The POPSICULE is an open, community-based interdisciplinary platform created by the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science (CPAS) at the Australian National University. It functions as a cultural research engine for understanding how science gains meaning in popular culture and public life.
The POPSICULE community explores the CULTURAL MEANINGS OF SCIENCE with the aim to better understand how pop cultural narratives about science have affected the public discourse and understanding of science, and thus our science-society relationship.
At the heart of the Popsicule is a simple but powerful observation: most people encounter science not in laboratories or research journals, but through popular culture. Films, comics, street art and visual media shape how science is imagined, who becomes a scientist, and how scientific futures are envisioned long before formal engagement occurs.
The Science in Popular Culture and Entertainment Hub of the Australian National University
Together with a network of national and international researchers, students, cultural innovators, creators, producers and funders, we are championing new ideas and cross-sector collaborations. We aim to diversify our understanding of science in society and build narrative power – to shape the way we talk, think and feel about science. We develop and share rigorous learnings and resources about the (pop) cultural work and aesthetic achievements of science through publications, in-person and virtual experiences and public events. We also activate and/or support an ecosystem of cohorts and networks, including street artists, podcast creators, and more.
We offer lectures, symposia, courses, public events, spectacles, field trips, publications, films, and more — creating opportunities for co-learning, co-leadership and co-creation. Academics, artists, scientists, communicators, producers, students, mavericks, pop culture nerds and the simply curious are all invited to join us in exploring and critically engaging with the public imagination and cultural meanings of science!
The POPSICULE provides exciting opportunities and resources for students and anyone interested in investigating science in and as popular entertainment and popular culture.
We are particularly interested in exploring science & environmental knowledge in pop culture, our place in the natural world & our responsibility towards non-human species through aesthetic experience. We develop alternative scenarios and imaginaries to the effects and legacies of the fable of human exceptionalism – to drive meaningful change. Find out more & join us!
NEWS
Discover SEASON 8 of our “Science. Art. Film.” series!
Congratulations to POPSICULE’s Dr Anna-Sophie Jürgens, Dr Karina Judd and Crystal-Leigh Clitheroe for being the recipients of the 2025 Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Programs that Enhance Learning 💜🚀💥
Big news from and for the Popsicule!
A huge thank‑you to everyone who has supported, inspired, empowered, energised and contributed to this journey – we’re beyond thrilled to receive this recognition. Here’s to more creativity, collaboration and pops of Popsiculism ahead! 
New publication!
What shapes science more than we like to admit?
From 🦖 Jurassic Park to 🤖 visions of AI doom, pop culture doesn’t just reflect science – it helps shape it. The stories we tell influence how we imagine scientific and technological futures, what we fear, and even what we choose to research. We often assume a one-way relationship (science → culture). But it’s more of a feedback loop: culture feeds back into science, shaping public debates, policy conversations, and scientific agendas.
Calling all PhD candidates with interests in science communication, history of science, history of medicine, (pop) cultural studies and popular entertainment studies.
Here are three brand-new projects:
Wondrous Science and (the Crisis of) Knowledge Credibility: Tracing the Links between Science, Spectacle and Wonder from the 19th Century to Today
Birth Beyond the Body: Science Fiction, Public Narratives and the Communication of Artificial Womb Technology
Revived: Technologies of resuscitation and their portrayal in popular culture
