17 May 2012
On Thursday, 17th May, the Director of the UN Information Centre (UNIC) in Canberra, Christopher Woodthorpe, participated in an all day event at Questacon, the Australian National Science Museum centred on the theme of Sustainable Energy and the upcoming Rio+20 conference on Sustainable Development.
The day featured presentations by University of Canberra advertising students on how to best present one of the seven critical criteria themes of Rio. In all 150 students took part. The winning students then presented again to a panel of science communicators that had gathered together for a workshop discussion on the challenges to science communication. This workshop was also a formal follow up to the "Planet Under Pressure" conference and the findings of the workshop.
A video of the day's events at Questacon will be made public at a side event at Rio being coordinated by the Association of Science-Technology centres (ASTC).
Later that evening Mr. Woodthorpe addressed Australia's diplomatic community during the "Diplomatic Families Night" on the links between the International Day of Families, the International Year of Sustainable Energy for All and the “Future We Want Campaign”. At this event, children were encouraged to record video messages of the future they want. The edited video will be later shown at the Rio+20 conference in June.