14 July 6pm
With the Royal Society of Victoria and Victorian Parliamentarians for STEM. This special series of online presentations leading towards National Science Week, explores the science and stories behind the game-changing work undertaken by Victoria’s scientific community. Our leading experts will talk about the work they’re doing to engage the community and affect meaningful change in their field of study and in our everyday lives. Watch these webinars on the Parliament of Victoria’s Youtube channel below.
With Dr William Birch AM, Professor Andy Gleadow, Alfons VandenBerg, Clive Willman and Teacher Jerome Holleman and students from Northcote High School.
In a ‘post-truth’ society, fueled by soundbites and status updates, opinions and personal theories are often presented with unwavering certainty but remain untested. In this climate, it can be confusing when we hear from scientists reluctant to deal in absolutes, who instead engage in conversations about ‘degrees of certainty’. In the world of science, a ‘theory’ is the closest something may ever come to being ‘the truth’. To understand what modern scientists can go through to arrive at an accepted theory, we’re
taking a look at one of the major revelations of the past century: the theory of tectonic plates. This theory describes how the enormous fragments of our planets shell move against, over and under one another at their boundaries to slowly change the shape and location of our continents and oceans.
In this very special online discussion, you’ll meet four eminent Victorian geologists, Dr William Birch AM, Professor Andy Gleadow, Mr Alfons VandenBerg and Mr Clive Willman – who, not so long ago, started out at university to find themselves amid a global battle of contesting ideas. Hear how their new research overwhelmed a fiercely held status-quo, originating a hard-won new theory within the international scientific community.
Our panel of experts will be joined by teacher Jerome Holleman and his students from Northcote High School, who have been taking part in the Big History learning program that aims to connect knowledge across disciplines and challenge students to embrace science, think critically, solve problems and drive innovation.
Join the webinar live streams here
After live streaming, all webinars are available on the Parliament of Victoria’s Youtube Channel