Organised by Education Program Manager Dr Jane Rosser, the Parker Centre Science Conversations are a series of ad hoc presentations by local and visiting scientists on topics considered to be of interest to Centre staff and students. Other interested researchers and industry employees are also welcome to attend. The series has several aims, including increasing the communication of relevant science and encouraging networking between attendees. There is an informal social gathering following each talk, allowing networking opportunities. The Parker Centre Science Conversations seminar series commenced in September 2006.

Thus far, seven Science Conversations have been held:

• Parker Centre Science Conversation 7 (May 2008)
  Speaker: Professor Jim de Yoreo (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, California, USA)
  Topic: Biomolecular Controls on Mineralisation

• Parker Centre Science Conversation 6 (April 2008)
  Speaker: Professor Bruce Hobbs (Research Fellow, CSIRO Exploration and Mining; Adjunct Professor, the University of Western Australia)
  Topic: What Use is Non-Equilibrium Thermodynamics to Mineral Processing?

• Parker Centre Science Conversation 5 (November 2007)
  Speaker: Professor Ric Pashley (ARC Professorial Fellow, Murdoch University)
  Topic: Basic Research in Colloids and Surfaces - With Some Commercial Applications
  

  Speaker Professor Ric Pashley (right) with Professor Eric Bakker (Director of the Nanochemistry Research Institute, Curtin University) at the social gathering following the Parker Centre Science Conversation 5.

• Parker Centre Science Conversation 4 (July 2007)
  Speaker: Dr Gunnar Eriksson (Managing Director, GTT-Technologies, Herzogenrath, Germany)
  Topic: Prediction of Chemical Equilibrium in Hydrometallurgical Systems

• Parker Centre Science Conversation 3 (March 2007)
  Speaker: Dr Steve Reddy (Department of Applied Geology, Curtin University of Technology)
  Topic: Crystal-Plastic Deformation and Geochemical Systems

  

• Parker Centre Science Conversation 2 (December 2006)
  Speaker: Professor Helmut Tributsch (Director, Solar Energy Department, Hahn-Meitner-Institut, Germany)
  Topic: Bacterial Leaching Mechanisms of Pyrite - Model System for Evolution, Steel Bio-Corrosion and Energy Technology
  

  Professor Helmut Tributsch (left), presenter of the Parker Centre Science Conversation 2, with the Centre’s Base Metals Market researcher Dr Helen Watling, one of the Centre researchers with whom Professor Tributsch was spending a two-month research sabbatical at the time.

• Parker Centre Science Conversation 1 (September 2006)
  Speaker: Mr Stevan Green (CEO, Centre for Sustainable Resource Processing)
  Topic: Towards Achieving the Triple Bottom Line - Innovation in Sustainable Development in the Minerals Industry