Susannah Eliott

Dr Susannah Eliott is CEO of the Australian Science Media Centre, an independent not for profit organisation that works with news journalists to inject more evidence-based science into public discourse. She started out as a research scientist working on the strange soil microorganisms known as slime moulds. After her PhD, she did postgraduate studies in journalism at UTS and has worked at the interface between science and the media for 25 years. During the 1990s she was manager of the UTS Centre for Science Communication and then Director of Communications at IGBP in Stockholm Sweden, a global research organisation focused on the study of the earth system. She returned to Australia in 2005 to establish the Australian Science Media Centre in Adelaide.

In 2010 she chaired the Expert Working Group on Science and the Media for the Federal government and in 2011 was appointed to the national Climate Commission (until May 2012). In 2016 she was awarded an honorary doctorate in science communication from the University of Adelaide.

She is a Board member of the Environment Institute at the University of Adelaide, a member of the Inspiring South Australia Steering Group, a judge on the Eureka Prize for science journalism and a regular contributor to ABC Radio National’s Drive program with Patricia Karvelas.