Jon Brock

My full academic CV can be viewed here. You can also find me on Linked In.

Experience

Co-founder, Frankl Open Science (February 2018-).

Freelance science writer (September 2017-).

Medical research grant writer, WriteMedia, Sydney (January 2019-).

Assistant to Fact Check Editor, The Conversation, Sydney (October-December 2017).

Science media intern, Refraction Media, Sydney (July-August 2017).

Senior Lecturer in Cognitive Science, Macquarie University, Sydney (2014-2017).

Research Fellowships at Macquarie University (2007-2013), University of Oxford (2004-2006), University of Bristol (2002-2003).

Education

PhD in Psychology, University of Warwick, UK (2003).

BSc Honours in Experimental Psychology, University of Bristol, UK (1998).

Skills

Writing: I have written lay scientific articles for The Guardian, Scientific American, The Conversation, The Psychologist, Inspiring Australia, Careers with STEM, Nature Index, UNSW News, and Frontiers for Young Minds, a science journal for children. I’m a regular contributor to Spectrum, an online autism research magazine. I have also published 60 academic papers and written successful research grant applications to Australian Research Council, Wellcome Trust, and Medical Research Future Fund.

Editing: I have extensive experience of editing for academic and lay audiences. I recently completed a three month placement at The Conversation where I edited articles written by academics for the general public. I was an Academic Editor for the open-access journal, PeerJ, and have published an edited book, Communication in Autism. Throughout my research career I edited and provided feedback on academic papers and grant applications. Most recently, I have been editing and providing strategic input to NHMRC Ideas grants and impact statements.

Data analysis and visualization: I use R for data analysis and R Markdown for sharing annotated code. For data visualization, I use ggplot2 in R, DataWrapper, Flourish, and Prism.

Oral presentation: I have given invited keynote addresses at national and international conferences and public events. I’ve also lectured on 10 different university courses including video lectures for Open University.

Event organization: I organized the inaugural scientific meeting of the Australasian Society for Autism Research, two public workshops on autism research, and in July 2017 a workshop that brought together scientists, psychologists, linguists, and journalists to discuss problems and solutions in science communication.

Social media and blogging: My autism blog, Cracking the Enigma ran from 2009 to 2014 attracting 880,000 page views. My science-focused Twitter account @drbrocktagon has 6,350 followers and I manage Facebook accounts for a number of research groups.

Web design: I have set up and managed WordPress sites, including asfar.org.au and sydneyautismscience.com as well as my own website, drbrocktagon.com.