Meet the people behind Scientell: Sonia Bluhm

There’s a particular kind of career progression that only makes sense in hindsight. The kind where you look back and realise the thread was always there, but you just couldn’t see it while you were living it. For Sonia Bluhm, even across roles in government and CSIRO, that thread has always been science communication.

Now co-director at Scientell, Sonia’s career has taken her from the federal government, to Australia’s largest research institution, to Scientell. It’s a path shaped by curiosity, strong professional relationships and a growing knowledge of what it means to make science useful to the people who need it most.

An unlikely foundation

Sonia’s university majors raised a few eyebrows. Studying molecular biology, ecology and gender studies simultaneously isn’t an obvious combination. But as Sonia explains it now, the real value was not the subject matter itself, but the skills underpinning it.

The science units gave her a deep understanding of how research works: how to critically read a journal article, evaluate methodology, and understand what makes a well-designed experiment. The gender studies units gave her something equally important: the ability to synthesise large volumes of information, create a strong narrative, and write clearly.

‘The skills I learned were around science and how science works, and how to understand science, and then how to write succinctly and to consolidate and synthesise information. So, when you think about science communication and the work Scientell does, those skills go together in everything we do,’ she said.

A decade in government

After university, Sonia spent over a decade working in government in research management and policy roles – jobs that offered a distinctive kind of professional development, shaped by scale, process and the realities of working within a public institution. She worked across various environment and climate change departments.

Working in government required genuine adaptability. Priorities shifted with changes in government, and the ability to redirect focus at short notice was part of the role. ‘You’ve got to rearrange what you’re doing, things can stop with no warning, and you may even have to reverse what you’ve been doing for the past 5 years,’ she said. ‘So, in government, you have to very much embrace change and be ready to adapt.’

Decision-making in government naturally sits closer to the top of the hierarchy, which shaped how Sonia thought about professional autonomy during those years. ‘You don’t have a lot of opportunities to make decisions until you get quite high up in the hierarchy, so you don’t learn to make your own decisions or trust your judgement.’

In her government roles, Sonia wrote replies to public letters on climate change science, prepared ministerial speeches and talking points, and condensed vast scientific assessments into accessible briefings for senior decision-makers.

‘At the time, I was a policy officer, but really, I was a science communicator, communicating climate science to the minister and the public. It’s funny how sometimes you don’t realise the path you’re on.’

In substance, if not in title, she was already working as a science communicator.

A shift to CSIRO

In 2018, Sonia moved into a knowledge broker role at the Earth Systems and Climate Change Hub, hosted by the CSIRO Climate Science Centre. A role she describes as ‘2-way learning’, where you learn about what the users of science need and then how to shape research to meet those needs. The move was motivated by a love of working closely with researchers.

The cultural shift was profound. After more than a decade in government, CSIRO offered a different way of working. ‘It was a bit like going from high school to university,’ she laughed. ‘The new sense of autonomy gave me this trust in my instincts and knowing how to be independent and make my own decisions.’

After nearly 4 years in the role, working directly alongside researchers, contributing to communication materials and engaging with a wide range of audiences, the pieces started to come together.

‘I once had to produce over 20 research summary fact sheets over 3 months to try and wrap up the research program, and I realised, oh, this is science communication, I’m a science communicator.’

A friendship that shaped a career

It was also during her government years that Sonia had developed a close professional relationship with Paul Holper, who later co-founded Scientell with Simon Torok. One of her favourite parts of her job was working with Paul to manage the same climate science research program and collaborating on public communication materials.

This included answering ‘101 climate sceptic questions’ together, which ended up being a memorable early science communication project that, in hindsight, helped plant the seed for her future love of science communication.

‘We would write rebuttals to climate sceptics together and we would write brochures on climate extremes together. We’d do all this communication stuff together, but at the time I still didn’t identify as a science communicator,’ Sonia mused.

They remained in contact after they had both moved to other roles, which led to a conversation when Scientell was looking for someone to join the team. It’s one of Sonia’s biggest tips for young people – keep up the relationships with the people you love, not just for networking but because those relationships are ‘engaging and meaningful, and they often lead to really exciting things.’

Building a life at Scientell

Sonia joined Scientell in 2021 as a senior science communicator, a role centred on what she had always found most meaningful: close collaboration with researchers and communicating science in clear and accessible ways. Three years later, she stepped into the role of communication and operations manager, before being appointed director in 2025.

The progression reflected not just growth in her science communication practice, but an expanding contribution to how Scientell operates and grows as a business.

At Scientell, Sonia has developed a particular appreciation for complex, multi-product projects where a single program of research is translated across several formats or for several different audiences. One early project that encapsulates this well is her work with the CRC for Honey Bee Products, a 5-year research program spanning 40 projects, covering everything from digitising honey traceability systems to expanding Australia’s Manuka honey production.

Scientell distilled the full breadth of that work into dozens of fact sheets, media releases, conference materials, and a 32-page legacy report. It is exactly the kind of project Sonia thrives on.

‘You get to go really deeply into understanding the science, and you also get to become part of your client’s team.’

During some larger projects, Sonia attends client team meetings, contributes strategic advice on communication approaches and is sometimes involved in stakeholder meetings. She enjoys that the depth of the relationship enables her to contribute more meaningfully to the final product.

Growing into leadership

When the prospect of joining Scientell’s leadership team was first raised, Sonia’s initial response was one that many women in similar positions will find familiar. ‘It was the whole female imposter syndrome,’ she said. The support she received, however, made a considerable difference. She speaks with particular warmth about the positive feedback culture at Scientell, something she notes is not universal.

‘I think we all take it for granted at Scientell, but not many of us realise that for a lot of organisations, you don’t get any feedback on your progress at all. So being in a company that gives such constant and positive feedback is really special,’ Sonia explained.

Her progression from senior science communicator to director also introduced an entirely new domain of professional learning – the commercial and operational side of running a small company, including things like profit and loss, cash flow, staff costs and business development, which Sonia hadn’t previously experienced in her professional life.

‘In government or a big agency, you just get chunks of money turn up to pay your wages, and you don’t have to worry about where that money comes from. The difference in a small business is you’ve got to worry about where every dollar is coming in, and you’ve got to make sure that you can pay the wages and cover all your costs.’

Sonia has genuinely enjoyed this area of professional growth.

‘I’m only just starting to get my head around this. I enjoy the strategic thinking around how to bring in profit, how to grow a business, how to make sure there’s a pipeline of work, so that you never run out.’

The vision she holds for Scientell is one of sustainable growth. ‘We don’t want to become a big business,’ she explains. But she would like the company to increase to around 6 or 8 staff members, to allow them to take on more work. ‘I want us to sustainably grow and expand the sort of science fields that we work on.’

Sonia’s tips for communicating across any audience

Drawing on her experience across government, research and Scientell, Sonia has a clear perspective on what makes an effective science communication product. Sonia’s number one tip is to look for the hook.

‘Start with what’s interesting, a headline statement that is going to suck readers in,’ she said.

Beginning with a methodology summary or institutional description is the fastest way to lose a reader before they have a chance to engage with the substance of the work.

From there, it comes down to truly understanding who you are writing for. Having spent years communicating climate science to researchers, policy makers and the general public, Sonia is acutely aware of how differently the same information needs to be framed depending on who is receiving it.

Scientists want to interrogate the methodology, what models were used and whether the approach was sound. A government minister wants 3 dot points stating what the research means – what it means for the people of Australia, and what they should do about it. The mistake, she says, is skipping the thinking that gets you there.

‘People forget why and who, and they just jump to how and what they want to say. You actually have to flip that if you want to be effective and say, here’s my audience, who are they? What are their priorities? How can I tell them about my science in a way that aligns with their priorities, so that they sit up and pay attention?’

Sonia’s career has taken her from policy officer to knowledge broker to director. The titles changed, the organisations changed, but the thread never did. At the core of every role was the same drive: to make science accessible to the people who needed to hear it. And woven through all of it were the relationships she fostered along the way – including the one with Paul, built over a shared love of communicating climate science. That connection would eventually lead her to Scientell, and to the career she didn’t know she’d always been heading towards.