'Cosmos' magazine to continue as Adelaide-based science quarterly after governments' funding rescue in 2024
Some Cosmos science magazine quarterly editions when it published by the Royal Institution of Australia (RiAus), a not-for-profit science media organisation, based in the (former Adelaide stock exchange) Science Exchange building off Grenfell Street, Adelaide city. The magazine's newsroom was at the CSIRO site in Kintore Avenue, Adelaide city.
The quarterly Cosmos science magazine was rescued in June 2024 to continue having an Adelaide-based newsroom at the CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation) site in Kintore Avenue, Adelaide city.
Winner of 47 awards for high-quality journalism and design, Cosmos was a print magazine, online digital edition updated daily, a daily and weekly e-newsletter and educational resource with custom curriculum-mapped lessons for school years 7 to 10.
From 2018, the magazine was published by the Royal Institution of Australia (RiAus), a not-for-profit science media organisation based in Adelaide. In February 2024, five full-time Cosmos editorial staff took voluntary redundancies and the Royal Institute of Australia said it was struggling to secure funding and the June issue of Cosmos could be its last.
The closure was averted by $500,000 funding from the South Australian government, along with funds from the CSIRO and Australian government, to support moving Cosmos, with journalists reemployed, under the CSIRO umbrella. CSIRO Publishing also took over a digital science news service and the education unit of the Royal Institution of Australia as well as Scinema, an international science film festival. The Royal Institute of Australia would continue operations, working with its partnerships such as the Australian Science Media Centre, based in the (former Adelaide stock exchange) Science Exchange building off Grenfell Street, Adelaide city.
South Australian government science minister Susan Close said she was pleased with the agreement regarding Cosmos to support quality scientific journalism in Australia: “The Covid pandemic, the challenge of climate change and the growth of the renewable energy sector are examples of the importance of timely, accurate and trustworthy reporting on scientific issues".
CSIRO Publishing was editorially independent and also published science books, peer-reviewed scientific journals, and the Double Helix science magazine for children. In the 12 months to March 2022, the print readership of Cosmos had increased 115.1% on the previous year, to 114,000.
Cosmos magazine was first published in Sydney in 2005 by magazine executive Kylie Ahern and science journalist Wilson da Silva. In 2006, the magazine launched a daily internet news and features service. The magazine originated “ Hello from Earth”, a web-based 2009 National Science Week initiative to send messages, each 160 characters in length, from the public to Gliese 581d, the-then nearest Earth-like planet outside the solar system.
In 2013, the company, then owned by Luna Media, moved to Melbourne when it was bought by Australia’s chief scientist Alan Finkel and his wife Elizabeth, a science journalist, who became editor-in-chief. The Finkels were already part owners and bought the remainder from Ahern and Da Silva, who stayed on the editorial staff.
