Interview a Scientist Judges
Aimee Sanderson – Strategic Communications & Stakeholder Manager at the Association of Australian Medical Research Institutes (AAMRI)
Aimee is a media and communications expert, having worked with a variety of medical research institutes and not-for-profit organisations in Australia and the UK. Since 2018 Aimee has worked as the Strategic Communications & Stakeholder Manager at the Association of Australian Medical Research Institutes (AAMRI). AAMRI is the peak body for medical research institutes across Australia. It has 58 member organisations that work on a broad spectrum of human health issues. As part of this role, Aimee oversees the Medical Research Discoveries website (www.medicalresearchdiscoveries.org.au), which showcases a wide range of innovative medical research at institutes across Australia. Part of Aimee’s work is to guide scientists in how to write impact stories for the Medical Research Discoveries website. Her work and that of AAMRI’s helped guide the basis of the impact stories for the Interview a Scientist Program.
Charis Palmer – Managing Editor, Refraction Media
Charis has spent her journalism and publishing career in specialist media and startups focused on breaking down complex information for a variety of audiences. She founded Banking Review Media, an award-winning publication covering banking and technology, and later served as editor of Business Spectator, Technology Spectator and iTnews. She has managed teams of journalists in roles including Chief of Staff and Head of Digital Strategy for The Conversation, CEO of Schwartz Pro – an experiment in business journalism for policymakers, and Asia Pacific Editor at 360info, a regional wire agency with content written by university researchers. She is currently Managing Editor of Careers with STEM at Refraction Media and Producer of the Breaking Banks Asia podcast.
Dr Jeffrey Robens – Senior Editorial Development Manager, Nature Portfolio
Dr Jeffrey Robens is a Senior Editorial Development Manager at Nature Portfolio and is responsible for conducting training workshops worldwide to improve science communication. He has strong scientific qualifications with 20 years of academic experience and numerous publications and awards. He received his PhD from the University of Pennsylvania and then worked at research institutes in Singapore and Japan. Since leaving academia in 2012, he has conducted over 400 academic training workshops worldwide to help researchers and journal editors improve their publication output and impact. Dr Robens is an experienced scientist, teacher, author, peer reviewer, and editor who is highly competent in educating researchers to effectively communicate their work.