Episode 73 – Interview with scientist and adventurer Milly Formby
What a treat this week’s episode is! We had a blast catching up with one of our brilliant former science communication students, Milly Formby.
Milly is a qualified zoologist, pilot and illustrator of the children’s book, A Shorebird Flying Adventure. In 2022-23 she was the first woman to fly a microlight aircraft around Australia. The aim of the adventure was to promote protection of wetland habitats for endangered migratory shorebirds. Milly took 160 hours of flight time over 365 days covering 14,000 kilometres to complete the journey. Along the way she visited 105 primary schools reaching over 6500 students in remote, regional and urban Australia.
Milly has extensive experience in many different types of science communication and we know you’re going to love this conversation!
You can follow Milly and learn more about her work here:
- https://wingthreads.com/
- https://www.facebook.com/wingthreads/
- https://www.instagram.com/wingthreads/
- https://www.youtube.com/@wingthreads2347
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/milly-formby-a607a64b/
You can watch a documentary about Wing Threads here: https://iview.abc.net.au/show/wing-threads
And you can purchase Milly’s book A Shorebird Flying Adventure here: https://www.publish.csiro.au/book/8006/
Transcript
Jen (00:00:22)
Hello everybody, I am so thrilled that you are here with us for another episode of Let’s Talk SciComm.
I’m Jen and beside me as always is my wonderful friend Michael. How you doing?
Michael (00:00:36)
I’m doing very good, Jen. I’m very excited for today’s guest.
Jen (00:00:40)
Well, I think today is probably one of our most special episodes to date. I’ve been waiting for quite a long time to invite this particular guest on air because she’s been so busy.
But it’s a super, super special day because Milly is one of our truly incredible Unimelb SciComm alumni. So I looked it up Milly, and it was 10 years ago that you first stepped into a SciComm lecture theater with me.
And I’m just, I’m seriously, like, I’m jumping up and down. I’m beyond excited to get to talk with Milly today because you know, she’s just been on this unbelievable science communication journey since then.
And I was kind of catching myself when I was thinking about this because usually if we talk about someone having been on a journey, we’re kind of talking about a journey through time, right?
Like we’ll recount the series of jobs that they’ve done or what they studied or the volunteer roles they’ve had or how they moved around the country or the planet for different jobs. Like normally that’s the kind of journey we’re talking about.
But in Milly’s case, we’re talking about an actual kind of different journey. And that is that Milly spent 360 days flying a microlight aircraft around Australia, thousands of kilometers around Australia to raise awareness for the plight of migratory shorebirds.
And every step of that adventure involved incredible science communication. So Milly, she’s won so many different awards. She’s a zoologist turned pilot, a complete trailblazer.
And Milly, I just can’t wait for everyone to hear your story. So welcome back to UniMelb SciComm.
Milly (00:02:17)
Oh thanks Jen. That’s so… I’m so chuffed when you invited me to be on the podcast. So thank you.
Jen (00:02:23)
Like I said, we’ve been talking about it for years.
Milly (00:02:26)
You have, we have. Yeah.
Michael (00:02:28)
We’ve got lots of questions for you, Milly.
Yeah, very excited.
Milly (00:02:30)
Oh, fantastic. Thank you.
Very, very excited to be here.
Jen (00:02:34)
And Milly, I’m just so proud of you.
Milly (00:02:37)
Oh, thank you.
Jen (00:02:37)
Like I just feel that sense of almost kind of parental pride of who you are and what you’ve achieved. Because so… I mean, our listeners are going to hear a lot more about it in a minute,
but you conceived this whole idea of Wing Threads. Then you had to really adapt your voyage because of COVID. You faced all these challenges along the way, which we’re going to talk about later.
You ran unbelievably successful crowdfunding campaigns, which is no small feat. Then you actually built and flew a microlight around Australia. You know, that in itself is incredible.
You’ve done incredible media work. You’ve produced this beautiful children’s book with Jackie Kerin. You’ve talked to thousands and thousands of children along the way.
I mean, the list just goes on and on, and we’re not going to get to talk about it all today.
But in every interview, we do like to start by going back in time and talking about your entry into science, I guess.
So Milly, tell us, how did you get interested in science in the first place? And how, like why migratory shorebirds? It’s a pretty specific niche.
Milly (00:03:35)
Yeah, it is a specific niche. Well, my journey into science and shorebirds actually began through art, funnily enough.
So I did a degree in visual arts and majored in tapestry before I did science. And I was working as a tapestry weaver at the Australian Tapestry Workshop in South Melbourne.
And during that time, I got a repetitive strain injury in my shoulder and I couldn’t weave full time anymore.
And the only thing I could think of that I wanted to do other than art when I was growing up was be a zoologist.
I remember asking my sister what somebody who studies animals is when I was about seven or eight and she said “a zoologist”. And I was like, “that’s what I want to be”.
Jen (00:04:20)
From A-Z, literally art to zoology.
Milly (00:04:24)
Art to zoology.
Michael (00:04:25)
There you go.
Milly (00:04:26)
Yeah, so that’s pretty much where that came in.
So I went back to uni and study science, yeah.
Jen (00:04:33)
Wow, what a story. And I had no idea that you started your working life in tapestry.
I mean, I know you’re an incredible artist, but I had no idea that was your background.
Milly (00:04:43)
Yeah, I worked there for seven years.
Jen (00:04:45)
Wow.
Michael (00:04:47)
Yeah, it’s incredible. And I really want to ask you a bit more about this journey and building your own microlight to kind of raise awareness for the plight of migratory shore birds. But maybe you could just tell us in the listeners, what is the plight of migratory shore birds?
Milly (00:05:04)
Yeah, great question. So migratory shorebirds, we have about 36 species of migratory shorebirds here in Australia. We also have about 18 resident species that live here and breed here year round.
But our migratory species, they fly all the way up to the Arctic and Siberia to breed every year. So they do a 25,000 kilometre round trip every year and they spend about six months here in Australia between October through to March.
And they rely on a chain of wetlands to do those big migrations so they can stop on the way to rest and refuel, obviously to do a big flight of, you know, between five to twelve thousand kilometres, that’s the distances that these birds are flying in one go.
Obviously they need to put a lot of fat on board to be able to burn that fat as fuel. So having lots of places to stop to rest and refuel along the way is essential.
And many of these birds, bird species are in decline because of habitat loss. That’s the primary reason. So species like Curlew sandpiper and Eastern curlew that rely really heavily on the Yellow Sea as a stopover, ’cause that’s one of the major areas that’s been lost to development.
They’ve seen declines of up to 80% in the last 30, 40 years. So that’s a massive reduction in a very short period of time.
Jen (00:06:26)
Oh that’s huge. Yeah, that’s awful.
Milly (00:06:31)
Yeah, and we see wetlands here in Australia being lost as well, but it’s more of a death by a thousand cuts sort of situation where you have a bit of a wetlands lost here and then a bit more a bit later and it accumulates over time. So I really wanted to connect people with that issue.
Michael (00:06:50)
Yeah, imagining it from the perspective of the birds that yeah, I guess they’re you know, they’re on this big journey and they land and maybe there’s not as much wetland as they thought there was gonna be or there’s no wetland and imagine how that devastates the population.
And I think it’s so great that you’re able to highlight this problem and I can think of lots of ways in which you might go about doing that.
How on earth did you come to land on this idea of building and piloting your own microlight around Australia? Because it’s pretty extraordinary.
Milly (00:07:22)
Well, I was working at the University of Western Australia. One of my friends was telling me how his brother flew a microlight and how it’s pretty easy to learn to fly and pretty affordable to get your pilot license.
And I was driving to work the next day and I had this idea pop in my head that I could learn to fly a microlight and follow the shorebirds on migration to Siberia.
So it was literally [an] out of the blue idea. I guess hearing the idea of learning to fly and connecting that with my shorebird work that I was already doing with volunteering, banding and flagging shorebirds, it just kind of smushed in my head.
And when I had that idea, I remember sort of being struck dumb and going, Oh, I could actually do this if I decide to.
So I didn’t tell anyone for quite some time and it took me many months before I actually bit the bullet and meant, Yep, I’m gonna go see if I actually like flying a microlight because I didn’t have any experience of being a pilot or any ambitions to be one prior to that idea.
Michael (00:08:24)
Wow, that’s very exciting. So you kind of held onto the idea for a while just to make sure it was a good one and it stuck with you.
And then you went and you learned how to fly and you learned how to build one from scratch as well?
Milly (00:08:37)
Yeah, everybody thinks I built it myself. That’s not quite right.
So I did my pilot training in York, which is about a two hour drive east of Perth.
And during that time, I met the director of Airborne Microlights, the company that make my aircraft and they sponsored me in effect to go and work in the factory with them.
So while I was working in the factory, I got money together to make my own aircraft and I got to help assist with the build of the microlight.
So I didn’t build it myself from scratch. I was working in the factory with the boys at the time and got to help build my own aircraft, which is still very cool.
Michael (00:09:16)
It’s still, it’s still incredible.
Jen (00:09:20)
It’s close enough I reckon, Milly. You can still lay claim to that.
Milly (00:09:22)
Yeah.
Michael (00:09:24)
Yeah, these things are a team effort.
And yeah, we’re really really delighted that the Let’s Talk SciComm logo was able to be part of the journey and so we could kind of live vicariously through you.
Milly (00:09:32)
That was so cool. I love that. Yes, I had a bunch of spots of logos on the aircraft and yeah, Let’s Talk SciComm was one of them. That was awesome.
Jen (00:09:46)
I have to admit Milly, watching your live feeds and taking the odd screenshot where I could see our logo. You know, this amazing vista beneath you and all around you.
Jen (00:09:55)
But Milly, tell us the process then of you know, that idea is just radical. I mean, gosh, flying alone to Siberia.
I just can’t imagine how difficult that would have been. How did that evolve into what you did do, which I think is equally extraordinary and flying around Australia, what was that process?
Milly (00:10:15)
Well, I could see it, obviously jumping in a microlight and trying to fly internationally was the big thing to do.
So I was breaking it down into chunks, I guess. And flying around Australia seemed like a good stepping stone towards doing something bigger because I needed to get people’s confidence on board for one.
I needed to prove that I could do something big, organize something big on a decent scale before I tried to do something internationally.
And yeah, so the flight around Australia was really that stepping stone.
Jen (00:10:49)
Does that mean Siberia is still on your list?
Milly (00:10:51)
Oh look, I think the geopolitical situation at the moment’s really putting any… Yeah, I don’t think it’s going to happen anytime soon.
But I certainly haven’t written it off. If the opportunity came up to do something like that in the future and I had the support behind me, then yeah, I’d do it.
I couldn’t do it in the same way that I did the trip around Australia, yeah.
Michael (00:11:11)
I love how you just describe, just a casual trip around Australia. The stepping stone, just a stepping stone.
Milly (00:11:19)
It was a massive trip. It was a really massive trip, this trip.
Jen (00:11:22)
And Milly, we do want to talk more about that trip and there’s a million things we could ask you about.
You know, I mean just, if people haven’t watched any of your live feeds, do, because just the sense of I don’t know, the changed perspective that you must’ve had spending all that time up there. I could spend hours asking you about that.
As a conservation biologist, I’d love to chat more with you about your message that you were sharing on the route, which is you know, how important wetlands are and the fact that humans, you know, we’re all part of nature, we’re not separate to it and our future depends on looking after the planet.
So I could ask you about that, but I’m actually going to ask you something really different to those questions, sorry.
Milly (00:12:00)
Oh, ok.
Jen (00:12:02)
And that is that a big part of your journey was visiting primary schools all around Australia. I know you had the opportunity to speak with six and a half thousand primary school kids.
And that’s huge because a lot of these kids are in really remote rural areas, regional areas. I’m guessing many of them had never met a scientist before, let alone a scientist who’s also a pilot.
And I know you gave huge numbers of talks to kids along the way, but I hope you don’t mind me reflecting on the fact that when you studied with me a decade ago, you were a really nervous public speaker.
Milly (00:12:35)
I was.
Jen (00:12:35)
It was something that you really struggled with. You found it very stressful. And look at you now.
Milly (00:12:40)
Yeah.
Jen (00:12:40)
I mean, you’ve done media interviews galore. You’ve been all over the TV, all over radio. You’ve been doing constant live feeds, talking to these thousands and thousands of kids.
Like for anyone who’s listening thinking, Oh my gosh, I’m the nervous speaker. I can’t imagine ever in my wildest dreams being able to be doing the sort of stuff Milly’s doing. Like, I just love to hear your thoughts on that progression. It’s incredible.
Milly (00:13:06)
Yeah, I wish I could say that I had something, miraculous kind of change or whatever. It’s just practice, like getting up in front of people and doing it over and over again.
And yeah, it is, it’s practice and putting yourself out there. And I found as well, I mean, I’d have talks that went terribly and were received really badly.
And you go, Geez, I really bombed out on that one. And you get over it and you’re like, Okay, well, I survived, I’m still breathing.
And then you have times where you go, Wow, I really nailed that. And it feels really good.
And I’ve got to say, the times when you nail public speaking, you get a bit of a rush, to be honest. It feels really good.
And over time as well, like I can see how the talks about this project that I’ve given has really evolved over time.
And you learn what aspects of a talk works and what aspects don’t, and you refine it over time.
And I feel that now, like I go and give a talk, I’ve got all the good bits in there. I know what works. I’ve said the same things over and over again, and what’s going to resonate with people.
And even with the kids, visiting schools, I learnt what the kids really responded to. And I put more of that in the talk and things that they’d get bored and you know, get fidgety and stuff, I’d take it out.
Jen (00:14:26)
And what did the kids love the most? Like, did they want to know? How did you go to the toilet when you were flying or like what did the kids most to know?
Milly (00:14:31)
That was… Sure did!
Michael (00:14:31)
That’s what I wanted to know. What does that say about me? I’m a grown up.
Milly (00:14:41)
Well, to answer the question, I’m only flying like between two, three hours at a time. So just hold on. If you’ve really got to go, you’ve got to put the plane on the ground. Thankfully, I didn’t, didn’t, you know, have an accident in the air, so that was good. Or run off the ground.
But no, the kids’ number one question was, what happens if the engine stops? Yeah.
Jen (00:15:04)
And tell us. What happens? Do you just glide safely to the ground, or do you panic?
Milly (00:15:09)
Yeah, yeah. You’d glide safely to the ground. So that’s called an engine out.
And the number one reason for your engine to stop is actually running out of fuel.
Milly (00:15:19)
So most pilots miscalculate fuel, but I never had that problem with a trike. But yeah, you just glide to the ground.
So one of the things you’re doing when you’re flying around is you’re always looking for places to land, like paddocks or on the beach.
And even as part of your flight planning, you would choose a route that doesn’t take you over an area where you haven’t got any landing options, or you try and minimize that as much as possible.
Michael (00:15:47)
Yeah, it’s really interesting. I can imagine you just get kids fascinated with imagining you doing this.
And you talked about public speaking and really working hard on that. And it’s about kind of reflecting and refining for a given audience.
And talking about audiences, kids have to be probably one of the more challenging audiences.
And you’ve gone and written a wonderful kids’ book, “A Shorebird Flying Adventure”, with some beautiful illustrations that really pop out. And you did that with Jackie Kerin.
I’d love to know, what did you learn about communicating to kids from writing that kids’ book?
Milly (00:16:25)
Oh yeah, I learnt a lot from Jackie. She has written several children’s books. It was great seeing how Jackie took the information and put it into really simple language.
And I learned a lot about how difficult it is, actually, to write things simply and with fewer words and to find words that are understandable, but still mean the same thing.
Also, it was interesting how we had a script to begin with that over time got pared back because you can show visually in a children’s book what you would otherwise put into words.
So figuring out what worked better as part of an illustration compared to what we needed to leave in the text.
Jen (00:17:10)
Yeah, your illustrations are just amazing.
And that was also part of your crowdfunding campaign as well, that you had a lot of rewards.
I mean, you know, if you walked out of the room that I’m sitting in and went out to our lounge room, you would see we have a lot of Milly’s art on cushions, on all sorts of things, on our fridge.
I think you having the dual ability of scientist and artist is really powerful.
Milly (00:17:34)
Yeah, no, I love illustration.
I think that’s part of the thing for me. Like I could see that a lot of science communication was a bit serious, which is important to have all the serious stuff in there, but you can also make it fun.
And I love that how cartoons and illustration can bring that to a topic.
Jen (00:17:56)
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I think it’s incredibly…
I mean, like we always talk about, it’s a way of connecting with a different audience in a different way.
Milly (00:18:03)
Absolutely. Yep, for sure.
Jen (00:18:05)
Milly, I want to talk about something a bit different.
And we could talk about the nuts and bolts of your journey for hours. I really do think it’s extraordinary.
But when I think about you and what you’ve achieved since I first met you, the thing that really strikes me is how resilient you are.
And that word gets overused. But resilient and persistent because, I mean, you told the story of your becoming a more effective public speaker and you said there’s no magic bullet, it’s just practice.
And that’s the perfect answer, right? I don’t want there to be a magic bullet. I want it to just be you turn up every day and you do your best and you swallow your pride when it goes badly and you revel in the, in the fun when it goes well.
But then you’ve had a lot of other challenges. You know, a pandemic, huge costs. You broke your leg, you broke your wrist.
I mean, you don’t do things by halves, right?
Milly (00:18:51)
No.
Jen (00:18:52)
I couldn’t… I remember my heart just sank when I saw your social media post with you with a cast on your leg.
I just remember thinking like, this is it, this is the end. How is she ever going to keep going through this?
So what kept you going at times that you just must’ve wanted to give up? It must’ve felt all too hard lots of times.
Milly (00:19:12)
I’ve had moments where I did feel that way.
But when I first started this project, I remember thinking to myself, Right, I’m just going to keep going unless I get a really clear you know, sign from the universe as to when I’m going to play this safe…
Jen (00:19:27)
What would that have been? Like a lightning strike on your microlight or something?
Milly (00:19:31)
Yeah, like a clear, you need to stop, like this is the obstacle, stop.
It turned out very different to how I had planned. I thought I was going to fly around Australia in 2019. And obviously, you know, a broken leg and a broken wrist kind of, it stopped me from flying for five months.
And then I thought I’ll do it in 2020, and we had a pandemic. And as it turned out, the pandemic meant that I had the time to illustrate a children’s book and that opportunity came along.
And that was certainly made for a much richer project when I did get out there and do the actual flight.
Michael (00:20:11)
Yeah, that’s great. And I guess you mentioned the vision that you had there, and you had a vision and a dream that you were able to kind of follow through and really do this successful journey and crowdfunding campaign.
And I’m curious just to ask, you know, what would your advice be now that you kind of reflect on that experience, for other people who might have a big dream or a message that they want to share and raise awareness perhaps about a particular issue?
You know, what would your advice be to them? What are some of the key things that you’ve learned along the way?
Milly (00:20:45)
Well, for the project as a whole, I would say give yourself permission to make mistakes and learn from them and also give yourself more time for things to pan out.
Like don’t expect it to all just go according to your plan. And if it doesn’t, well, that means it’s not going to work and you should just give up.
Like there’s going to be opportunities and bends in the road that you didn’t expect and they often lead to better outcomes.
That certainly was my experience. They led to more interesting and better outcomes that I hadn’t even envisioned. I didn’t envision having a children’s book before I started on this project.
And with the crowdfunding, the networking is key and you need to reach out to people and build a big community before you even think about starting a crowdfunding campaign.
Networking is absolutely key if you want to raise a lot of money.
Michael (00:21:46)
Hmm, yeah. And can I ask how much money did you raise in the end?
Milly (00:21:50)
I’ve run three crowdfunding campaigns. The first one I ran in 2017 before I even had my pilot license.
And it blows me away thinking about it now. I actually raised eight and a half thousand dollars. It’s just not a bad effort.
The second one, we raised $78,000. I was aiming for 75.
Michael (00:22:09)
Wow.
Milly (00:22:10)
And then the trip around Australia took a bit longer than I expected, so I… We wanted to raise another 30,000. Then we raised 35.
Michael (00:22:19)
Wow, that’s fantastic.
Milly (00:22:21)
So well over a hundred thousand and that’s not including all of the in-kind sponsorship and other sponsorships that’s come along over the years.
Jen (00:22:30)
Which really is extraordinary, Milly.
I mean, let’s just step back for a minute.
As callous as it sounds, most people on the planet don’t give a toss about migratory shorebirds.
They have no idea who they are, what they do, why they’re important.
To raise more than a hundred thousand dollars is absolute testament to you and to the message that you’re sharing and how you shared it.
The networks that you built and the fact that you’re a really fantastic communicator. I mean, it’s just incredible.
Milly (00:22:56)
Oh, thank you.
Jen (00:22:57)
It’s a lot of money.
Milly (00:23:01)
It was a lot of money. A lot of work, yep.
Michael (00:23:04)
Hmm, yeah, that’s fantastic.
We are nearing the end of the podcast, Milly.
But before we let you go, we would like to ask you some final questions that are a little bit different, a little bit lighthearted.
Milly (00:23:17)
OK.
Michael (00:23:28)
So to kind of shift gears a little bit, the first one that I want to ask you is if you could pick an alternative job to what you’re doing today, what would it be?
Milly (00:23:37)
Oh, you mean outside of science?
Michael (00:23:40)
Anything at all. You can pick anything.
Milly (00:23:41)
Oh. Oh, you know, sometimes I think if I had have known how much I loved flying when I was younger, I probably would have pursued a career in aviation and become a pilot because I do love it so much.
But I am one of those people that I’m curious about lots of different things and I tend to explore lots of different avenues.
So I probably would have gone from being a pilot to something else anyway.
Jen (00:24:10)
I’m wondering if saying you wanted to be a pilot is the perfect foreshadow to our second question, Milly. If you could pick a superpower, what superpower would you pick?
Milly (00:24:19)
Yeah, it’s probably flying.
Jen (00:24:23)
Flying without the need for a microlight.
Milly (00:24:26)
That would be amazing. I would love that, yes.
Michael (00:24:32)
When you were like on the journey, would you ever like have dreams where you were say,
flying without a microlight or replaying kind of the day, but you know, in a slightly different, more bizarre way?
Milly (00:24:44)
Oh no, I didn’t actually. But I do have dreams where I am flying the microlight often, yeah.
Michael (00:24:49)
OK. So you’ve done, you’ve really done two trips around Australia then.
Milly (00:24:53)
One in my head.
Michael (00:24:54)
One in your dreams.
Milly (00:24:59)
I actually, I know when I’m really stressed and anxious because I will have dreams that I’m trying to take off on a runway that’s got power lines running overhead.
Michael (00:25:06)
Wow, that’s interesting.
Jen (00:25:07)
Oh, that sounds awful.
Milly (00:25:08)
Yeah, it’s really stressful as I go [past]. I’m obviously really stressed and under the pump at the moment.
Michael (00:25:14)
That’s how you know you’re a pilot when you’re, when you’re stressing, you have dreams like that so…
Milly (00:25:18)
Yeah.
Michael (00:25:20)
So Milly, if you could go back in time and give yourself a message at the age of 21, what would you say to yourself?
Milly (00:25:27)
Oh gosh.
Don’t be in such a rush. I think that would probably be it.
Don’t be in such a rush to achieve everything, and don’t worry too much about doing everything perfectly.
I was, well, I still am a bit guilty of perfectionism, but probably much more so as a 21-year-old who’s very much worried about perfectionism and a lot more sensitive to criticism as a result, so…
Yeah, I’d probably say just good enough is, you know, is good enough.
Jen (00:26:02)
I feel like that is perfect advice for all people of all ages.
Just be kind to yourself.
Milly (00:26:10)
Be kind to yourself, yeah.
Don’t put so much pressure on yourself to do everything perfectly and in a hurry.
And I think that’s probably a cultural message. You know, that hustle culture, being the biggest success you can be at the youngest age and all of that kind of stuff, but it comes at a cost.
Jen (00:26:30)
Yeah, absolutely.
Milly, I think that reflection flows really nicely into our next question, because you’ve worked with so many different people over the last few years.
And we’re interested in asking you what do you think makes a good leader?
Milly (00:26:44)
Oh, I think someone who’s interested in meeting people where they’re at and not putting themselves in some kind of guru position. He has all the answers. Interested in learning from other people.
I think, you know, lifting other people up to be able to become more knowledgeable, more effective, and more in connection with their own life and what they want to do.
Michael (00:27:10)
And lifting people up, I guess is an apt phrase for the experience that you have, so enjoyed that.
Milly (00:27:19)
Yep.
Michael (00:27:20)
Final question, Milly. What’s your top tip for communicating effectively about science?
Milly (00:27:26)
Hmm, I think the biggest thing I learned with my project is the power of storytelling.
People really connect with stories of other people. Like, not everybody cares about shorebirds.
They don’t have to. But people care about the stories of other people.
So, people would connect with me and what I’m doing and through that, they learn about shorebirds, and then they think more about the natural environment or the birds around them. But what they connected with initially was my own story.
Jen (00:27:57)
Well, Milly, your story is phenomenal, and I feel very very proud of everything that you’ve achieved, and I can’t wait to see where it goes.
Milly (00:28:05)
Thank you.
Jen (00:28:07)
We are your biggest supporters here in the background.
And yeah, what a dream to not only have, but then to actually put into action.
Congratulations.
Milly (00:28:19)
Thank you so much and thank you for inviting me to chat with you today.
Michael (00:28:24)
Thanks, Milly. It’s been a pleasure.
Milly (00:28:25)
Thanks, Michael. Yeah, I can’t believe it’s 10 years since I did SciComm with you.
Jen (00:28:31)
I know. What happened to those 10 years, hey?
Milly (00:28:35)
So weird.
Jen (00:28:55)
Thank you so much for listening to another episode of “Let’s Talk SciComm” from the University of Melbourne Science Communication Teaching Team. I’m Associate Professor Jen Martin and my brilliant cohost is Dr. Michael Wheeler.
Michael (00:29:09)
And if you’ve enjoyed listening to this episode, we’d love you to share it with your friends and family. We’d love you to share your favourite episode online. And you can find us at Let’s Talk SciComm on X, formerly known as Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
Jen (00:29:23)
And this season, we are asking for your help to spread the word so that more people find out about our podcast. So if you enjoy listening, we would love you to tell a friend.
But we’d also love you to think about taking a couple of minutes to write us a review. Whatever platform you listen on, there will be a place for you to leave a review and we are gonna keep track and award our favourite reviewees some prizes.
We’re thinking about some merch and we’d also love to reward our favourite review with a free science communication workshop that we will run for you in person or online, depending on whereabouts you are.
Michael (00:29:58)
Ooh, prizes. And if… They sound great. And if you’d like to get in touch to suggest a guest or a future topic, we’d love to hear from you.
Please email us at lets.talk.scicomm@gmail.com.
And as always, a huge thank you to our production team, Stephanie Wong and Steven Tang.