Outreach Sub-Committee

from CBNS 2019 Annual Report

CBNS Awards

The CBNS Outreach Sub-Committee is a sub-committee of the CBNS Education and Training Committee. It is chaired by CBNS CI Associate Professor Matthew Kearnes (UNSW). The Committee is formed of members from across all nodes with each node being represented by a Postdoctorate researcher and a PhD candidate. They met monthly during 2019 to assess the outreach needs of the Centre and coordinated a series of events across CBNS nodes.

The Outreach Sub-Committee identifies and promotes CBNS research to the public. It achieves this through community or industry-related series of outreach activities, events or media liaison. This includes working with the CBNS Education and Training Committee and the IPP Committee to ensure strong collaboration and synergies occur across CBNS programs 2019 Outreach Sub-Committee events: Event title

MPavilion

ACEMS, CBNS and CLEX Media & Presentation Training* Pint of Science Brisbane Date Node

4 Feb Monash & UoM

28 Feb Monash

20 May UQ

MPavilion

Pint of Science Melbourne 21 May UoM

The first CBNS public outreach event of 2019 was MPavilion. A free series of talks, meets, music, shows and programs held in an architecturally awarded and designed pavilion in the Queen Victoria Gardens, Melbourne. CBNS participated as part of the STEM program in partnership with the Office for Women. Our volunteer researchers showcased the centre of a cell through a VR experience; demonstrated how you might use metal phenolic networks as ink; and participated in an informative panel as part of a Q&A session with the audience.

CBNS members involved in MPavilion were Dr Kye Robinson, Ms Julia Walker, Dr Meike Leiske, Dr Simona Carbone, Dr JJ Richardson, Dr Matt Faria, Mr Edward Henderson, Ms Vidhishri Kesarwani, Ms Ayaat Mahmoud and Mr Gabriel Huynh.

Extrasensory – National Science Week 10 Aug Monash & UoM

Primary School Science Fete – National Science Week 14 Aug UNSW To Bio-Nano & Beyond – National Science Week 16 Aug UniSA Brisbane Science Festival – National Science Week 17-18 Aug UQ ACEMS, CBNS, CEPAR, CLEX and CQC2T Media & Presentation Training* 23 Aug UNSW STANSW Chem STEM 2019 (Chemistry Teachers Conference) 23 Sep UNSW

*Joint Education and Outreach event

Pint of Science

Two CBNS members presented their research at the Pint of Science 2019 event. Pint of Science brings some of the most brilliant scientists to local pubs to discuss their latest research with an interested audience. No prior knowledge is needed and it is a valuable chance to meet the people responsible for the future of science.

In Melbourne, Dr JJ Richardson (UoM) spoke on ‘Iron-Man’ suits on the nanoscale, at The Provincial Hotel, Fitzroy. In Brisbane, Dr Zach Houston (UQ) entertained audiences on The future of personalised cancer treatment in his talk at the Newstead Brewing Co., Newstead.

Pint of Science

National Science Week

National Science Week (NSWk) is Australia’s annual celebration of science and technology providing an opportunity to acknowledge the contributions of Australian scientists to the world of knowledge. It also aims to encourage an interest in science pursuits among the general public and to encourage younger people to be fascinated by the world we live in. 2019 was host to over 2070 events.

CBNS kicked off NSWk activities with Monash and UoM nodes participating in Extrasensory on Saturday 10 August. The Parliament of Victoria and The Royal Society of Victoria played host to 13 exhibits and numerous shows and workshops with an evening of sensory exploration. CBNS ran the VR experiences to great success. Over 1000 members of the public braved a Melbourne winter’s night to Journey to the Centre of the Cell. Volunteer members included Arisbel Batista Gondin, Ayaat Mahmoud, Edward Henderson, Hannah Kelly, James Grace, Paulina Ramírez García and Vidhishri Kesarwani.

UNSW was home to the Primary School Science Fete on Wednesday 14 August. Spread over two sessions, 160 primary school children were able to explore various sciences. Chelsea Forest and Kristel Cahyadi Tjandra assisted the enthusiastic Primary School students in learning what the surface and the inside of a cell looks like. Two days later on Friday 16 August, more than 50 high school children from six schools descended on UniSA. A prodigious squad of UniSA members ran the CBNS/UniSA only event with five activities delving into the nanoworld. A tremendously well planned and executed day, with media interest, left the teenagers with an open mind To Bio-Nano and Beyond. A large group of members volunteered and made this day run seamlessly: Amalie Moller, Anita Kral, Anthony Wignall, Aurelia Elz, Azadeh Nilghaz, Benjamin Thierry, Campbell Strong, Chelsea Thorn, ChihTsung Yang, Clive Prestidge, Desmond Williams, Douglas Howard, Duy Phu Tran, Edward Cheah, Eve Nimtrakul, Fitore Hoxha, Hayley Schultz, Kristen Bremmel, Leah Wright, Luke Bredberg, Manasi Jambhrunkar, Marnie Winter, Meysam Rezaei, Michelle Maritz, Mohamed Amen, Mona Elsemary, Muhammed Awad, Nghia Pham, Nicky Thomas, Parisa Badiee, Pouya Dehghankelishadi, Ruba Almasri, Saji Maghrebi, Santhni Subramaniam, Steph Hodby, Tahlia Meola, Tim Barnes, Yassamin Albayaty and Zhaobin Guo. Over a beautiful sunny weekend, CBNS finished off NSWk at the Brisbane Science Festival. With more than 4000 people through the gates across the two days, keeping up with the excitement and enthusiasm from the public ensured all our experiments were fully utilised over the festival. Volunteering members included: Adil Usman, Amber Prior, Anna Gemmell, Arunpandian Balaji, Bruna Cambraia Garms, Caterina Brighi, Craig Bell, Dewan Taslima Akhter, Felicity Han, Francis Mccallum, Gayathri Ediriweera, James Humphries, Jennifer Schoning, Jose Pablo Parra Pasten, Merryn Strange, Nick Westra Van Holte, Phillip Janowicz, Sachini Fonseka, Salma Ahmed, Vanessa Soh, Weizhi Xu, Zach Houston and Zherui Xiong.