Make Me Data Literate
Episodes
David Spriggs and Data for Social Good
14 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
“full credit to our our founder, Andrew Mahar, who came up with this vision of technology for social justice” “there’s just so...
Helen Dickinson on Qualitative Data and Inclusive Research
12 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
"one of the other things that sometimes gets said is that qualitative research is subjective because it's based on people's thoughts and perceptions A...
Mark Stickells on AI & the role of Humanities in STEM
26 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Taking a different tack with this episode, a wonderful chat with the remarkable Mark Stickells, AM, CEO of Pawsey Supercomputing Research Centre, on A...
Pascal Elahi on Quantum Computing, the value of a broad education, and a lot more!
20 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A fantastic conversation with Quantum Computing specialist and all round fascinating thinker, Dr Pascal Elahi. The worst data mistakes I’ve seen...
Dr Kat Ross on Astrophysics, Bias in Science, and Including Diverse Scientists in Education
10 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
I might ask the same questions every time, but there’s no knowing where the conversations will go! A fabulous episode with the incredible Dr Kat...
Dr Emily Kahl on pretty much everything!
02 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Amazing conversation with Dr Emily Kahl from Pawsey Supercomputing Research Centre, on everything from the need for a humanities education in STEM, th...
Darren Mansfield on Sleep, Data, and Sleep Tracking Devices
15 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A super interesting episode with Professor Darren Mansfield on sleep, data, and sleep tracking devices. “imagine if you go and run a one hour do...
Sarah Beecroft on Bioinformatics and the joy of puzzles
04 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Dr Sarah Beecroft from Pawsey Supercomputing Research Centre “it’s fun. Like you, you know, uncovering kind of the deeper insights, I thin...
Sarah Pearce on the SKA Low
07 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Well it’s been a long time between episodes, but we’re back! And wow, have we got some amazing guests lined up. Starting off with, not so ...
Ray Hilton on AI & Deep Tech
19 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
A fantastic conversation with Ray Hilton. “on its own, like data is relatively inert and doesn’t really have much value –...
Dr Melissa Humphries on statistics, social media, and many many things!
01 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
"Every decision that we make, whether we're thinking about climate change, poverty, you know happiness, agriculture... how do we feed everyone, how do...
Andrew Leigh on Data & Politics
10 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
"The rise of populism has been substantial across the advanced world, indeed across developing countries as well. So those of us who believe in data n...
Michael Brand, on the Science of Data Science
04 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
"We do not teach people that making mistakes is not just right, but it's the only way of learning. It's the only way of becoming better." Honestly, I ...
Grant Ennis
20 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
"So like while we would never believe that if we saw a stone rolling down a mountain, that if we all just stared at it and willed it back up the hill,...
Fiona Tweedie on Data Governance
13 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Fiona Tweedie: data governance is not a topic that gets a lot of love. people yeah switch off when they hear it, but it really is the makes a huge amo...
Mark Gray on Physics, Supercomputing, Robodebt, and the future of medicine
17 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Mark Gray on technology. "people have developed a kind of implicit trust in the way that technology works. And I think partly it's because they don't ...
Kate Carruthers on Data Governance and the people side of data
18 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
"Behind every business problem is a human being with some kind of need. And if we understand that, we can solve it and increasingly now every business...
Larene Le Gassick on Data and Accessibility
08 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
A truly thought provoking conversation about data and accessibility with an amazing Software Engineer and Accessibility Expert & Advocate, Larene Le G...
Greg Jericho on communicating with data
26 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
"I've gone from just not reading the media release, to not even caring what their numbers are and actually finding my own numbers. Which is always a f...
Covid Data – Why aren’t we collecting it anymore?
26 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
RD:"Why aren't we collecting the data? Because they don't want to admit failure. They don't want to make it easy for me to tell you what the cost to G...
Jas Chambers on Oceans, Environment, and Inclusivity
16 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
"I remember my first day at university, I was one of those overly friendly people who introduced myself to everyone in a lecture theatre of a thousand...
Antony Green on Election Data Wrangling
07 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Antony Green is well known as the ABC's Election Data Specialist, and he generously shared his time and expertise in a wide ranging conversation about...
Michael Franklin on Bioinformatics, ChatGPT, and Data Science in Health
02 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Michael Franklin is a Software Engineer at the Centre for Population Genomics, and a former student of mine. This was a really interesting chat that r...
Polly Hemming on the ways Climate Data is misused
03 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This is an infuriating interview with Polly Hemming, Senior Researcher at The Australia Institute. Polly is amazing, but the interview is infuriating ...
Jarrod Hughes on Indigenous Data Governance and Sovereignty
20 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
"Particularly in the Indigenous context, We're really keen to unpack this notion of research objectivity or independence. To make the point that the...
Paola Oliva Altamirano talks data for social good
04 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
This is a great chat about critical thinking and the importance of scepticism in Data Science, and the importance of data and scientific literacy aro...
Nic Price on Data, Neuroscience, and the brain
29 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
An amazing conversation with Neuroscientist Associate Professor Nic Price from Monash University, who has a lot to say about the way we teach science,...
Euan Ritchie on communicating data, scientific method, and how science works
06 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
An amazing chat that ranged over the power of data storytelling, the impact of scientific fraud, and how to stay positive in the face of environmental...
Dr Cameron Murray, Housing Economist
30 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
"The first thing I think [about graphs] is: what story am I supposed to believe when I see this? What are they trying to make me think? And then immed...
Richard Denniss on what Economics is (and what it isn’t!) and how to spot Economics being misused
13 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
"So economics calls itself the science of the efficient allocation of resources. It tells itself that we help answer the question of what to produce, ...
Laura Summers on Fairness and Ethics in Data and AI
05 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
"It's actually interesting to observe the things people are trying to do with data as a way of assessing our civilisational maturity."
Linden Ashcroft on Communicating Climate Data
28 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
"The pandemic has shown us that we can act quickly and dramatically for other people, with a positive outcome. We saw a problem, we thought 'oh no, we...
Ketan Joshi – Data, climate, and communication
13 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
It's this really tense balance between the side that treats data as if it's almost reality itself, it's so accurate and precise, and empirical, that i...
Mel Flanagan on Open Data and Data Storytelling
07 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Mel is a data advocate, designer, storyteller, maker and founder of Nook Studios. This episode is a fascinating look at the case for Open Data, Govern...
Ellen Broad talks Cybernetics, Data Science, and Life.
17 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
“I love that the thing that I work on is actually so consequential to better decision making, to solving real world problems. To understanding a...
Dr Owen Churches on using Maths to Understand People
06 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
A fascinating conversation with Government Statistician Dr Owen Churches. How government data collection can shape policy and change our understanding...
Professor Alan Duffy talks Data Literacy and Astronomy
24 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Alan Duffy talks Data Literacy and Astronomy. "We are so keen to get into problem solving mode and we don't spend enough considered time checking and ...
Juliette O’Brien – Communicating Covid Data
17 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
An amazing conversation with Juliette O'Brien, founder and maintainer of covid19data.com.au - one of the most important sources of Australian Covid19 ...
Adrian Esterman on Data & Public Health
17 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Make Me Data Literate kicks off with an interview with Professor Adrian Esterman, Epidemiologist and Biostatistician. One of the big problems with exp...