NOTE: This profile page is not yet up to date! The university is still in the process of uploading publications and information. You can find my profile and an up-to-date overview of my publications on the Popsicule website.

Science Communication -- Cultural meanings of science -- Pop Culture & Popular Entertainment Studies / circus, science and technology -- Performance histories of mad scientists, clown robots and violent clowns in culture and pop cultural media (including comics, [animated] film and public art) -- Intersections between the environment, science and (street) art -- Avant-Gardes

--> “Science goes pop: where mad scientists meet the world” by Rebeka Selmeczki, ANU Reporter, 8 January 2025.

--> "Dr Anna-Sophie Jürgens walks the tightrope between pop culture and science" by Olivia Congdon, ANU College of Science (2023).

Dr Anna-Sophie Jürgens is a Senior Lecturer in Science Communication at the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science of the Australian National University (ANU) and the Head of the POPSICULE, ANU’s Science in Popular Culture and Entertainment Hub. Her research explores the cultural meanings of science, the history of (violent) clowns and mad scientists, science and humour, and the interface between science and (public) art.

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Discover my research and engagement projects, my courses and publications on the Popsicule website!

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Recent peer-reviewed academic publications (selection)

Communicating Ice through Popular Art and Aesthetics (Palgrave Macmillan).

“Gender and terror tangled in the weeds: Poison Ivy between eco-feminism and eco-terrorism”, Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics

“Studying science in pop culture through textual analysis. An introduction to examining science in visual texts — Street art, comics and (animated) film”, Journal of Science Communication

Engagement projects (selection)

How can we excite our imagination about science? My projects "Ultra-Perception: Science goes Pop", "Expedition in a Box" and my "Science. Art. Film." series aim to bring science to life through awe and wonder, art and technology!

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FIND OUT MORE ABOUT MY WORK (media selection)

“Science goes pop: where mad scientists meet the world” by Rebeka Selmeczki, ANU Reporter, 8 January 2025.

“Cinematic Science: Film screenings that celebrate science, cinema and art”, interview by Alice Motion for ChemistryWorld, 7 November 2024.

“Episode 2: Dr Anna-Sophie Jürgens/The one on Science”, Cutting Edge podcast (Australasian Humour Studies Research Network), 23 September 2024

“Is Beetlejuice the comic king of parasites?”, ANU Reporter, 12 September 2024

“Is the cold bothering you anyway? How Pop Culture and Science communicate climate change”, research story by Daniela Tan, 11 July 2024

“Sci_Burst: Science goes pop with Dr Anna-Sophie Jürgens”, podcast episode by Isabel Richards and Ella McCarthy, 2 May 2024

“Communicating Ice through Popular Art and Aesthetics”, by Anna-Sophie Jürgens and Graham Walker, videography by Nic Vevers, 1 May 2024

“ULTRA-PERCEPTION: Science goes pop”, by Anna-Sophie Jürgens and Terhi Nurmikko-Fuller, videography by Nic Vevers, 14 February 2024

“I didn’t even know my work was considered science communication”, interview by Lea Neubauer, Wissenschaftskommunikation.de, 17 August 2023

“How street art can communicate science and research”, with Olivia Congdon, 3 July 2023

“Welcome to the Popsicule!” by Anna-Sophie Jürgens, videography by Nic Vevers, 5 June 2023

“Science & Humour” by Anna-Sophie Jürgens, videography by Nic Vevers, 7 June 2023

“Why so serious? Explaining our love for the Joker” by Amanda Diaz, ANU Reporter, 1 November 2022.

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SCHOLARSHIPS & FELLOWSHIPS ǀ AWARDS & NOMINATIONS (selection)

2024  Falling Walls Engage Finalist (Global Call)

2023 – 2024  Selected participant in the Silbersalz Science & Media Program (Silbersalz Institute 2024), a competitive one-year creative development program (science-art research project)

2022  Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA)

2021 – 2022  Selected participant in the ANU Vice-Chancellor’s Leading for the Future Program, a competitive one-year leadership development program

2017 – 2020  Feodor Lynen Postdoctoral Fellowship of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation

2019  Nominated for the Max Crawford Medal of the Australian Academy of the Humanities

2018 & 2019  Leadership Academy Fellowship – a competitive leadership program in Boston and Darmstadt awarded by the German Scholars Organization with Klaus Tschira Foundation, Fraunhofer Society, Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres, Max Planck Society, and associated organisations including the German Association of University Professors and Lecturers

2018  ARC Kathleen Fitzpatrick Laureate Fellowship Mentoring Scheme – a competitive research leadership mentoring program: over five days, the participants (“outstanding early career female researchers”) received intensive mentoring regarding career advancement and opportunities

2017  National Library of Australia Fellowship – a highly competitive fellowship supporting researchers to make intensive use of the Library’s rich and varied collections

2012 – 2015  PhD scholarship of the ‘Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes’ (German National Merit Foundation) awarded to the top 0.5% of German postgraduate students

2004 – 2011  Scholarship of the ‘Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes’ (German National Merit Foundation) awarded to the top 0.5% of the German undergraduate student population