Strategy, content and communication

BUILDING PROFILE, TRUST AND FUNDING

Building trust in your research and innovation is everything. It’s how you win funding, raise your profile, create influence and ultimately how you accelerate your outcomes and impact.

This is the driving force behind STEM Matters.

We combine a rare hybrid of skills – strategic engagement to build funding; deep understanding of research, science and emerging technologies; strategic messaging – together with extensive experience working across academia, government and corporates.

Whether it be crafting engagement and funding strategies, presentations, pitch messaging or stories, we help you communicate your unique value.

All of our work is designed around your business objectives and the needs of your audiences. We pride ourselves on our reputation and we have been a thought partner to over 80 clients spanning academia, peak bodies, government, funders and industry including Google’s semi-secret R&D facility, X - The Moonshot Factory.

We bring a highly collaborative and friendly approach to everything we do. Let’s talk!I am happy to catch up via a coffee or Zoom meeting to see how we can help you.

Kylie Ahern
CEO, STEM Matters
E: kylie.ahern@stemmattersagency.com
W: www.stemmattersagency.com


“Kylie’s world class expertise made her a trusted partner to our team. Her creative and strategic approach to science communication was a clear fit to engage X’s audiences with science in modern and impactful ways.” 

— Libby Leahy, Director of Communications,
Google X, Alphabet’s Moonshot Factory.

Our Services


“With the global spotlight growing on the importance of tackling Antimicrobial Resistance, the STEM Matter’s Capability Statement has been critical in positioning us as a global leader in developing sustainable solutions to AMR. The Capability Statement brilliantly highlighted our capability, impact and pathways to collaboration with key partners.

— Professor Trevor Lithgow, Director,
Centre to Impact AMR, Monash University

STEM MATTERS CAPABILITY STATEMENTS

“STEM Matters are our go-to partner for creating case studies that showcase how the university collaborates with industry partners. The content they write is always highly engaging, technically correct, on-brand and on-message. Their story-telling ability is second to none.”

— Hope Terdich, Manager, Marketing and Communications, Industry Engagement, La Trobe University

Meet the Team

  • Kylie Ahern

    CEO & FOUNDER

  • AJ Epstein

    PUBLISHING DIRECTOR

  • Aisling O'Gara

    COMMUNICATIONS AND EDITORIAL DIRECTOR

  • KEN EASTWOOD

    SENIOR EDITOR

  • Michelle Fincke

    SENIOR EDITOR

  • Tania Simanowsky

    ART DIRECTOR

  • KATE HOLDSWORTH

    Creative Director

  • Pamela Whitby

    Senior Editor

  • Iain Scott

    Senior Editor

“The STEM Matters’ messaging framework is critical when you’re setting a vision for your organisation and your team. It creates alignment strategically and consistency in language both internally and externally. It increased our clarity and pace of execution and we are still benefiting today.”

— Sally-Ann Williams, CEO Cicada Innovations


About our founder


From Australian publisher,
to global trailblazer.

Kylie’s work has set a new standard for engaging audiences with STEM topics, helping to unlock millions of dollars in research funding and attract many new scientists to the field.

Kylie has reshaped science communications and science publishing in Australia with extraordinary success. Over the course of her career, she has co-founded three enormously successful multi-award-winning publications: COSMOS, Australia’s first home-grown science magazine; G Magazine, the first-ever “green lifestyle” sustainability-focused magazine; and The Brilliant, the first global hub for science communication. Recognised internationally for her leadership in publishing, she helped lead Nature Publishing Group’s successful expansion into Australia and NZ. 

As CEO of STEM Matters, Kylie is taking an innovative and strategic approach to help STEM organisations effectively relate their work and impact to funders, government, philanthropists and the public.

“I keep coming back to work with Kylie and the STEM Matters team because they not only deliver high quality strategic and communication projects but also understand the unique quirkiness of how to work effectively with academics and the research community.”

Dr Kathy Nicholson, Operations Manager, Australian Institute for Machine Learning

THE BRILLIANT

As part of our family of brands, we also run The Brilliant, a global science communication publication. We shine a light on innovators and global leaders in communication including scientists, entrepreneurs, artists, comedians, activists, poets, TikTokers, astronauts and more.

Launched in 2020 by STEM Matters as part of our commitment to science communication and engagement, The Brilliant showcases the work of extraordinary people and institutions that have magnified the impact of their research and innovations.

Our ambition is to ensure that science communication and engagement is valued and resourced in every STEM organisation.

WWW.THEBRILLIANT.COM
The Global Science Communication Publication


BRILLIANT POETRY

We are passionate about bring arts and science closer together. So, in 2024 we co-founded Brilliant Poetry which champions the power of poetry to make the complex and often abstract world of scientific inquiry accessible and captivating to all.

The competition seeks to reinforce the value of artistic expression in expanding our perception of what it means to know and to discover.

Brilliant Poetry is an initiative of Kylie Ahern and Dr Sam Illingworth, Associate Professor at Edinburgh Napier University.

WWW.THEBRILLIANTPOETRY.COM