UWA Science Communication

Ever thought about pouring “mammalian secretions” into your morning coffee? ☕️🥛

While that is the scientific definition of milk, a major legal battle in the UK has highlighted why the words we use for food are about more than just technical accuracy. ⚖️ 🐄

The UK Supreme Court recently blocked Oatly™ from trademarking the phrase “Post Milk Generation,” upholding strict regulations that reserve the term “milk” exclusively for dairy. In the EU and UK, plant-based alternatives must be labelled as a “drink” or “beverage.”

In contrast, regulators in Australia and New Zealand have followed a more flexible path, permitting terms like “soy milk” because the context provides enough clarity for shoppers.

In a recent interview on JOY 94.9, Dr Heather Bray discussed how “milk” is defined by more than just its biological origin. While the UK ruling focuses on technical “truth in labelling”, consumers treat the word as a functional term. It tells us how to use a product, whether it’s destined for a cereal bowl or a latte. 🥣✨

Research in Australia and New Zealand suggests that consumers are quite savvy and rarely confused by labelling, which highlights that our purchase choices are actually based on specific tastes, health needs, and personal values. 🌱

Ultimately, effective communication isn’t about forcing jargon onto shoppers. Language evolves alongside how communities interact with their food. Whether you call it a “plant-derived beverage” or “milk”, the label on the carton is doing a lot of heavy lifting in shaping how we understand our world. 🌏

📖 Read Heather’s full article here: https://theconversation.com/how-australia-and-nz-rules-on-plant-milks-differ-from-overseas-where-cows-make-the-only-milk-275923
🎙️ Listen to her radio interview on JOY Drive here: https://joy.org.au/joydrive/2026/03/26/dr-heather-bray-oat-milk-labelling-laws-and-the-fight-over-the-word-milk/

UWA School of Biological Sciences

How Australia and NZ rules on plant milks differ from overseas, where cows make the only ‘milk’ Australian and NZ farmers have long argued only cow’s milk should be sold as ‘milk’, in line with UK and European laws. This is what our current rules allow.

A huge thank you to everyone who joined us last Wednesday for our SciComm Networking sundowner!

As part of the Australian Science Communicators (ASC)'s "Everyone Everywhere All At Once" series, it was inspiring to see our local WA SCOMmunity come together. We hope you enjoyed the chats and connections as much as we did!

✨Make sure you’re following Australian Science Communicators - WA Branch and The SciComm Collective so you don’t miss our future catch-ups. See you at the next one!

UWA School of Biological Sciences

See you guys tomorrow!

ASC WA and UWA Science Communication are teaming up to host a SCOMmunity Sundowner as part of Australian Science Communicators (ASC)'s Everything, Everywhere All At Once event series!
Please join us tomorrow night for a relaxed evening to meet new people and reconnect with familiar faces. Bring your friends and colleagues, too - we love growing our community ❤️

Where: University of Western Australia - The Tav
When: 4 March 2026, 5:30-7:30pm

The recent approval of a genetically modified (GM) purple tomato in Australia is more than just a splash of colour for our salads. It also marks a pivotal shift in the narrative of GM food that we, as science communicators, need to pay close attention to. 🍅💜

Early genetic modifications for food focused more on agricultural traits, such as pest resistance and herbicide tolerance, which, of course, benefit farmers and the supply chain but offer little tangible difference to the average shopper. That’s why the conversation can easily slide into debates about risk, safety, and corporate control.

By borrowing genes from snapdragons 🌸🧬, the anthocyanin-rich Purple Bliss ™ tomato offers a direct consumer benefit: better nutrition and a striking new look.

Now that the regulators have already answered the question “Is it safe to eat?” ✅, what should science communicators do when safety data isn’t the only metric consumers care about?

Dr Heather Bray's commentary on Scimex’s Expert Reaction article shows how to move from the debate about risk to a conversation about preference. 💬

The role of a science communicator is to empower people to make informed choices based on their own values, whether that leads to putting purple tomatoes in the basket or leaving them on the shelf.

Read the full Expert Reaction here: 🔗 https://www.scimex.org/newsfeed/expert-reaction-genetically-modified-purple-tomato-approved-in-australia

We want to hear from you: 🗣️ Does a visible benefit change how you feel about buying GM produce? Or do your food values remain the same regardless of the trait?

Let us know in the comments! 👇



📸 Image credit: Supplied by Norfolk Healthy Produce (Big Purple Tomato).

Happy 2026 everyone! This awesome article resonates so much with our research and teaching related to making science communication more inclusive ...

Science is best communicated through identity and culture – how researchers are ensuring STEM serves their communities Scientists have traditionally focused on educating the public on science or correcting misinformation. But researchers from marginalized communities often have broader goals in science communication.

Fresh off the press! Scicomm graduate Crystal Ngo’s Masters research was just published in the Journal of Science Communication:

“It's having conversations that I like with people I like": exploring the motivations of Australian science podcasters

https://jcom.sissa.it/article/pubid/JCOM_2404_2025_A07/

📖 Check it out - it’s open-access!

Huge congratulations to Crystal and her supervisors and co-authors Ann Grand and Heather Bray! 🎉🎉🎉

Abstract:

Science podcasts have become an increasingly popular channel for science communication. Although podcasting has risen in popularity, little is known about why science podcasters choose to pursue this pathway for communication and how they set about achieving their goals for their podcast.

Drawing on qualitative data from interviews with 20 science podcasters in Australia, our results reveal that the podcasters are mainly driven by personal factors such as their interest in, enjoyment of, and curiosity about science and that while they employ various tactics to achieve their goals, they do not consciously consider these tactics to be a form of strategic science communication.

UWA School of Biological Sciences UWA Alumni Australian Science Communicators (ASC) Heather Bray Australian Science Communicators - WA Branch UWA Research

“It's having conversations that I like with people I like": exploring the motivations of Australian science podcasters Science podcasts have become an increasingly popular channel for science communication. Although podcasting has risen in popularity, little is known about why science podcasters choose to pursue this pathway for communication and how they set about achieving their goals for their podcast. Drawing on...

Inclusive Science Communicators: We want to hear from you!

💡 Join a new research study interviewing practitioners of inclusive science communication in Australia about your values.
❓ Help us understand and grow our field.
🕰 45-60 min interview online or in-person.

➡️For more information or to get involved, go to: https://uwa.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_eyfmSL6GQWMn1To

📨or email Emma Gill and Dr Heather Bray at [email protected]

This project is approved by The University of Western Australia Human Research Ethics Committee, HREC number 2025/ET000043.

💥💥‘Explosions are always entertaining but…’: investigating the impacts of science shows on high school students💥💥

‼️🎉Congratulations to UWA SciComm graduate and Manager of Audience Research at Scitech, Shanii Phillips, on the publication of this fantastic paper alongside the wonderful Miriam Sullivan and Ann Grand!

This research is *free to read* online at https://doi.org/10.14324/RFA.09.1.03

What do high school students really think about Scitech shows? Which are their favourites and why? What does this all have to do with science self-confidence? Read the paper to find out!

Australian Science Communicators - WA Branch UWA School of Biological Sciences Scitech

‘Explosions are always entertaining but…’: investigating the impacts of science shows on high school students Science shows are often posited as a route to encourage young people to engage with science. Using a mixed methods approach, our research investigated the impact of attending a science show on high school students’ intentions to study science or pursue a career in science. We found that while a si...

Welcome to Dr Laura Skates, who has recently joined us as an Associate Lecturer in Science Communication at UWA!

Laura is a botanist, artist and environmental educator. Her PhD on carnivorous plant ecology led her to become fascinated with not only how plants interact with the world, but by how people interact with plants, too.

Following her PhD, she went on to do an APR Internship on science communication at botanic gardens, and co-led a citizen science project on wildlife-friendly gardening.

She sits on the committee for the Citizen Science Association WA branch (https://www.facebook.com/ACSA.WA) and has been a longtime member of the Australian Science Communicators (https://www.facebook.com/AuSciCommWA).

Outside of work, Laura loves going on bushwalks and making all kinds of arts and crafts.

Find out more about her work here: https://research-repository.uwa.edu.au/en/persons/laura-skates

Welcome, Laura, it's great to have you with us!

UWA School of Biological Sciences Australian Citizen Science Assoc - WA Australian Science Communicators - WA Branch

📣Did you hear the latest episode of , wrapping up Season One?

We spoke to Adjunct Senior Lecturer Ann Grand about the difference (or not) between “Engaged Research” and Science Communication, how to connect with your audience, the benefit of a science café, and teaching SciComm from UWA to the much colder UK 🌬️📚☕️🧬🌏

Thanks for sharing your career insights, Ann!

The SciComm Collective podcast will be back in full next Semester, but look out for some chilled content still to come over the summer ☀️

UWA School of Biological Sciences UWA Students UWE Bristol Australian Science Communicators (ASC) Australian Science Communicators - WA Branch

SciComm Careers with Dr Ann Grand The SciComm Collective · Episode