Felicity nelson

science & Medical journalist

I’m a Sydney-based science & medical journalist with bylines in Nature, Veritasium, ScienceAlert, Guardian Australia, news.com, ABC News, Mamamia, Croakey, Healthed, Lawyers Weekly, The Sick Times and The Medical Republic.

My stories were published in The Best Australian Science Writing anthologies in 2020, 2019 and 2017.

I enjoy breaking complex science into beautiful, bite-sized pieces – and telling stories that haven’t been told before.

I am addicted to solving wicked operational, communications and design problems, and I spent two years as the COO at a media startup.

And I love nature photography!

I have two pet frogs!!!

  • Merlin

    Director of Magic, Frogs and Stars

  • Myst

    Chief Executive Frog, Frogs and Stars

Qualifications:

Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Science (First Class Honours in biology)

Experience:

Owner, Frogs and Stars Pty Ltd (2022-23)
Editor, Nature Briefing: Cancer (2022-23)
Freelance producer & script writer, Veritasium (2022-23)
Freelance journalist, ScienceAlert (2022-23)
Treasurer, Science Journalist Association of Australia (2022-23)
Creative Writing Course: Novel Planning, Sydney Community College (2023)
Creative Writing Course: Novel Writing, Sydney Community College (2023)
Creative Writing Course: Screenwriting, Sydney Community College (2023)
Editorial strategy consultant, Healthed (2022)
Freelance feature writing, Croakey (2022)
Freelance journalism, Nature (2022)
Freelance feature writing, Mamamia and news.com.au (2022)
Podcast workshop presenter, AMWA conference (2022)
Chief Operating Officer, The Medical Republic (2020-2022)
Associate Editor, Dermatology Republic (2021-2022)
Associate Editor, Oncology Republic (2020-2022)
Associate Editor, Rheumatology Republic (2019-2021)
Associate Editor, Allergy and Respiratory Republic (2021)
Host and Producer, The Medical Republic podcast (2019-2021)
Freelance investigative reporting, Guardian Australia (2020)
Journalist, Lawyers Weekly (2014-2016)

why science journalism & strategy consulting?

Science is the use of logic and reason to discover objective truths about the world.

Science journalism is about bringing together different groups of people who wouldn’t normally speak to each other to find out what’s really going on and why problems aren’t getting fixed.

Strategy consulting is about putting those skillsets together: extracting knowledge from experts, translating technical language into something that can be commonly understood, and using logic and analysis to diagnose problems and test solutions.

why all the frogs?

I trained in tropical wildlife biology in the Northern Territory and I now have two gorgeous pet frogs, Merlin and Myst. (In desperate need of more frog pics? Check out my Gumboot Biology blog here.) I maintain that cane toads are cute.