National Science Week Australia

National Science Week is Australia’s largest festival, celebrating science, innovation, mathematics, engineering and technology. Held annually in August, and now in its twelfth year, National Science Week welcomes an audience of over a million and hosts more than 800 events across the nation. According to a Newspoll survey, more than half the Australian population is familiar with the festival. (I am a little sceptical about this fact, although as it is such a wonderful occasion for science communicators, I'll let it slide!)

This year the festival runs from 15 to 23 August. Events take place in every Australian State and Territory, with the majority free and open to the public, offering an opportunity for all Australians to get involved.

There is also the very funky sounding National Tour. With events held in every State and Territory, the Tour guests help to inspire and motivate Australians about science and raise the profile of science within the community. This year, the National Tour will be joined by NASA Astronaut Marsha Ivins; environmentalist Tanya Ha; theoretical physicist Lawrence Krauss; and palaeontologist Scott Sampson.

If you'd like to find out what's going on in your neck of the woods, check out the National Science Week website.

If you are in Sydney, then you'll want to be getting over to the Ultimo Science Festival, which runs from Friday 21st August to Sunday 30th August. I will blog and podcast more about this event very soon - I have interviewed the organisers, now to edit it all into a show... In the meantime, check out their website and look out for me at the festival. There are loads of events, but the ones I plan to go to include:

• Ultimo Big Night of Science (Opening Night)
• Why the mind matters – dinner and talk
• The Dark Side of Science – Flesh (Adults only)
• Mathematics and Sex with Clio Cresswell
• The Science of Cocktails
• The Science of Coffee
• The Science of Cosmetics WORKSHOP
• SCINEMA (Science film festival)
• Questacon Science Squad - you can hear more from the Science Squad in this Mr Science Show podcast from 2007
  

So, with any luck, I'll be dosed up on caffeine, cocktails and sex. Good times ahead!

And if blogs are more your thing, then check out the 10daysofscience site as they blog their way through the festival. I'm sure I will be twittering throughout so stay tuned for more blogs, podcasts and tweets.