Scientell
ScientellScientell worked with the Australian Antarctic Division to organise, facilitate and report on a series of workshops with Antarctic scientists to identify the future science that could be enabled by a year-round air link to Davis research station.
Client: The Australian Antarctic Division (AAD)
Audience: Australian Antarctic science community, politicians and decision-makers
The Australian Government has announced the intention to construct a paved runway near Davis research station in Antarctica, subject to environmental and other approvals. The AAD sought to engage with research partners to determine their likely future research needs.
The AAD engaged Scientell to facilitate high-level workshops, planned for Hobart, Melbourne, Sydney and Canberra, to bring together representatives from relevant Government and research sectors. Scientell worked with AAD to plan the workshops and developed a pre-workshop fact sheet for attendees to ensure informed discussions. We facilitated four workshops, and produced a series of products, including summaries of each workshop, a synthesis report, a PowerPoint presentation, and an attractive booklet summarising the science opportunities identified at the workshops.
When travel concerns emerged related to the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, Scientell transformed all workshops into online sessions. The webinars turned out to be a great experience in managing and encouraging conversation flow via virtual interactions. We supplied participants with worksheets to complete individually or in small groups, with opportunities to discuss their ideas in plenary. The webinars demonstrated a positive message: that new technology can help overcome some of the challenges faced by travel restrictions.