Phrase
Science writing rarely produces a line that travels on its own. A good phrase can carry a whole story past its first readers. One such phrase carried this one.
Sean Cummings, writing the announcement for Science Magazine, described the video as one that "carries meaning nonetheless in its joyful madness." The Guardian led with it as a headline, "'Joyful madness': ANU scientist wins global prize for 'dancing his PhD' about kangaroos." A week later, on US television, Stephanie Ruhle of MSNBC's The 11th Hour repeated it, "The winning video is described as joyful madness." The phrase travelled because it described something true.
Work
Most behavioural ecology stays in the journal it was published in. Few papers ever become something a wide audience can watch and hear. Kangaroo Time is the studio's first major music work, made to do exactly that.
Kangaroo Time is an original song, a music video and a Canberra dance cast. It turns Dr WELI's PhD research into a pop-cultural object. The research tracked individual personality in 300+ wild eastern grey kangaroos (Macropus giganteus) at Wilsons Promontory National Park. The cast drew dance styles from multicultural Canberra. They included drag, samba, salsa, ballet, Bharathanatyam, hip hop, Brazilian funk and club. The casting was not decoration. It was the work. The song parallels kangaroo behavioural differences with the dance styles of the city's communities. Differences lead to diversity, the music video states. It exists within any given species. It is just natural.
There was a sense of surprise and delight in it. You could tell they were having fun through the process, that it wasn't this labored, stressful experience. Alexa Meade, visual artist on the Dance Your PhD 2024 judging panel, in Science Magazine
The entries that year were strong. Judges noted that the second-ranked dance in the social science category "might have won the whole thing if not up against the kangaroos." Meade also offered a working definition of what the contest looks for, "This year's entries did a great job of incorporating art and science to create something greater than the sum of their parts. It has to be a blending that accentuates both."
Reach
A science story usually reaches one kind of outlet and stops. This one moved across many at once. It travelled through science media, mainstream news, radio, television, podcasts, social media and university channels.
Each outlet entered through a different door. Science Magazine led with the contest. The Guardian led with the headline phrase. Smithsonian Magazine called it "a musical celebration of kangaroo behavior." NPR's All Things Considered ran a longer piece on research, identity and performance. ABC News ran the story across Australia. The Canberra Times covered it locally. SBS Portuguese ran it for the Australian-Brazilian diaspora. O Globo and Folha de São Paulo ran it in Portuguese. The Eco Enthusiast podcast gave it longer-form treatment. Tom Scott included it in his weekly newsletter. George Takei shared it with his social following.
Across this coverage the project recorded more than 238 media features across five continents. The YouTube video has been watched 154,766 times to date. Most of those views came from links shared off the platform, not from YouTube's own recommendations. Likes ran well ahead of dislikes, though likes are not a measure of sentiment.
WELI
Winning this contest is the equivalent of winning Eurovision for me. I think it not only shows the incredible might of the research conducted here in Australia, but also how creative we are as a nation. Even us scientists. WELI in ANU Reporter, George Booth, 27 February 2024
It's like Eurovision, except we all have PhDs. WELI in The Guardian, Kelly Burke, 27 February 2024
After
A release can end the day it goes out. This one led to more work. The song and video opened the way to talks, workshops, performances and festivals.
The events that followed included these.
- The opening plenary at the Encontro Anual de Etologia 2024 in Brazil.
- The ACT National Science Week 2024 and 2025 programmes, funded by Inspiring Australia ACT.
- A series of institutional and public engagements documented at drweli.com/program.
- The launch of WildWooHoo Studio, the creative studio that turns behavioural ecology into music, film and learning.
- Three international sync placements, set out in International sync placements.
Limits
Reach and watch-time figures do not measure what people learned. They count attention, not comprehension. This article records how the work travelled, not a controlled study of its effects. The first aim was simple. More Australians would learn about kangaroos and about diversity. That aim was met, and the rest followed.