Shanii Phillips

I am a PhD Candidate at the Centre for the Public Awareness of Science at The Australian National University.

My PhD research focuses on examining how can we support inclusion in science centres, especially for families from minoritised communities.

Science centres broadly aim to provide engaging and interactive science experiences that are accessible to all. However, repeated studies have shown that the communities who have been excluded by science are also excluded within science communication experiences (including science centres), bringing into question the success of goals espousing "science for all".

The last decade has seen a sharp upturn in the advocacy for inclusive approaches in science communication, including informal science learning. This research contributes to the growing scholarship in inclusive science communication, and aims to provide practical recommendations for (typically not-for-profit) science centres to begin reflecting on how to improve inclusion for their potential visitors.

As an industry-embedded Candidate, I hope to make real-time recommendations for the leaders of Scitech, the science centre where I work, to support the inclusion of more diverse audiences from the Western Australian community.

My PhD supervisors are Dr Graham Walker (Primary supervisor & Panel Chair), Prof. Merryn McKinnon, Dr Heather Bray (University of Western Australia), and Dr John Chappell (Scitech).

As an industry-embedded researcher, I divide my time between my PhD, managing Audience Research and evaluation at Scitech, and collaborating with UWA Science Communication as an Adjunct Research Fellow in Science Communication.