the next Festival program as soon as it’s out.
