Outreach from the bottom of the world
By Neve Clippingdale
I have always loved science communication. There is just nothing better than being able to share your enthusiasm for something and seeing someone else become equally excited about it! So when ACEAS offered me the opportunity to become the Outreach Coordinator on the 2025 Denman Marine Voyage, it is safe to say I didn’t need to think about it for very long.
My first port of call was to spread the word and contact schools to be part of the program, so naturally I started with my primary school Our Lady of Mercy in Deloraine. They were very excited to talk to scientists in Antarctica, so a few weeks into our voyage, after lots of emails and planning, we had our first call.
On this first call we took the students on a tour of the RSV Nuyina (including outside where we saw some ice bergs and sea ice!), showed them some Antarctic outdoor gear modelled by our fabulous scientist Noah, and also gave the students the opportunity to ask us some questions about our time in Antarctica, including what it is like to live on a ship! The science teacher at Our Lady of Mercy had organised some students to ask questions, and after these had been answered they opened the floor to anyone else who wanted to talk to us. It was incredible watching half the room back in Deloraine put their hand up to ask us a question! The students were so involved and excited, it made it so much fun for the scientists on the other end. They asked lots of excellent questions, but I think everyone’s favourite was:
“Are you hanging upside down because Antarctica is at the bottom of the Earth?”
It was incredibly exciting to get to call my old school first, and it gave the whole outreach team a bit of a confidence boost to have the first official outreach call for ACEAS go so well. It put us in a very strong position for the following calls!
As of writing this blog post ACEAS has had five calls in three different countries (Australia, USA, and Germany). We have spoken to a range of different age levels ranging from 4 to 16 years old and we even had a call that was conducted entirely in German by our incredible German speakers on Nuyina! We are also planning one final call with a German high school.
Science can often be perceived as intimidating and confusing to people not directly involved, so outreach is incredibly important to break down barriers and allow people the opportunity to see with their own eyes what happens when working in the field. It is even more important to speak to young people who might one day work in the marine sector, so they know what exciting opportunities there are. I hope that through speaking to us down south in Antarctica, a student out there is now telling their parents “I want to be a marine scientist!” – and who knows – one day, with the right amount of work, passion, and excitement we might get to work with some of these students, in Antarctica!
