Publications

The following is a list of some of the Centre for the Public Awareness of Science publications.

Refereed journal papers

  • If you read one of the latest print issues of Science, you'll see CPAS Senior Lecturer Dr Ehsan Nabavi and colleagues' book review on "The responsibility turn: Lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic inspire a guide to recognising the politics of modelling."  

    Mathematical modellers have traditionally considered politics irrelevant to their practice, arguing that their work represents objective science, the implications of which are determined by others’ use of it. However, this perspective has evolved as researchers have incorporated insights from science and technology studies to explore modelling beyond its technical aspects. The recent book The Politics of Modelling, edited by Andrea Saltelli and Monica Di Fiore, represents such an endeavour. Read the full review here

    For more context, listen to Ehsan's conversation with Andrea Saltelli on ABC, where they discuss the politics of modelling and the future of modelling in public policy issues, especially post-COVID.  Listen to the podcast here.

Refereed journal papers

  • Waiting for advice that is beyond doubt: uncertainty as Australia's reason for joining the invasion of Iraq.

    Visting Fellow and recent CPAS alum Christiane Gerblinger recently published her article, 'Waiting for advice that is beyond doubt: uncertainty as Australia's reason for joining the invasion of Iraq', with the Intelligence and National Security journal.

    A dominant theme across examinations of the intelligence used to justify invading Iraq in 2003 is that political decision-makers amplified the clarity of their evidence. What has been missed is that Australia did exactly the opposite: here, the political leadership channelled uncertainty, inconclusiveness and doubt into highly effective rhetorical manoeuvres that embraced the imperfection of evidence and, with it, sufficiently weakened arguments that an invasion could take place only with absolute proof. Christiane's article examines the role of Australian intelligence amid a complex mix of factors that facilitated those manoeuvres.

    Read more here.

Refereed journal papers

Selected media coverage

Conference presentations

Refereed journal papers

Popular media

Book chapters

  • Stocklmayer, S.M. & Rennie, L.J. (2017). The attributes of informal science education: A science communication perspective. In P.G. Patrick (ed.), Preparing Informal Science Educators: Perspectives from Science Communication and Education. Switzerland: Springer, pp. 527-544.