Is clean energy stuck in a boys' club? Is fake climate news polluting your feed?
We've made two submissions in the 2024 SXSW Session Select that tackle these issues – but we need your help championing them to make it into SXSW Sydney. We’re asking for 5 minutes of your time to vote and make a real difference.
How to vote
1️⃣ Head to https://submission.sxswsydney.com/ and create a SXSW Sydney Account (it only takes a minute).
2️⃣ Click the links below to access voting for each of our session submissions.
3️⃣ Click ‘Vote ♥’!
You can vote for as many sessions as you like but can only vote for each session once.
Important note: Voting closes on 22 April 2024. Vote today!
About our 2024 Sessions
Empowering female leadership in the clean energy transition 💪🏻
A recent report by Equal by 30 shows that internationally, women represent only 26% of leaders within the global energy workforce. This rapidly growing sector is producing new career pathways, most underpinned by STEM skills. In Years 6 to 8, girls are less likely than boys to choose STEM electives, excluding them from many avenues to pursue a career within the energy sector.
Join these brilliant minds as they discuss ways to overcome this challenge to increase gender diversity in the energy sector:
- Anna Collyer - Chair, Australian Energy Market Commission and Ambassador for the Global Equality in Energy Transitions Initiative
- Agnes Kang - CEO, The Orbispace Initiative
- Prof. John Fletcher - Director, UNSW Digital Grid Futures Institute
- Dr Alison Every - Director, STEM Careers, Australian Academy of Technological Sciences & Engineering
➡️ Vote for Empowering Female Leadership here
Shaping Truth: Navigating Accuracy in Clean Technology Media Coverage 📺
Many Australian news sources prioritise sensationalism over accurate scientific discourse, which is particularly evident in the energy and clean technology sector. This trend distorts important technical information into ideological narratives, hindering the public’s understanding of the policy and technical challenges associated with achieving our carbon emissions reduction targets.
The panel members for this session represent a broad spectrum of expertise required to achieve accurate clean technology media coverage, and includes:
- Dr. Matthew Priestley, a technical expert in clean technology
- Lee Constable, a factual presenter and climate/science communicator
- Dr. Rebecca Green, an expert in the visual communication of climate change issues/
With insights gleaned from their varied work in climate science and clean technology, this promises to be an excellent discussion on navigating accurate science communication in our media landscape.
➡️ Vote for Shaping Truth here
BONUS submission!
Making Good Media: fostering positive climate action through irresistible speculative design 🎬
Current media depiction of the issues of climate change commonly evoke themes that can lead to hopelessness, inaction and more.
This talk showcase short, shareable videos that use a speculative design approach (kind of like science fiction) synthesized with university research to show what possible futures could look like. What would a TV weather report look like in a renewable energy future? Would we even have TV screens or mass media?
Dr Rebecca Green leads a team of UNSW designers, directors, visual effects creators and writers. We have access to cutting-edge research within our university and across the academic and scientific network. We take complex problems around climate change and make them inspirational and relatable. Because seeing is believing.
This session has been pitched by Dr. Rebecca Green and focusses on the 'Making Good Media' project UNSW Digital Grid Futures has seed funded through 2023 and 2024.
➡️ Vote for Making Good Media here
Help us spread the word
Please feel free to share this with your networks. We have a shareable LinkedIn post with all the information, or you can share this article.
Don’t forget, voting closes April 22! Don't miss your chance to help us shape the future of clean energy at SXSW Sydney.
LinkedIn Post from UNSW Digital Grid Futures Institute: