I was recently invited to graphically record the Network of Environmental Social Scientists (NESS) Forum on Environmental Conflict held at the University of Queensland, in Brisbane. The Forum brought together a diverse group of researchers and practitioners from Universities, research organisations and conservation groups to discuss three key themes 1. Energy 2. Biodiversity and 3. Climate Change. Understanding and solving environmental conflict is a complex issue as it is often highly emotive and political, so hearing about the experiences of such a group was extremely interesting. It was also extremely fast, full-on and fun (…on the pens that is), as I visually captured 10 presentations in four hours!! My role at such a Forum is to help draw out the major issues, key messages and common themes from the researchers and practitioners to create a visual story of their experiences and knowledge. I’m excited that the visual story I created will now help in further discussions across disciplines to help with social solutions to environmental conflict!

It is also very rewarding to see how my visual stories are used post-event as I have just received a request from a Social Sciences Institute in India to use my graphics to help teach their students about environmental conflict in a course on Population, Migration and Environmental Change! WOW! And these visuals are now part of the NESS website, where you can also download copies of the Forum presentations: https://envirosocialscience.org/2016/11/21/the-ness-2016-environmental-conflict-forum/ You can also follow my creative journey via my alter ego Dr Suzie Starfish on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/drsuziestarfish/) and @suepillans on Twitter and Instagram.

This week I revisited the place that started my new creative business, “Picture your ideas” with Dr Sue Pillans. About 18 months ago a friend and fellow female scientist, Dr Eva, asked me if I would be interested in combining my science and art to graphically record a meeting about the science of the Tropical Rock Lobster fishery in Torres Strait. I didn’t hesitate to say ‘yes!’ and travelled to the top of Australia with the CSIRO team to ‘draw out’ the science of the lobster fishery with indigenous fishers. This week I was delighted to return to beautiful Thursday Island to draw out the big picture of CSIRO’s latest science information session with the lobster fishers. What a beautiful part of the world and what a lovely community to work with…and I love lobsters! So it was a very special trip for me as it reminded me of a few important things which I sometimes forget whilst busily running my own creative business: I am lucky to be surrounded by so many great people that support me in my new creative journey; I am grateful for all the opportunities that come my way to “picture your ideas”; and I’m proud of myself for taking a chance and following my heart (and star) to turn something I love into something I live. So a BIG thank you to Dr Eva, all of my supporters and of course the Lobsters!!

You can follow my creative journey via my alter ego Dr Suzie Starfish on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/drsuziestarfish) and @suepillans on Twitter and Instagram.

It’s a cephalobration for Cephalopod Week!! That’s right, we are entangling ourselves in these amazing marine invertebrates who I just love to paint and draw! As you can ‘sea’ from my Cephalopod Squad these sea creatures come in many different shapes and sizes and are equipped with many special creature features! For example, the octopus has three hearts, blue blood and has the amazing ability to change colour instantly. Squid on the other hand swim backwards and shoot ink when threatened. And then there is the beautiful chambered nautilus, the living fossils of the ocean, which move by jet-propulsion! Now that’s eight or more reasons to love cephalopods and join My Cephalopod Squad!! My cephalopod artworks are as different as the creatures themselves and include watercolours, pen and watercolours, pen and ink and my first ever digital drawing of ‘Casper’ the octopus which I created with my Apple iPad pro and pencil using the Paper 53 app. This illustrates how I am using STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts & Mathematics) in my visual storytelling about the wonders of our ocean, so please contact me if you are interested in my creative science and education. You can also follow my creative marine journey via my alter ego Dr Suzie Starfish on Facebook and @suepillans on Twitter and Instagram.

What a week National Science Week has been for me!! It started with lights, camera and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) in action at the USQ Salon (University of Southern Queensland). No, this is not a beauty treatment but a place for the exchange of ideas through a real-life and functioning tv studio, at USQs beautiful Toowoomba campus. I was there to graphically record Karen Peterson’s presentations on the National Girls Collaborative Project, of which she is the CEO in the United States (see more about this project here http://ngcproject.org/). It was an honour for me to graphically record Karens presentations throughout National Science Week which also included an overview of FabFems (http://www.fabfems.org), a national database of women in STEM professions who are inspiring role models for young women, of which I’m now one!! A HUGE thank you to Dr Lindy Orwin of USQ who organised and engaged my creative services for Karen’s visit to Australia, its been such a great experience working with Women in STEM!

YOU too can take part in Karen’s STEM workshops at USQ by finding out more and registering at: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/making-your-stem-engagement-efforts-count-for-everyone-tickets-26344246350

You can follow more of my creative journey via My Blog and as my alter ego Dr Suzie Starfish (https://www.facebook.com/drsuziestarfish/) on Facebook and @suepillans on Twitter and Instagram.