SWN special: Meet Queensland's Chief Scientist, Professor Kerrie Wilson

On the back of National Science Week 2025, we’re bringing you a special episode this week featuring our exclusive interview with Queensland's Chief Scientist, Professor Kerrie Wilson, whose role it is to champion the importance of science for our society, our economy and environment, to promote Queensland’s leadership in scientific research partnerships, and to facilitate that translation of research to the general public.SWN's Editor-in-Chief Dr Amanda Niehaus and co-host Bianca Millroy had the incredible opportunity to sit down with Professor Kerrie Wilson, who gave generous insight into what a day in the life of a Chief Scientist involves, what’s happening in Queensland science in the Year of Quantum, the role of science (including the social sciences) and the arts in combating mis- and dis-information, and so much more.In this episode, we cover a diverse range of topics such as:what the role of Chief Scientist entails, and how Professor Kerrie Wilson transitioned into this role from her background in the tertiary education sector and as a dedicated environmental scientistwhat incited Kerrie to embark on a career in science, and her advice for anyone considering a career in STEMwhy Queensland is uniquely positioned in Quantum science and key initiatives that Kerrie and her team are leading in this spacehow the Office of the Chief Scientist actively supports STEM education and accessibility across the state, including the annual Women in STEM Prize and Engaging Science grantshow science communication and research translation, combining science and arts, is vital in terms of combating mis- and dis-informationthe vision for Queensland science; key priorities, challenges and opportunities unique to our state looking ahead into the future, given its diverse environment, natural resources, demographic and First Nations peoples.Throughout this episode, we highlight some of the current priorities, achievements and key initiatives of Professor Wilson and her team. Further links and resources are available in the full show notes on the SWN website.Enjoyed this episode? Share the SWN love!If you liked this episode, leave us a review and share it far and wide. Science Write Now is dedicated to accessibility, connectivity, inspiration and collaboration across disciplines. Our content is free to access and we want to keep it that way, so if you’re keen to be part of this growing community of creative writing inspired by science, hit subscribe!We’ll be back with another episode soon, and more conversations inspired by science and creativity to come!We acknowledge the Jaegara and Turrbal People, Traditional Owners of the land on which this podcast is created, and the unceded cultural lands on which our guests live and continue to make and tell stories.