The Science Journalists Association of Australia is a not-for-profit incorporated association. It was founded in 2019 to support and foster the professional interests of practising and aspiring science journalists in Australia, and to champion and advocate for independence and excellence in science journalism.
SJAA provides networking, professional development and training opportunities for science journalists at all career stages, resources for those both practising and interested in science journalism, and aims to raise awareness of the importance of science journalism in Australia.
Our constitution is available here.
Committee
President: Dr Jackson Ryan
Jackson Ryan is a science reporter and formerly the science editor at CNET.com between 2018 and 2023. He traded in his lab coat for a career in journalism in 2017 and has been featured in the Best Australian Science Writing five times. In 2022 he won the Australian Museum Eureka Prize for Science Journalism. In his current role at the ABC, he writes about the intersection of science, tech, culture and the people working to make a better tomorrow. He tweets, poorly @dctrjack and you should never go there.
Secretary: Sara Phillips
Sara Phillips is an award-winning science writer and editor based in Melbourne, Australia. Currently, she is executive editor for the Asia-Pacific region of Nature Research Group’s custom media arm. Previously, she was the national environment reporter for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and editor of ABC Environment online. Starting out on an environmental trade publications WME and Inside Waste, she later became deputy editor of Cosmos magazine, and founding editor of G magazine, a sustainable lifestyle magazine. @ms_sara_p
Treasurer: Felicity Nelson
Felicity Nelson is a science and health journalist with bylines in ScienceAlert, Guardian Australia, news.com, Mamamia, Croakey, HealthEd, The Medical Republic and Lawyers Weekly. Her stories were published in The Best Australian Science Writing anthologies in 2020, 2019 and 2017. @frogsandstars
Vice President: Carl Smith
Carl Smith is a Walkley Award-winning science reporter in the ABC’s Science Unit. He makes radio features for RN’s Science Show, Health Report, and other programs. He also writes and co-hosts the kids’ ethics podcast Short & Curly. Carl worked briefly as a geneticist before joining the ABC as a News Cadet. He’s been a reporter on Behind the News, and presented the ABC TV series Minibeast Heroes. @CarlSmithAUS
Jacinta Bowler
Jacinta Bowler is a science journalist who has written about far-flung exoplanets, terrifying superbugs and everything in between. They are staff writer for ScienceAlert and have written freelance articles for ABC, SBS, Cosmos, Pedestrian and Double Helix. Jacinta also works in the audio space, working with Radio National show The Pop Test and recently releasing their first audio documentary for All The Best. @jacinta_bowler
Manuela Callari
Manuela Callari
Bio to come
Rich Haridy
Rich Haridy has written for a number of online and print publications over the last decade with interests that focus on psychedelic science, new media, and science oddities. Rich completed his Masters degree in the Arts back in 2013 before joining New Atlas in 2016 and getting deep into the world of science journalism. Since then Rich’s interests have considerably broadened to include examining the profound effects of science and technology on life in the new millenium.
He posts @richharidy
Suzannah Lyons
Bianca Nogrady
Bianca Nogrady is the founding president of the Science Journalists Association of Australia and a freelance science journalist and author. Her work has appeared in outlets including Nature, the Guardian, The Saturday Paper, MIT Technology Review, WIRED, and Australian Geographic. She is two-time editor of the Best Australian Science Writing anthology, author of two non-fiction books – The End: The Human Experience of Death, and The Sixth Wave @BiancaNogrady
Lyndal Rowlands
Clare Watson
Clare Watson is a freelance journalist with a background in biomedical science. Since trading her pipettes for a pen, her work has aired on ABC Radio National’s Health Report and appeared in Undark, The Guardian, Hakai Magazine, Cosmos, and Australian Geographic. She also writes and fact-checks for ScienceAlert. @clarewhatson
What we do
Since its inception in 2019, the Science Journalists Association of Australia has:
- built a thriving, active network of working science journalists who interact, share resources, discuss issues, and support each other in our SJAA Slack group;
- created an annual grants program providing financial grants to members to support them to undertake a science reporting project or professional development opportunity, as well as mentoring. Grant winners have been broadcast on ABC Radio National’s Science Friction, published in Cosmos magazine and MIT Technology Review, pitched the New York Times, and travelled to the World Conference of Science Journalists;
- held regular events such as masterclasses and panel events on how to use Freedom of Information requests, conflicts of interest in science and science journalism, longform feature writing, getting a book published, conspiracy theories and how to cover them, freelance science journalism, and how to write winning grant and award entries.
- published a monthly newsletter called The Abstract, featuring opportunities for members such as jobs, awards and fellowships; resources to help science journalists; interviews with SJAA members and science journalists from around the world talking about their work; and sharing the latest and best in science journalism by members and others.
Past SJAA Committees
2022-2023 committee
Neena Bhandari
Jacinta Bowler
Rich Haridy
Felicity Nelson
Bianca Nogrady
Sara Phillips
Jackson Ryan
Ruby Prosser Scully
Carl Smith
Clare Watson
2021-2022 committee
Neena Bhandari
Jacinta Bowler
Wilson da Silva
Dyani Lewis
Felicity Nelson
Bianca Nogrady
Nicky Phillips
Sara Phillips
Jackson Ryan
Ruby Prosser Scully
Carl Smith
2020-2021 committee
Neena Bhandari
Dyani Lewis
Natasha Mitchell
Fran Molloy
Bianca Nogrady
Nicky Phillips
Sara Phillips
Ruby Prosser Scully
Carl Smith
Michelle Starr
Founding committee
The Science Journalists of Australia was founded in June 2019 by:
Dyani Lewis
Natasha Mitchell
Fran Molloy
Bianca Nogrady
Nicky Phillips
Sara Phillips
Stephen Pincock
Wilson da Silva
Carl Smith
Jonathan Webb