Science meets Parliament 2021

News of changes to funding for higher education and the STEM sector, budget cuts and redistribution of government funding for particular university subjects are common, and anyone who has applied for major grant funding is familiar with national priority areas for research. While these are vital decisions that impact anyone working in the sector, I only had a rough idea of what influences these decisions and how they are taken when I was offered the opportunity to attend Science meets Parliament 2021 as an ASM delegate.

Science meets Parliament (SMP) is the annual flagship event of Science & Technology Australia (STA), the Federation of Australian Scientific and Technological Societies, and brings together Australian scientists, technologists, parliamentarians, journalists and policymakers, all with the aim of fostering dialogue between these parties and increasing the visibility of science in day-to-day political agendas.

Like so many events, SMP2021 was an online-only event, while in non-pandemic years the meetings take place in Canberra, allowing participants to get a first-hand impression of the busy schedule of Members of Parliament and their staff.

For 2021, SMP used a format where several ‘pre-event’ sessions introduced attendees to how government decision-making processes work, and the normal schedule of parliamentarians, ministers and their staff, but also provided tips for communicating science to politicians who are mostly graduates from arts and law degrees and therefore often have no specialist knowledge in STEM subjects. I particularly enjoyed the sessions on ‘Conveying STEM work with impact’ and ‘How to Marie Kondo your writing’, while the opening session on ‘Understanding the machinery of government’ that I had been looking forward to suffered a little bit from the use of specialised terminology.

The program of the main event (15–18 March) was diverse and colourful with presentations from major sponsors, but also a strong focus on ways scientists can influence political decision-making and bring attention to urgent issues. A standout were the sessions with the Superstars of STEM, Indigenous STEM and the National Press Club Address that highlighted obstacles faced by minority groups, the great contributions everyone can make as well as current thoughts on science policy in Australia.

Being trained in how to avoid discipline-specific jargon and still convey a meaningful picture of why my research is important in only 30 s was extremely useful for the meeting with a parliamentarian that is part of the schedule for SMP participants. This meeting with the Member for Eden-Monaro, Ms Kristy McBain was my personal favourite of the event as the discussion not only covered the scientific work of everyone present, but expanded into current science-related and other issues on the political agenda, and March 2021 was packed full of surprising political news.

However, a main focus of SMP is to increase engagement between scientists and the general public, and I particularly noted the strange juxtaposition between the short and hectic electoral cycles that force parliamentarians to focus on issues that will ensure their re-election, versus the frequently stressed fact that it may take some time to bring specific issues to the point where they are being noted.

The key ingredients for making a difference and getting noticed appear to be persistence and excellent preparation. While this may sound obvious, the preparation especially involves more than just preparing a great argument explaining why your idea is important. As part of the preparation one should consider whether other individuals, groups or societies might benefit from a specific idea and might support a pitch. Equally important is getting to know your local member or the minister you will target, although in the latter case the contact may be through the ministerial staff. Ministerial and parliamentary staffers are not a ‘second best’ – they are actually instrumental in representing portfolios and making sure particular ideas or initiatives are noticed by politicians, and they also tend to stay with particular portfolios in the longer term, which helps when putting forward an idea – repeatedly.

Success is not certain, but chances increase with relevance to the electorate of the person you are talking to, and also with the ‘bottomline’ – a value proposition that will benefit the portfolio of your contact and/or their constituents.

However, there are other ways to participate that may be more immediately accessible such as participating in submissions to the government as an expert, or engaging with the media so that the issue you are championing is noticed more widely.

There was something new and interesting to learn in each of the SMP sessions I attended, and I enjoyed SMP2021 immensely and would love to experience the event in person in Canberra sometime in the future.