Your work in science is important. But is it having the impact you want?
Our world is full of fascinating science, but so much of it isn’t communicated clearly or disseminated widely. If you need help engaging others with your science, then we can help. We can connect your science with the public, students, educational institutions, government, funders or staff internally within your organisation.
Our history
Scientell Pty Ltd was founded in 2015 by Simon Torok and Paul Holper, who had worked together at CSIRO. Their passion for science and writing led them to co-author 20 popular science and climate change books. Many of the books have been for children, and a number have been translated into Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Korean and Hungarian.
Simon and Paul first met at the GREENHOUSE 1994 climate change science conference, organised by Paul in New Zealand and attended by Simon as a PhD student.
Their paths crossed again in 1996 when Paul was the communication manager for CSIRO Atmospheric Research and Simon started as the communication manager for CSIRO Environmental Mechanics. A couple of years later, Paul suggested they write a science trivia book together, which was published by ABC Books in 1999.
Over the ensuing decade, Paul worked at CSIRO in Melbourne and Simon worked in Canberra, then England, and then also at CSIRO in Melbourne. As they worked their day jobs, they continued to write together in their spare time, with an average of one book published each year. This efficient, spare-time writing and their collaborative work together at CSIRO laid the foundation for Scientell in 2015.
Paul sadly passed away in 2024, leaving a lasting legacy in environmental and climate change communication, not only at Scientell, but beyond.
Today, Scientell has four experienced science communicators: Simon Torok, Sonia Bluhm, Alysha Huxley and Cintya Dharmayanti. Scientell also works with a range of expert support staff and subcontractors, including designers, videographers, and animators.
In 2025, Sonia was appointed as co-Director of Scientell, working with Simon and the team to maximise the impact and accessibility of Australia’s world-class science.
Extensive experience
Since its inception, Scientell has successfully completed hundreds of projects. Our clients include federal, state and local governments, CSIRO, Cooperative Research Centres, NCRIS facilities, universities and private companies. Much of Scientell’s work represents repeat business, attesting to clients’ satisfaction with our service.
We have extensive experience writing and developing content for brochures, booklets, newsletters, factsheets, educational material, presentations, and websites, and producing videos, animations, and infographics. We are also well qualified in editing, workshop facilitation, science communication training, communication planning and implementation, development of strategic plans, and preparation and implementation of media strategies.
We are committed to clarity, accuracy, honesty and ethical behaviour. Our principles include:
- communicating clearly in a way that promotes understanding
- basing our work on the best available information
- delivering on time, on budget and on brief
- respecting, and acknowledging as appropriate, all of our information sources
- evaluating and learning from all that we do
- contributing to school, tertiary and public education.
Our logo
The colours of Scientell’s logo, green and red, align with the ways we work. Green represents our focus on the environment and our company’s commitment to projects that bring positive environmental outcomes. Red represents the earth and its rich resources.
Our tagline ‘science, in other words’ is a succinct summary of what we do. We bring clarity and engagement to science, so that everyone can interact with it.
Thought leadership
Scientell staff are active leaders in the science communication field.
We have been shortlisted as a finalist for the 2023, 2020, 2019 and 2018 Australian Small Business Champion Awards, and we won the microbusiness category of the Monash Business Awards in 2016-2017.
We’ve had articles included in The Conversation Yearbook 2019 and the Best Australian Science Writing 2017.
Scientell staff are members of the Australian Science Communicators and the Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society. Scientell is also a member of the Royal Society of Victoria and Science and Technology Australia’s Member Benefits Program.
