Dr Jonica Newby is a science reporter, author, TV presenter and director best known for her two decades on ABC TV’s popular weekly science program, Catalyst. She has twice won the Eureka Award, Australia’s most prestigious science journalism prize, and is a recipient of a World TV Award. Originally trained as a veterinarian, Jonica took her love of animals, biology, neuroscience and psychology into the field of science communication. Her first book, The Animal Attraction, charted how our domestic animal companions made modern civilisation possible. It became a TV series that launched her science broadcasting career.

Since then, Jonica has established a reputation for presenting stories with a rare honesty and intimacy. She shared her partner’s cancer struggles for a feature on cancer and exercise, broke taboos discussing the science of the female sex drive, and jumped out of a plane to demonstrate how parts of our brain shut down during danger. When not in her beloved snow country, Jonica lives on the New South Wales south coast with ABC Science Show presenter Robyn Williams and far too many parrots.