Gain the skills and confidence to share your work through the media.
Everyone is invited to join Dr Christina Zdenek (BirdLife Australia and Australian Reptile Academy) and Jaana Dielenberg (Biodiversity Council) for this science communication and media training workshop on Tuesday 7 April 2026.
About the workshop
Science shapes society...but only when it’s communicated clearly and effectively. This one-day, practical workshop is designed to give scientists and practitioners the tools to share their work to increase impact—especially through the media.
Led by Dr Christina Zdenek (Bird Life Australia, Australian Reptile Academy) and Jaana Dielenberg (Biodiversity Council), at this workshop you’ll gain easy-to-apply strategies and insider tips to:
- attract and generate high-quality media coverage
- build your personal and professional brand
- craft compelling media releases and pitches
- prepare for media interviews with confidence
- write for The Conversation
- use social media professionally
- protect yourself from online negativity.
Through case studies, practical solutions and hands-on activities, you’ll create content for real-world use and practice interview skills in a safe, supportive environment—with personalised feedback from 2 highly experienced, professional science communicators.
By the end of the day, you’ll walk away with:
- practical tools to increase the impact of your work
- strategies to raise your visibility and broaden your reach
- communication skills that can open doors to new career opportunities
- a resource package (i.e. scicomm kit) to utilise beyond the workshop.
Participants will also have the option to complete a short pre-workshop exercise, with feedback provided during the day.
Whether you’re just starting your science communication journey or looking to refine your media skills, this workshop will empower you to share your science for a better world.
Who should take this workshop?
- Graduate Students
- Post-graduates
- Post-doctoral Research Fellows
- Academics/Professors
- Research and Industry Fellows
- Environmental NGO personnel
- Community environment groups
- People in communication roles for science projects and programs.
Workshop registration
Tuesday 7 April 2026
10am–4pm
UQ St Lucia campus (venue TBC)
$200 (students), $300 (others)
Specific instructions, schedule and details of the workshop will be sent to registered participants closer to the date.
If the registration link doesn't work for you or if you have any specific workshop-related questions, please email cbcs-workshops@uq.edu.au.
About Dr Christina Zdenek
Dr Christina Zdenek served as Qld's Inspiring Australia ambassador (2024 and 2025) and was named the 2023 Rising Star by the Faculty of Science at UQ, ABC Top Five Scientist (2021), and Australian Geographic’s Young Explorers Award (2014) and Award for Nature recipient (2025). As an applied scientist—publishing more than 65 scientific papers—she has a passion for scicomm because of its positive impact on human-nature relations.
A dynamic communicator, she provides expert comment for 30–50 media interviews annually, has been on TV >15 times since 2023 (7 times of which were live), has featured on 7 TV shows, and is the scicomm lead for the IUCN Snake Specialist Group, Australian Reptile Academy, and Gourmet Gumleaves Project, managing 9 social media accounts. Her advertising equivalent for UQ in 2023 was $12.1M (UQ media). She has published 7 articles in The Conversation, delivered scicomm workshops nationally and internationally, and film-consulted for BBC, NHK, Netflix, EBS, ABC, and NatGeo.
Christina's current roles are: Coordinator for BirdLife Australia’s national Urban Birds Program, Associate Researcher with People for Wildlife, and Instructor for the Australian Reptile Academy.
About Jaana Dielenberg
Jaana is the Science Communication Director at the Biodiversity Council, with 15 years of experience leading media, communications and knowledge brokering for biodiversity research programs. She regularly provides science communication and media support and training to early-career researchers and others, helping them build confidence and skills to share their science and influence public conversations.
Jaana generates more than 2,000 media stories per year through media pitching and releases and is also an experienced communicator herself, with many appearances on TV and radio and over 30 published articles in The Conversation (1.2M+ reads). Her writing has also featured on ABC and Australian Geographic.
Jaana holds a BA (Geography) and Master of Environment and began her career in waterway management before moving into national research impact roles, including as Science Communication Manager of the $72M Threatened Species Recovery Hub and Knowledge Broker of the $30M Northern Australia Hub under previous Australian Government environmental research programs.