News archive
2011
Office update:We are pleased to welcome two new staff members to the Canberra office:
Kirsten Duncan is our new Senior Graphic Designer. Kirsten's career has included the Navy and publications work at the Centre for International Economics and the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, and most recently infographics at the Department of Prime Minister & Cabinet along with a freelance business. With her strong interest in information design, Kirsten is a valuable addition to Biotext's graphic design area.
Merran Laver has joined our editing and administration teams, coming from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare’s publishing unit and also a freelance business.
Office update: We are pleased to congratulate Julie Irish, our latest Accredited Editor (AE), on passing the Australian Institute of Professional Editors (IPEd) accreditation exam.
Training update: Biotext will be holding another training course in successful science writing and editing in Canberra on 6 October 2011. Contact our training manager Kylie for more information.
Office update: Biotext is proud to welcome Richard Stanford, our new business manager. Richard has extensive experience in academic, scientific, business and educational publishing, and we welcome him to the busy Canberra office.
2010
Office update: In December, Janet Salisbury attended the 11th International Conference on Public Communication of Science and Technology (PCST-2010) in New Delhi.
Training update: This month we are planning our 2011 training courses, including our new Successful grant and science writing and Managing an annual report courses. Contact Kylie for more information.
Office update: Andina Faragher has joined the Canberra office of Biotext. Andina reports that 'I’ve always loved writing and editing, and the most enjoyable parts of the jobs I have had over the years have involved these activities, so I’m delighted to have landed back on my feet as an editor.' Welcome Andina!
Training update: We have just held our first Successful grant and science writing course, for the Victorian Neurotrauma Institute. This new course takes researchers through every stage of writing a grant application with tips and hands-on practice.
Office update: Biotext planning days were held in June to brainstorm ways to make our procedures faster and simpler.
Training update: Over the last few months we have conducted very successful training days for the Academy of Science, the Office of the Gene Technology Regulator, sanofi-aventis and MIMS, with the Bushfire Cooperative Research Centre coming soon.
Training update: In May, we ran our popular Successful science writing and editing course in Canberra and Melbourne. Another course will be held in Brisbane later in 2010, register now.
2009
Travel In November 2009, Meg headed off to Germany to attend the European Medical Writers Association (EMWA) conference, visit the World Health Organization offices in Geneva to discuss some Biotext projects, meet up with family and have some fun travelling.
IPEd conference In October 2009, Janet and Carolyn attended the IPEd conference in Adelaide. The conference was held in the Adelaide Festival Centre on the River Torrens, and was well attended, with about 200 delegates. Janet’s thoughts on the conference: ‘the stand-out session of the conference was the plenary lecture by Julian Burnside QC — Australian barrister, human rights and refugee advocate — who gave a brilliant account of how language can deaden a message, deliberately obscure it through 'double speak', or make it soar. Unfortunately, much of our public and corporate communication is in the former category (dead) and there are plenty of examples of double speak. Only occasionally do we find examples of language that amplifies the message and inspires us to remember it long after the words have faded. I guess that, as editors, if we can raise the dead, cut through double speak, and allow an occasional touch of brilliance to shine through, we are doing OK!’
IPEd exam In July and August 2009, most staff had their heads down preparing for the Australian Institute of Professional Editors (IPEd) accreditation exam. Malini Devadas organised study sessions each week, which were well attended by inhouse staff and other colleagues from around town. All this study paid off as in December we congratulated Janet, Eve, Meg, Carolyn, Malini, Tristan, Ruth, Hilary and Andina, who all passed the exam and are now officially 'Accredited Editors'! Look out for the ‘AE’ after their names.
10 year anniversary! In July, Biotext celebrated 10 years of being a company. To mark this event, all staff gathered in Canberra for a party and two days of business workshops. The party was held at CSIRO Discovery Centre and was attended by about 80 staff, former staff and contactors, clients, friends and family. The foyer at CSIRO Discovery Centre was decorated by posters depicting our work over the past 10 years. Dr Kerry Breen (former chair of the NHMRC Australian Health Ethics Committee) travelled to Canberra from Melbourne to attend the event and speak about some of Biotext’s achievements. Ian Denney (Director of Programs) spoke on behalf of Animal Health Australia. Other clients, including two at the World Health Organization, sent messages and Hilary Cadman presented Janet with a book prepared by the staff to commemorate the past 10 years.
Document Rescue In June, Biotext launched its Document Rescue™ service, which will hopefully help all of those public service people looking for document help at the eleventh hour!
The big move In March, our Canberra team moved to larger offices at an historic site in Yarralumla. A short walk from the Yarralumla shops and cafes, the new offices are very spacious and comfortable, overlook parkland, and have a tennis court next door!
PhD congratulations In November 2009, Eve Merton was awarded her PhD from Dublin City University, with her thesis 'The science communication environment: biotechnology researchers’ discourse on communication. This marked the end of 4 years of study in Ireland (2002–06) and 3 years of writing (while juggling work at Biotext and family life). Well done Eve!
New look We launched the design of a new Biotext logo: new brochures and stationery completed the updated look.
2008
Australasian Medical Writers Association conference Meg Heaslop helped to organise the 2008 Australasian Medical Writers Association conference, which was held in Brisbane on 17–18 October. Meg Heaslop, Ruth Pitt and Janet Salisbury attended the conference and Janet gave a three-hour workshop on evidence-based practice.
Association of Regulatory and Clinical Scientists conference Meg Heaslop attended the conference of the Association of Regulatory and Clinical Scientists in Sydney. The topic of the opening plenary session was human stem cell research and cloning, and the keynote speaker, Senator Natasha Stott-Despoja, spoke in glowing terms about the Lockhart Review — the review of legislation on cloning and embryo research published in December 2005 (and largely written by Biotext).
‘Talk the talk’ with designers Ruth Pitt helped to organise the October event for the ACT branch of the Australian Science Communicators. David Constantine, the president of the ACT branch of the Australian Graphic Design Association, spoke about ways that science communicators can work well with designers.
Biotext training courses Biotext training courses were held in Melbourne in September and in Brisbane in early October. The feedback for both courses was excellent, with participants giving the course and the presenters glowing reviews!
2007
Radio guest spot Janet Salisbury was a guest on Radio National's The Book Show on 17 August. Based on her success as the technical writer of the Lockhart Review, Janet was invited to be one of three panellists discussing government reports — what makes some good and others not so good! Listen to a podcast or read the transcript on the Radio National website.
Biotext wins international award After many months of waiting, in July we heard that we were awarded an ‘Excellence Award’ in the international Society for Technical Communication (STC) competition for the Lockhart Review. See the STC website for details of the other winners.
Institute of Professional Editors National Conference Janet Salisbury, Hilary Cadman and Malini Devadas attended the 2007 Institute of Professional Editors National Conference in Hobart on 9–12 May. There were about 200 delegates and the program was varied and interesting. Janet presented ‘The language of evidence’ session and Hilary presented ‘Bare bones editing’. Both sessions were very well received.
5th World Conference of Science Journalists Janet Salisbury, Meg Heaslop and Eve Merton attended the 5th World Conference of Science Journalists in Melbourne on 16-20 April. Janet ran a satellite meeting for scientific editors that was attended by over 70 delegates. Topics discussed included the fine line dividing substantive editing and rewriting, the need for an Australasian science style guide and the potential for a professional organisation for science editors in Australia and/or the Asia–Pacific region.
Janet, Meg and Eve presented an interactive professional development workshop, 'Introduction to science editing', as part of the main conference. Over 30 delegates from Australia and several other countries attended and the feedback was very positive.
Janet was also part of a panel discussion on 'Stem cells and bioethics'. Other panellists were Dr Mal Washer, federal liberal MP from Western Australia, Geoff Carr, Science Editor of The Economist (UK), and Dr Peter Mountford, President and CEO of Stem Cell Sciences. The session was chaired by Robin Marantz Henig who has been a freelance science writer in the US for more than 25 years and is a contributing science writer for The New York Times Magazine.
Biotext staff win national awards Biotext staff received three awards from the Australian chapter of the Society for Technical Communication (STC). Janet Salisbury, Malini Devadas and Meg Heaslop received a 'Distinguished' award in the 'Information materials' category for technical writing and production of the Lockhart Report, as well as a 'Best in show' award for the 'Technical publications' category overall. The report has now been entered into the international STC awards.
Hilary Cadman and Janet also received a 'Merit' award in the same competition for technical writing of Making Decisions about Tests and Treatments — Principles for Better Communication between Healthcare Consumers and Healthcare Professionals. See the STC webpage for further details of this competition.
Melbourne office opens Biotext opened its Melbourne office, conveniently located at 55 Flemington Road within the Bio21 Parkville Precinct. Our Melbourne-based consultant is Eve Merton.
2006
Australasian Medical Writers Association conference Malini Devadas and Hilary Cadman helped organise the 23rd annual conference of the Australasian Medical Writers Association.
EdEx workshop Hilary Cadman gave a presentation on the 'bare bones of editing' at EdEx, the Canberra Society of Editors' professional development day.
9th International Conference on Public Communication on Science and Technology Janet Salisbury attended the 9th International Conference on Public Communication on Science and Technology including the post-conference workshop, Training scientists to communicate with lay audiences.
