Inspiring Victoria

The Future of Skills: Employment in an Era of Robots and Automation
2019-05-22 16:00 - 18:30 (Australia/Melbourne) | Yarra Ranges Tech School, 1 Jarlo Drive, Lilydale, Victoria, 3140, Australia
The Yarra Ranges community is invited to an afternoon focused on skills, employment and technology as part of Education Week at the Box Hill Institute and Yarra Ranges Tech School.
This event will showcase Yarra Ranges Tech School’s facilities, technology and programs through workshops and an open house. The learning spaces and technology labs will be accessible for direct interaction by attendees during the tour.
Ahead of the tour there will be a panel of key industry representatives who will provide an outline of their industry, the skills being sought and share experiences of their own journeys in the area of STEM, robots and automation. Facilitated by Vivienne King, CEO Box Hill Institute the panel will feature:
• Rhianne Burroughs, VEX Robots Coach and Teacher, Templestowe College
• Sarav Martin, Business Growth Strategist, Mobile Automation
• Emma Bebe, Senior Sales Specialist, Robotics Service, ABB
• Eileen Kershaw, Group Human Resources Manager, ANCA

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Who do you think you are? Philosophy, neuroscience and the nature of consciousness
2019-05-07 18:00 - 19:30 | Auditorium, Monash Biomedical Imaging, 770 Blackburn Road, Clayton, Victoria, 3800, Australia
Speakers: Associate Professor Nao Tsuchiya & Dr Jennifer Windt
We are all intimately acquainted with our conscious thoughts, feelings, memories, imaginings and even dreams. Yet consciousness remains one of the biggest mysteries of the human brain.
Human consciousness, our perception of what exists as well as our thoughts, feelings, imaginings and dreams has attempted to be understood by philosophers through conceptual analysis and thought experiments. Neuroscientists have sought to describe it as a biological process of neuronal activity captured by measurable tests of brain activity. Increasingly, philosophers and neuroscientists are also joining forces in interdisciplinary consciousness science.
Consensus is elusive. Do we experience consciousness only while we are awake? Do other animals experience consciousness? Does it fade after brain damage? Are intelligent computers conscious? Is consciousness a process? What is it for?
We have invited a neuroscientist and philosopher to share their research and perspectives on consciousness and to provide some guidance on these questions.
The Speakers:

Associate Professor Naotsuga Tsuchiya
Towards the physical basis of consciousness
Our subjective conscious experience is supported by neural activities in the brain. Although questions about consciousness have puzzled humanity for centuries, an empirical scientific research program, which aims to identify the neural correlates of consciousness, has started relatively recently, only a few decades ago. As such, we are still far from answering the fascinating questions about consciousness, such as: Can we tell unconscious people from conscious ones, just based on neural activity in the brain? Is each one of us consciously experiencing the world in the same way – Can we determine if my “red” color sensation is the same as yours, based on neural measures? Do newborn babies, animals, insects, plants and future artificial intelligence have consciousness? In this talk, I will discuss recent progress on scientific research on onsciousness, which paves possible ways to address these seemingly philosophical questions with empirical neuroscientific methods. In the future we may arrive at the theory of consciousness to answer these questions.
Dr Tsuchiya was awarded a PhD at California Institute of Technology in 2006. In 2012, he joined the School of Psychological Sciences at Monash University as an Associate Professor. His main research interest is to uncover the physical basis of consciousness. Specifically, he focuses on:
1) the scope and limit of non-conscious processing,
2) the relationship between attention and consciousness,
3) the neuronal correlates of consciousness and
4) testing a theory of consciousness, in particular, integrated information
theory of consciousness. Combining empirical, computational and theoretical research methods through interdisciplinary collaborations, he hopes to solve to the problem of consciousness.
Dr Jennifer Windt
How sleep and dream research are revolutionizing our understanding of our conscious minds
What happens to conscious experience as we slip from wakefulness into sleep and dreams? Do we dream throughout the night, or are parts of sleep unconscious? How do fluctuations in sleep- related experience align with different sleep stages? And what do these changes tell us about consciousness? In my talk, I’ll review findings from the science of sleep and dreaming and argue that in many ways, they are revolutionizing our understanding of sleep and its relation to consciousness; they also require us to rethink the relation between sleep and wakefulness as well as new methodologies for their investigation. Sleep is not a period of uniform passivity and rest characterized by a loss of consciousness. Instead, sleep is heterogeneous, active, and teems with different kinds of experience. Investigating how changes in conscious experience, including dreaming, arise from local changes in brain activity promises to enrich our image of our minds. It can also help identify the neural correlates of conscious experience and may shed light on the minimal requirements for subjective experience.
Jennifer M. Windt is a lecturer in philosophy and senior research fellow at Monash University. Her research centers on philosophy of mind and philosophy of cognitive science. She is particularly interested in mental states in which we disengage from ongoing tasks and the environment. These include mind wandering and spontaneous thought in wakefulness, but also dreaming and other sleep-related experiences as well as sleep-wake transitions. Her research is informed by empirical research findings and interdisciplinary collaborations. She is the author of Dreaming (2015, MIT) and together with Thomas Metzinger edited Open MIND (2016, MIT; an open access version is available at open-mind.net). She is currently working on a research project on mind wandering across the sleep-wake cycle funded by the Australian Research Council.
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Presented by the Convergence Science Network.

Create It Comp
2019-04-29 08:00 - 2019-09-30 17:00 | VIC
With engineers, anything is possible! To celebrate Engineers Australia’s 100th birthday, we are encouraging Australians to think about how engineering has helped them in all parts of their lives.
So, if anything is possible and you had unlimited time, money, help, and skill, what would you engineer? Show us your creation, and you have a chance to win an iPad Pro and Apple Pencil!

Think it Think about your life, and the life of the people around you, and show us what problem you can solve, or what idea you can come up with to make life easier. It could be big or small, helful of fun, or a mix of these.
Create it Draw, paint, build, or design your idea. You could use paints, pencils, a computer program like PhotoShop, cardboard, or even Lego! It could be a simple, quick sketch or very detailed – it’s up to you.
Share it Share your idea with us for a chance to win an iPad Pro and Apple Pencil. We have a category for both primary and high school students, as well as adults – teachers and parents can enter too!

Check out our website for tips and Terms and Conditions.
Entries close 30 September 2019.

UNSW Bragg Student Science Writing Prize
2019-04-29 07:00 - 2019-08-27 17:00 | VIC
Write a short essay on ‘Not-so-smart technology’ and you could win a fantastic set of prizes, including publication in Australia’s top science magazines, a $500 UNSW Bookshop voucher, a subscription to the Australian Book Review and a trip to the Bragg Prize award ceremony and book launch of The Best Australian Science Writing 2019 in Sydney in November.
Best of all, every school will receive an entry prize!

Gene therapy: miracle in our midst
2019-04-24 18:00 - 19:00 | The Spot Level 1 Lecture Theatre, Faculty of Business & Economics, 198 Berkeley Street, Carlton South, Victoria, 3053, Australia
Speaker: Dr Elizabeth Finkel AM, Editor at Large, Cosmos Magazine
When the Convergence Science Network invited me to give a talk the brief was to address the issue of hype versus hope in the spruiking of medical advances. Audience members often expressed a sense of frustration with ‘breakthroughs‘ that have yet to materialise, I was told.
The Network’s request is a tall order.
I am certainly guilty of spruiking, though my reporting, feature articles and two books: one on the 1998 human embryonic stem cell revolution and another on the 2001 reading of the human genome with its promise of personalized medicine.
Both these breakthroughs are around twenty years old so it is a fair time to ask: what have they delivered? I was all prepared to make a level-headed attempt to answer the question. It would have gone along the following lines.
In the case of human embryonic stem cells, there’s not a great deal yet to have arrived in the clinic. The furthest treatment down the track is one for treating macular degeneration. We’re still waiting for treatments for other ailing tissues to prove their worth. I can’t help inserting this gorgeous cartoon from a story in last September’s issue of Cosmos magazine, “Calling the stem cell race.” https://cosmosmagazine.com/biology/the-stem-cell-race
And while your GP may not yet be prescribing treatments based on your genome, there’s no doubt that it is the genome revolution we have to thank for better targeted cancer treatment, for the ability to diagnose congenital childhood illness, and crucially to carry out genetic screens on couples or embryos, to spare the tragedy of children being born with devastating genetic diseases.
So I was all set to deliver a sort of ‘cup half empty- half full’ talk when my plan was waylaid by a revolution I hadn’t even registered.
As editor in chief of a science magazine for six years, I’m not sure how I missed the gene therapy revolution. Yes, we did the odd news report on gene therapy, but mostly we were blinded by the deluge of CRISPR publications – a cheap, precise new technique of gene editing that was transforming the ability to genetically modify plants, insects, animals and maybe one day humans. As it turns out this happened in China last November .
But it wasn’t just me who missed the gene therapy revolution. It seems most people I speak to about it – including many medical people – hadn’t noticed.
This isn’t a cup half full story. The most dramatic example has biblical dimensions. In 2017, the New England Journal of Medicine published the results of a gene therapy trial for children born with Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA). These kids normally develop paralysis and die by the age of two. Instead most were sitting and rolling; some were walking and talking. Is this just a fringe thing? Big Pharma doesn’t think so. Novartis recently paid $US 8.7 billion to purchase – AveXis, the start-up company behind the SMA trial.
In this talk, allow me to guide you through the gene therapy revolution and how it is set to disrupt the way medicine is delivered.
About the Speaker:
Dr Elizabeth Finkel AM is a former biochemist who now tells the stories of others scientists. She co-founded Cosmos Magazine, serving as Editor in Chief from June 2013 to September 2018 and is now Editor at Large.
She has published two books: “Stem Cells: Controversy at the Frontiers of Science” in 2005, which won the Queensland premier’s Literary award and “The Genome Generation” in 2012. Her work is regularly anthologised in Best Australian Science Writing.
In 20I5 she won the Eureka Award for Science Journalism from the Department of Industry and Science. In March 2019 she was announced as the Australian Society of Medical Research Medallist.
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A Convergence Science Network event.

National Science Week 2019 Victoria: Information and Networking
2019-03-18 10:00 - 12:00 | Royal Society of Victoria, 8 La Trobe Street, Melbourne, Vic, 3000, Australia
We are delighted to once again bring together the National Science Week program for Victoria in 2019, and warmly invite everyone interested in being a part of our state-wide celebration of all things Science to come along to our information and networking session at the Royal Society of Victoria.
Joining us will be Victoria’s Lead Scientist, Dr Amanda Caples, and National Science Week Manager, Geoff Crane.
Victorian Science Week Lead Dr Renee Beale will provide information on our newly expanded small grants program for 2019, our very own Victorian international guest and public launch event, and how you can get involved in National Science Week (10 -18 August). You’ll also hear from several organisations about their planned events for 2019, and have the opportunity to network with colleagues over morning tea at the Royal Society of Victoria.
If you’re thinking about hosting or supporting a Science Week event, or just want to know more about the planned Science Week activities in Victoria, please register to join us below!

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Robogals Science Challenge 2019
2019-03-04 10:00 - 2019-08-02 22:30 | VIC
The Robogals Science Challenge is an Australia-wide science competition for girls. It enables participants to learn more about science and engineering by conducting projects or experiments with a friend, parent, or another mentor.
Entries to the competition are submitted online in the form of videos, photos and writing in three age categories. The competition will spans four months, with the best 12 participants awarded for their efforts at the end of the year.

Using Artificial Intelligence as an Early Warning System for Eye Disease
2019-02-20 18:00 - 19:15 | Auditorium, Doherty Institute for Infection & Immunity, 792 Elizabeth Street, Melbourne, Victoria, 3000, Australia
Dr Natalie Gunn and Dr Stefan Maetschke
IBM Research Australia
Loss of vision has a profound impact on a person’s life: financially, economically and socially. The incidence of eye disease is increasing with a global ageing population.
It is estimated that vision loss costs the Australian economy $16B a year, and that does not include the indirect personal and social costs when an individual loses some or all visual capacity. Like many life-changing chronic conditions, early detection is crucial to prevent debilitating vision loss.
IBM Research Australia is developing Artificial Intelligence (AI) solutions to identify early signs of common eye diseases like Glaucoma and Diabetic Retinopathy. In this talk, we will shed light on the current capabilities of our technologies, and share our perspective on how these technologies can help make a difference to the prevention and identification of eye disease, and keep us all active for longer!
Featuring:
Dr Natalie Gunn is the Healthcare Lead at IBM Research Australia. She joined IBM Research Australia in 2012. The lab had just started and was made up of a vibrant team of early career researchers and software engineers.
Natalie began as a technical researcher tasked with producing raw materials for subsequent analysis on silicon chips at the nanoscale. She was part of a team looking at high-throughput screening of a hugely important drug target group at the single molecule level. Upon conclusion of that project, Natalie took over management of a team of computer scientists and engineers and began to develop an agenda around Artificial Intelligence solutions for Eye Health. Today, she is passionate about developing AI that delivers value for individuals, communities and IBM.
Dr. Stefan Maetschke is a Senior Research Engineer at IBM Research Australia. He was awarded his PhD in computer science from the University of Queensland in 2007.
Major stages in his career include, R&D at Siemens, Germany, where he developed kinematic and dynamic robot models to improve trajectorial accuracy, research as a Computational Biologist at the Institute for Molecular Bioscience, Australia with a focus on the inference of biological networks, educational work as a Associate lecturer and Course coordinator for software engineering courses at the School of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering, Australia, and software development at Google, USA, where he implemented infrastructure and deep-learning methods for privacy protection of Street View imagery. His current research is focused on the development of machine learning methods to support the diagnosis of eye diseases.

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The War on Waste Movement: Educating for a Sustainable Future
2018-12-04 16:30 - 18:30 | Ballarat Tech School, Building K, 136 Albert Street, Ballarat, Victoria, 3350, Australia
The Ballarat STEM Network and Inspiring Victoria are pleased to invite you to hear from Australian writer and comedian Craig Reucassel, best known for his work on ABC’s The Chaser and for going through your bins on The War on Waste.
Craig and a group of satirical comedians founded The Chaser newspaper, which led to a number of ABC TV Chaser programs including The Election Chaser, CNNNN, The Chaser’s War on Everything, Yes We Canberra and The Hamster Wheel. Craig is not afraid of politicians – his many comedic stunts have included him hugging John Howard while holding an axe and approaching Peter Debnam in nothing but Speedos (well before it was made fashionable by Tony Abbott). Join us, and join the war on waste movement!
Light supper provided – RSVP by 1st December.
This event is supported by the Ballarat STEM Network in partnership with the Ballarat Tech School and the Inspiring Australia – Science Engagement Program in support of community life long learning.

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Can Mitochondrial Donation Save Lives?
2018-11-28 18:00 - 19:30 | Ella Latham Theatre Ground Floor, The Royal Children’s Hospital 50 Flemington Road Parkville, Victoria
Diseases of the small circle of life: why mitochondrial donation is important
Professor Sir Doug Turnbull, Newcastle University (UK)
Mitochondria are the powerhouses of the cell and uniquely contain their own genetic material called mitochondrial DNA. Diseases caused by mutations in this mitochondrial DNA are increasingly being recognised and may present with illness at any age. Mitochondrial DNA is passed down only from mother to child and a new IVF technique called Mitochondrial Donation has been developed to prevent this transmission. However Mitochondrial Donation remains controversial and has only been approved for treatment in the UK after the passing of specific Mitochondrial Donation Regulations by the UK Parliament. This lecture will focus not only on the importance of Mitochondrial Donation but also on the challenges of changing the law in the UK.
The event will include a patient who will describe her experience with mitochondrial DNA disease, which will illustrate the driver for developing mitochondrial donation as an IVF procedure to enable families to have a healthy child.
This event is jointly presented by the Convergence Science Network and the Mito Foundation (incorporating the Australian Mitochondrial Disease Foundation) who are hosting Sir Turnbull’s visit to attend the AussieMit 2018 Conference in Melbourne.
Professor Sir Doug Turnbull
Professor Sir Doug Turnbull is the Director of the Wellcome Trust Centre for Mitochondrial Disease at Newcastle University. He developed and leads the NHS National Highly Specialised Services for Rare Mitochondrial Diseases of Children and Adults, is Director of the Newcastle University Centre for Brain Ageing and Vitality and is an Honorary Consultant Neurologist at Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. Doug has built one of the best international teams working on diagnosis, treatment and prevention of mitochondrial diseases and worked tirelessly with patients, patient organisations and policy makers to champion Mitochondrial donation. These efforts led to the UK parliament voting to allow this ground-breaking treatment to be offered to patients. He was awarded a Knighthood in the Queen’s Birthday Honours in 2016.

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'Earthrise' - Looking Back On Our Planet
2018-11-15 19:00 - 20:30 | Royal Society of Victoria, 8 La Trobe Street, Melbourne, Vic, 3000, Australia
Presentations & Interdisciplinary Panel Discussion
What’s in a picture?
Almost 50 years ago on Christmas Eve, 1968, US astronaut William Anders took a photo aboard the Apollo 8 mission that became known as ‘Earthrise.’ This ground-breaking image transformed our view of our unique planet, and the place of our home in the cosmos.
Apollo 8 was the first manned spacecraft to leave the Earth’s orbit and circle the Moon. When the craft piloted by William Anders and his fellow crewmen Frank Borman and Jim Lovell emerged from behind the Moon’s dark side, they saw in front of them an astounding sight – an exquisite blue sphere hanging in the blackness of space.
Taking this photograph was one of the most profound events in the history of human culture, for at this moment we truly saw ourselves from a distance for the first time; and the Earth in its surrounding, dark emptiness not only seemed infinitely beautiful, but also extraordinarily fragile. This wonderful image crystallised and cemented the sense of our planet’s isolation and vulnerability. It is linked to the start of the environmental movement and to many significant concepts developed and popularised over the last 50 years such as Spaceship Earth, Limits to Growth, Small is Beautiful, Sustainability and Gaia. It is a significant signpost for our ongoing struggle to safeguard the vitality and viability of our living planet.

Come join an interdisciplinary panel to reflect on “Earthrise” and the progress – or otherwise – we have made as an Earth-bound species in the intervening half century. Joining us will be:
Dr Colleen Boyle, Artist and Art Historian with RMIT’s School of Design
Colleen is an artist and academic working out of Melbourne, Australia. Her current research interests include: theories of perception and representation; history and theory of photography; space exploration and space imaging; philosophical interpretations of imagination; scientific imaging and theories of scientific observation. In 1977 her grandfather took her to see a matinee screening of the film Star Wars. The windows of the Yea town hall had been darkened with previously used black plastic that was ridden with tiny holes. The result was a galaxy of shining stars, and the film hadn’t even started. Thus began Colleen’s life-long fascination with all things to do with outer space!
Dr Jenny Gray, CEO of Zoos Victoria and the President of the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums
Jenny is a trained Civil Engineer with experience in Transportation Engineering and banking, but it was a lifelong love of animals, and a longing to do something that made a difference which brought her to the zoo industry. Jenny’s work as CEO of Zoos Victoria has significantly changed the organisation’s direction to engage people in saving wildlife and wild places. Her Melbourne PhD examined the ethical challenges posed for the operations of zoos and aquariums in the 21st century and her thesis informed her 2017 book, Zoo Ethics.
Professor Rachel Webster, Head of Astrophysics at the University of Melbourne’s School of Physics
Rachel leads the Astrophysics research group at the University of Melbourne, comprising more than 60 research students and staff. The observational program utlises world class equipment such as the Australia Telescope Compact Array, the Gemini Telescopes, the Hubble Space Telescope and the Chandra X-ray Observatory, among others. Her research interests include the detection of the first sources in the universe, quasar emission regions, gravitational lensing and cosmology, with a side interest in the physics of geothermal energy.
Dr Lynette Bettio, Senior Climatologist with the Bureau of Meteorology
Lynette examines and communicates on long-term changes to Australia’s climate including trends in rainfall and temperature and the interaction with extreme events. Another focus is drought across Australia and how the Bureau can best communicate and inform around this. She is a member of the World Meteorological Organization expert team on drought. As a climatologist, her work draws on data from the satellite system that monitors the changes in our planet’s climate.
Alicia Sometimes, broadcaster, poet and writer, will be piloting the craft as our MC! Alicia is a regular guest on 774, Radio National and is one sixth of The Outer Sanctum Podcast. Alicia was editor of the national literary journal Going Down Swinging for seven years. Alicia was one of the 3RRR’s Breakfasters team in 2015 and on Aural Text for fourteen years. She has appeared in ABC TV’s Sunday Arts and ABC News Breakfast. Her poems have been in Best Australian Poems, Overland, Southerly, Westerly, The Age and more.

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STEMpowered - women in STEAM Exhibition Launch
2018-11-08 18:30 - 20:30 | Ballarat Tech School, Building K, 136 Albert Street, Ballarat, Victoria, 3350, Australia
You are invited to attend the launch of the STEMpowered Exhibition on Thursday November 8. The exhibition will be held in Ballarat from Monday 5th – Wednesday 28th November at the Ballarat Tech School.
STEMpowered features a range of great women working in STEM today. Their work showcases the diversity of careers, approaches, ideas and industries including games development, wearable technology, environmental science, engineering, cancer research, food waste, genetics, biotech, nanotechnology, mathematics, medical physics, additive manufacturing and more.
Our local hero is Jessica Kelly an alumnist of Federation University Australian and a proud Loreto girl. Jessica works in food research and development.
This exhibition is a collaboration between Her Place Women’s Museum Australia and the Department of Education and Training, with support from The Royal Society of Victoria. The exhibition features videos and unique artefacts, as well as an education program, including a Student Resource and Teacher Professional Development.

Robots and 3D Bio-printing: Shaping Surgery
2018-11-07 18:00 - 19:00 | Peter Doherty Institute, 792 Elizabeth Street, Parkville, VIC, 3000, Australia
Much has changed in the field of surgery in the past 50 years; new technology is changing the way surgeons operate.
While surgery has traditionally been a speciality characterised by hand skills and, at times, ‘educated improvisation’, it is now becoming a field where robots, computer guidance, 3D printing and bio-printing are changing the way surgeons operate, sometimes ‘driving’ their hands to levels of precisions never imagined before.
In the recent years, 3D printing and bio-printing have gained increasing interest in surgery. 3D Printing can already be used in a wide variety of ways in surgery, for example:

for the manufacturing of anatomic models that mimic the patient’s anatomy (including deformities, microvasculature, cancers);
to produce patient-specific cutting guides that drive the surgeon’s hand in performing precise cuts for bone removal; or
to create custom made implants that help managing complex surgical problems. More recently, the possibility of 3D printing live cells in a specific environment, have further opened the possibilities in the field of regenerative medicine. This technique carries huge expectations from the surgical community, because it promises the potential regeneration of entire living organs.

Dr Claudia Di Bella will explore and discuss the technological advances now available to surgeons and the ones that will possibly become a reality in the near future.
She will also discuss the current state of the art in bio-printing from a surgical prospective, focusing on its application in the musculoskeletal field. Dr Di Bella will highlight the current roadblocks for the application of this technique in clinical practice, as well as the expectations and the promises for the future seen with the eyes of the final user.

About Dr Claudia Di Bella, MD PhD FRACS FAOrthA
Dr Claudia Di Bella is an academic orthopaedic surgeon highly specialised in musculoskeletal oncology, advanced robotic assisted surgery and 3D printing.
Dr Di Bella graduated in medicine and surgery in 2002 (Bologna University, Italy) and subsequently obtained her specialist recognition as orthopaedic surgeon in 2007 (Bologna University, Ita) as well as a PhD in Oncology and Experimental pathology in 2012 (Bologna University). Dr Di Bella moved to Australia (Melbourne) in December 2009, and in 2014 obtained the recognition as qualified Orthopaedic Surgeon by the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons and the Australian Orthopaedic Association.
In 2015 Dr Di Bella became the leader of the Cartilage Regeneration Program of Research, a branch of the Advanced Limb reconstruction Program that has been developed at the Department of Surgery (University of Melbourne), centred over the use of advanced 3D printing technologies, including surgical 3D bioprinting, robotics and stem cells for the regeneration of the musculoskeletal system. In this role Dr Di Bella has led her team to successfully secure more than 12 national peer reviewed grants, reinforced and strengthened national and international collaboration with key players in the field, and strongly contributed to the advances of the Biofab3D, the first Australian biofabrication hub embedded in the hospital setting. The successes of Dr Di Bella’s team have been recently recognised internationally (multiple award winning at international tissue engineering societies) and nationally (Finalist at the prestigious NSW Eureka prize for Excellence in Interdisciplinary Scientific Research), and showcased by national media such as ABC news, Channel 7 news, The Project (Channel 10) and National Geographic.
Dr Di Bella currently sits on the Education Committee at the University of Melbourne and on the Executive Committee at the Biofab3D; she also is a professional spokesperson at the Human Ethics Research Committee at St Vincent’s Hospital as well as a faculty member of the Academic Surgery of the Royal Australasian College of Surgery.
Dr Di Bella is very passionate about gender equality in STEM-M, and for this reason she is a mentor in the academic surgery program of the University of Melbourne as well as a mentor for women in medicine at St Vincent’s Hospital.

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STEAM Club Escape Room!
2018-10-31 15:45 - 2018-12-05 17:15 | Banyule Nillumbik Tech School 61 Civic Drive Greensborough
We are excited to launch our STEAM Club Program for 2018 – The Escape Room Challenge for middle years students!
STEAM club is a collaborative learning opportunity for students to get involved in Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts & Maths (STEAM) related activities at a Tech School.
Students will use the concept of an Escape Room to construct a number of puzzles and challenges based on historical time periods including the Stone Age, Bronze Age and Ancient Rome, finishing with a showcase for students to exhibit their puzzles as an escape room experience for other students and their families to play!

Harnessing Knowledge, Creativity and Technology to build green, healthy cities for the future
2018-10-30 18:00 - 19:30 | Bendigo Tech School on La Trobe University, Bendigo Campus, Edwards Rd, Flora Hill 3552
Dr Amy Hahs is an urban ecologist with an established research career investigating how urban landscapes impact the local ecology, with a strong emphasis on the use of spatial data and geographic information systems as a critical tool for understanding urban ecosystems and informing action. Now, as a specialist consultant, Amy works on a diverse range of building projects to develop green, healthy cities and towns, and conserve resilient ecosystems where we live and work.
From small development projects, such as roadside planting audits and local parks, to largescale metropolitan infrastructure projects, such as building sub-city tunnels and planning development precincts, Amy’s expert skills, deep knowledge and strong industry connections ensure a sustainable strategy will be developed to expand biodiversity in—and add value to—our important urban environments.
In her presentation on “Harnessing Knowledge, Creativity and Technology to build green, healthy cities for the future”, Amy will discuss how cities affect the health and wellbeing of humans and biodiversity, the challenges that our future cities face, and how technology, knowledge and creativity are helping us to overcome these challenges to create cities for both people and nature.

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3 Years of Winter
2018-10-23 18:30 - 19:30 | Clayton Library 9-15 Cooke Street
What’s the connection between volcanoes, climate change and Frankenstein? And when will Victoria erupt? A talk by Monash University’s Dr James Driscoll.
“It was a dark and stormy night…” in fact it was a hot and tropical April in 1815, prior to the terror that would engulf the inhabitants of Sumbawa, Indonesia. In this gothic tale that weaves art and Science, Dr James Driscoll will focus on the geological and climatic catastrophe that created the conditions for the writing of ‘Frankenstein’ by Mary Shelley, three years later and half a world away. We will also explore the science of catastrophic volcanic eruptions and comment on the present volcanic hazards of Victoria.
About our speaker: Dr James Driscoll commenced his geological career in London in 1998 where he spent two years working for an oil and gas reservoir engineering consultancy. In late 2000, he emigrated to Australia and joined the Victorian Geological Survey based in Melbourne, working in regional geological work, petroleum prospectivity assessments, and marketing of Victoria’s geological assets. James joined the geothermal consultancy Hot Dry Rocks in 2008 where he undertook numerous geothermal assessments both in Australia and overseas. James is currently at Monash University’s School of Earth, Atmosphere & Environment (EAE) where he lectures in sedimentology and basin analysis.

Come for a walk and birdwatching during National Bird Week!
2018-10-21 10:00 - 13:30 | Valley Reserve Ted Mason Education Hub 80 Waimarie Dr Ted Mason Hub Mount Waverley, VIC 3149
Come for a walk through Mount Waverley’s Valley Reserve, as part of a celebration of National Bird Week and the Aussie Backyard Bird Count.
Ecologist Dr Joab Wilson will lead you through the indigenous habitat and draw your attention to the diversity of birds who work, nest and feed in the area.
He will give you some tips for identifying the various species and their calls so you can recognise birds next time you are out and about.

Part of the session will include promoting the following citizen science apps:
Aussie Backyard Bird Count
https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/aussie-bird-count/id917024019?mt=8
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=au.org.birdlife.birdcount&hl=en_AU

Museum Victoria Field Guide to Victorian Fauna
https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/field-guide-to-victorian-fauna/id423945031?mt=8
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=au.com.museumvictoria.fieldguide.vic&hl=en_US

Creating Green, Healthy, Resilient and Liveable Cities Community Talk
2018-10-17 19:00 - 20:00 | Ballarat Tech School Building K – FedUni SMB Campus 136 Albert St Ballarat Central, VIC 3350
Making room for nature in our urban future.
Amy Hahs (PhD) is an urban ecologist, with a keen interest in understanding the interplay between biodiversity and urban environments. She has extensive research experience in the field of urban ecology, working directly on projects studying how urban vegetation and habitat features influence the biodiversity in those spaces, how to conserve indigenous plants and animals, and how to incorporate positive biodiversity outcomes into the design and management of urban landscapes. Amy also has over eight years of experience in providing advice and information related to urban ecology and biodiversity to local and state government agencies in Australia and overseas. As the Director of Urban Ecology in Action, Amy is committed to providing decision-makers with the most recent urban ecology knowledge to help make cities that support people and biodiversity. By actively combines research and practice, Amy’s goal is to help develop green, healthy cities and towns, and conserve resilient ecological systems in areas where people live and work. Amy is a regular contributor to The Nature of Cities, and is VP-Research of the Ecological Society of Australia.

Our Mesozoic Menagerie: Australia’s Dinosaurs
2018-10-16 19:00 - 20:30 | The Lakes South Morang P-9 School 80 Jardier Terrace South Morang, VIC 3752
Dr Stephen Poropat Research Associate, The Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum of Natural History Postdoctoral Researcher, Swinburne University of Technology
Four major sites are currently providing new insights into Australia’s Cretaceous dinosaurs, who lived from 145 to 66 million years ago. These are the Broome trackways in Western Australia, the Strzelecki and Otway ranges in Victoria, Lightning Ridge in New South Wales, and the Eromanga Basin in Queensland. Swinburne University palaeontologist Dr Stephen Poropat has been digging up Australian dinosaur fossils since 2004, and will share his latest exciting findings!
To date, only twenty Australian dinosaurs from the Mesozoic Era have been formally named on the basis of fossilised bones, and almost all of these are from the middle part of the Cretaceous, between 125 and 95 million years ago. This means that we have little idea of what Australia’s Mesozoic dinosaurs were like throughout much of their existence.
Victoria’s Cretaceous dinosaur faunas were dominated by ornithopod dinosaurs. These small plant-eaters have left abundant evidence of their existence in the form of limb bones, vertebrae, teeth and skull fragments, as well as four partial skeletons and even footprints and possible burrows. They coexisted with a variety of different theropod dinosaurs—some of which had teeth adapted for rending flesh—as well as very rare armoured ankylosaurs and even rarer possible ceratopsians. Our understanding of this dinosaur faunas has improved massively as a result of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers over the past forty years—without their efforts, our knowledge would be very limited indeed. Dr Stephen Poropat has had the privilege of attending six such digs since 2004.
Long-necked, plant-eating sauropods are completely unknown from the Victorian Cretaceous. Their absence has been attributed to their presumed inability to deal with cool climates. In contrast, the Cretaceous rocks of the Eromanga Basin in Queensland produce sauropods in abundance. Although the earliest such discoveries were made in the 1920s and 1930s, it was David Elliott’s 1999 discovery of a dinosaur on his sheep station which reinvigorated excavation efforts in the Eromanga Basin. Annual digs in the Winton area, coordinated by the Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum of Natural History (AAOD, founded by David and his wife Judy), have been held since 2001. Stephen has helped supervise eight such AAOD digs since 2011, and this year’s excavations were some of the most successful to date – come learn more!

CAMPFIRES & SCIENCE: WILD DNA IN MARYSVILLE
2018-10-13 13:30 - 18:30 | Anderson’s Mill Camping Ground
Love camping? Love science? Get involved!
Campfires and Science is a new and growing community of people who head outdoors, light a campfire, and share knowledge. We lead regular, free events in wild places to support scientific fieldwork and provide hands-on training in the research methods that help us to best protect the environment. Welcome to citizen science!
Join us at our very first environmental DNA sampling event, where we’ll be teaching people how to gather samples and look for a critically endangered species of fish. We’ll also be inviting speakers around the campfire to share their knowledge. You can learn more at https://scienceforall.world/events .
**Please note: a free vegan dinner is included. Unfortunately we cannot accommodate for any allergies; if you have any special requirements, please ensure you have catered for yourself.
An event by Science for All, auspiced by the Royal Society of Victoria.

Real World VR (Virtual-Augmented-Mixed Reality) Forum Q&A & Demos BALLARAT
2018-10-11 18:30 - 21:00 | VIC
Real World VR, is Melbourne’s flagship XR-VR/AR/MR event and presents a series of high-quality speakers and panelists. Topics include Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, Mixed Reality, Drones, 3D Printing, Simulators and more.
The event includes a speakers forum, Q&A, panel, equipment demonstrations, showcase & networking. We facilitate engage, support, educate, influence, promote, connect and inspire audiences, enthusiasts, industry, developers, producers, filmmakers, animators and the XR – VR/AR/MR community / industry – all welcome. We are demonstarting various works on Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, Hololens, Oculus Go and Samsung Gear equipment.
Free Entry, includes drinks and nibbles.

Citizen Science at Scotchman's Creek
2018-10-03 14:30 - 16:00 | Regent St Reserve, Mt Waverley
Join us for some “hands on” science at Scotchman’s Creek!
Get into some citizen science with Yvonne Cabuang, Regional Project Officer, Melbourne Catchment Management Authority & Fred Bullock,
Treasurer, Friends of Scotchman’s Creek and Valley Reserve. Join both on an outing to Scotchman’s Creek where they will guide participants through the activity of sampling for waterbugs. This field experience will happen at the creek next to the Regent Street Reserve, Mt. Waverley.
The National Waterbug Blitz is Australia’s first nationwide, Citizen Science, waterway monitoring event. Over the month of October Australians are encouraged to discover how healthy their local waterways and wetlands are, simply by exploring and identifying what waterbugs live in them.

BrainPark: Revealing a new approach to addictive and compulsive behaviours
2018-09-26 17:00 - 19:00 | BrainPark, Monash University, 770 Blackburn Road, Clayton, Victoria, 3168, Australia
The Monash Institute of Cognitive and Clinical Neurosciences (MICCN) at Monash University is holding a Community Open Evening for BrainPark, the world’s first research facility to offer lifestyle and technology-based interventions for addictive and compulsive behaviours.
At BrainPark, science meets technology, treatment, lifestyle and art to harness the power of brain plasticity. People are immersed in a positive, interactive and evidence-based environment to help them conquer their compulsions and establish healthy habits for life.
Attendees will receive an exclusive behind-the-scenes tour of virtual reality, physical exercise, cognitive training, meditation and non-invasive brain stimulation activities, and experience how MICCN is working to bring transformational changes to how addictions and compulsions are experienced, diagnosed and treated.
Booking required.

Citizen Science and the National Waterbug Blitz
2018-09-26 14:30 - 16:00 | Monash Tech School, 44 Drummond Street, Chadstone, VIC, 3148, Australia
The Monash Science and Innovation Hub invites you to participate in the
National Waterbug Blitz.
The National Waterbug Blitz is Australia’s first nationwide, Citizen Science, waterway monitoring event. Over the month of October Australians are encouraged to discover how healthy their local waterways and wetlands are, simply by exploring and identifying what
waterbugs live in them.
Learn more about waterbugs, citizen science and the National Waterbug Blitz from Yvonne Cabuang, Waterwatch Coordinator with Melbourne Water & Fred Bullock, Treasurer, Friends of Scotchman’s Creek and Valley Reserve
This initiative provides training through downloads and apps. In addition Monash Science and Innovation Partners will have Waterbug Kits available for loan over the month of October.

National Waterbug Blitz: Our Waterways Under the Magnifying Glass
2018-09-18 11:00 - 12:00 | Ballarat Tech School, Building K, 136 Albert Street, Ballarat, Victoria, 3350, Australia
The National Waterbug Blitz is Australia’s first nationwide, citizen science, waterway monitoring event. In spring Australians are being encouraged to discover how healthy their local waterways and wetlands are, simply by exploring and identifying what waterbugs live in them. Waterbugs (or freshwater macroinvertebrates) are small invertebrates that live in freshwater. Each type of waterbug has a certain sensitivity to pollution or water quality changes in their waterway. So the type and number of bugs found in a waterway, can tell you how healthy it is.
Community members are invited to hear from Deirdre Murphy, Regional Citizen Science Project Officer at the Corangamite Catchment Management Authority on how tjoin the National Waterbug Blitz.
Deirdre will share three ways participants can participate in the survey, share resources available and link you to local activities. For more information visit https://www.waterbugblitz.org.au/

Global Citizen Science: Can Citizens Deliver and Make a Difference?
2018-09-17 14:00 - 16:00 | Royal Society of Victoria, 8 La Trobe Street, Melbourne, Vic, 3000, Australia
We are witnessing an explosion of Citizen Science activity as technology makes it possible for citizens to take part in science and deliver unprecedented levels of quality data across the globe. Now more than ever, successful programs are needed to drive change and encourage Governments to actively engage across the planet with the Citizen Science Community.
This talk and the associated discussions will explore whether we are ready to take the next step as Global Citizen Scientists and develop the integrated programs that will prove the value of Citizen Science at the global level. It will also explore the leading role that Australia could play in that process as the lessons learnt in running Citizen Science Programs on the Australian Continent are shared with the global community.
With support from UNEP and the Wilson Centre in the US, the Citizen Science Global Partnership (CSGP) was agreed at the UN Environment Assembly (UNEA3) in Nairobi 2017. Citizen Science Associations have emerged in Australia, Europe the USA and Asia and discussions are underway to set up Associations in Africa and South America. CSGP is planning sessions on Citizen Science in Dubai at the Eye-on-Earth Symposium in October 2018 that will take part in parallel with the UN World Data Forum as the value of unconventional data sources is increasingly recognised by National Government. CSGP will also be present in Nairobi at UNEA4 in March 2019 at the highest-level environmental decision making body on the planet.
Martin Brocklehurst has been at the forefront of activity to bring the global citizen science community together to develop global programmes that have the potential to provide data and information that can be used to:

Empower citizens to manage emerging risks to their health and wellbeing;
To provide information to Governments that can be used to justify policy shifts to deal with emerging global problems such as poor urban air quality and invasive species that bring new diseases and disrupt existing ecosystems;
Track progress against the UN Sustainable Development Goals; and
Provide health professionals with levels of detail on disease and disease vector carrying species, at a speed and accuracy that will enable scarce resources to be targeted with a precision not possible using conventional scientific approaches.

About the Speaker:
Martin Brocklehurst is the Chair of the European Citizen Science Association Policy Working Group and Coordinator of the CSGP Delegation to the UN World Data Forum in Dubai in October 2018. He is visiting Australia in September to meet with policy-makers, share his experience and discuss all aspects of utilizing Citizen Science to achieve policy outcomes.
Martin is a founding instigator of the European Citizen Science Association (ECSA) and the Global Mosquito Alert Consortium. He is Chair of the ECSA Policy Working Group and has significantly raised the profile of Citizen Science and its potential value to governments and global institutions, working with UNEP and Citizen Science Associations around the world. Martin is an acknowledged leader of the Citizen Science movement and has developed working relationships at the highest level globally to promote the value of Citizen Science and the data it can deliver to the UN Agenda 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.
Martin is also a national expert on Waste and Resource Management and the UK National Representative on the ISO and CEN/CENELEC Ad Hoc Groups to explore what additional standards are needed to promote the Circular Economy and previously he was the Technical Advisor to the Parliamentary Environment Audit Select Committee, “Growing a Circular Economy; Ending the throwaway society” as well as adviser to the International Solid Waste Association (ISWA) on the same topic.
Martin has taken on environmental advisory roles for a wide range of organisations including NGO’s, Public Sector Regulators, Trade Bodies and the UK Parliamentary Audit Committee. For 13 years, he was a senior public-sector regulator, in developing and delivering UK Environmental Regulations, pioneering new approaches to regulation. For 14 years, he was a senior health safety and environmental manager in business recognised for delivering outstanding performance for multi-national oil companies. Independent Environmental Consultants (2011-18), Executive Manager UK Environment Agency (1998-2011), Senior HSE Manager Gulf Oil, Chevron and BP (1984-1998).
Martin’s specific interests in Citizen Science and the SDG’s relate to:

Invasive species and in particular tree diseases;
CS Global Mosquito Alert and linked CS health monitoring;
CS Air Quality monitoring and linked CS health monitoring;
CS projects on Resource Efficiency and the Circular economy;
CS projects relating to litter monitoring on land and programmes to reduce plastic litter into the marine environment from land; and
CS in supporting programs to understand and reduce the decline in natural ecosystems.

Presented by the Victorian Chapter of the Australian Citizen Science Association in partnership with the Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research, the Royal Society of Victoria, the United Nations Association of Australia Victorian Division, the European Citizen Science Association and the Citizen Science Global Partnership.

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Campfires & Science at Plenty Gorge
2018-09-15 15:30 - 18:30 | Plenty Gorge Parklands, 25 Linacre Drive, Bundoora, Victoria, 3083, Australia
Love camping? Love science? Get involved!
Campfires and Science is a new and growing community of people who head outdoors, light a campfire, and share knowledge. We lead regular, free events in wild places to support scientific fieldwork and provide hands-on training in the research methods that help us to best protect the environment. Welcome to citizen science!
This special event at Plenty Gorge, hosted by the new Whittlesea Tech School, will teach participants how to monitor wildlife numbers using a range of methods, including collecting DNA samples from the environment that can tell us the range of animals that live there. We’ll also be hearing from two scientists telling us about their work and sharing the special knowledge they’ve attained through years of study and exploration.
Bring your family and friends for a great afternoon and evening in one of Melbourne’s wild places!

AstroLight Festival at Scienceworks
2018-09-08 18:00 - 22:30 | Scienceworks, 2 Booker Street, Spotswood, VIC, 3015, Australia
Scienceworks comes alive after-hours for AstroLight Festival with special guests, fun science activities for all ages, and a whole field full of telescopes for stargazing!

Meet experts from the European Space Agency and Australia’s space industry.
Experience hands-on activities, and ideas to blow your mind from over 20 astronomy, light, and space science organisations.
Explore virtual space travel for yourself with Opaque Space’s award-winning virtual reality experience Spacewalk.
Enjoy Planetarium and Lightning Room shows.
Satisfy your hunger with intergalactic treats served up from food trucks and the café all night.

Speaker program includes:

International Space Station flight controller Andrea Boyd and former astronaut trainer Dr Gail Iles discussing human spaceflight and possibilities for our species going beyond the Earth.
Andrea Boyd and aerospace engineer Dr Naomi Mathers will talk about the new Australian Space Agency and the important role that Australia has to play in this accelerating industry.
OzGrav researchers Debatri Chattopadhyay, Lucy Strang and Hannah Middleton will enlighten you as they talk about spaghettification, gravitational waves and other exciting developments in astronomy.
Short and sweet talks in the Energy Lab, covering Indigenous astronomy, the discovery of baby planets, how scientists use light to make the regenerating cells of a zebrafish fluoresce, and more.

Tickets: $12 – 25, and can be purchased from the Musuem Victoria‘s website.
Join the Facebook event or read more about all the activities on the AstroLight blog.
Image credit: Stewie Donn

Astrophotography Workshop
2018-09-08 12:30 - 22:00 | Briars Astronomy Centre and Observatory, 450 Nepean Highway, Mount Martha, VIC, 3934, Australia
A day and evening that introduces you to the concepts of night sky photography and then you get to try it. Suitable for those who have some familiarity of daytime photography and who are keen to expand their horizons into the night and put into practice what they learn.
This astrophotography workshop will be canvassing and introducing concepts that will assist both the amateur and professional photographer.
The afternoon will have an array of lectures given by experienced and acknowledged astrophotographers. Practical hands-on sessions will then be held during the evening at our registered Observatory.
Topics include an introduction to wide field astrophotography, time lapse photography, aurora photography, deep sky imaging, image processing and more. Weather permitting, attendees will be able to use some of the Society’s premium equipment for some deep sky imaging.
Tea, coffee and biscuits will be provided during the day, then a BBQ and refreshments will be supplied to gear you up for the night ahead.
Remember to bring your camera and tripod for the practical component.
Please dress appropriately for being outdoors and on a grassy or uneven surface. You may bring a small torch (red globe or covered in red cellophane).
The observatory is marked on Google Maps and on the Melways at map reference 151/E1.
Drving directions
The venue is in regional/rural Victoria and is entered on the east side of Nepean Highway. Drive carefully through the park, with the possibility of wildlife on the road after dark. You will travel about 2 km along a sealed road, over three cattle grids, past a visitors’ centre on your left and vineyard on your right, up the hill then straight ahead through an open gate. Do not turn left to Josephine’s restaurant. Travel past the righthand side of the Shire Nursery, with the Park Ranger’s house on your right, then the observatory is 100 m further along on the left.

Diversity Game Changers in STEM
2018-08-30 17:30 - 20:00 | Monash University Parkville Campus, 381 Royal Parade, Parkville, VIC, 3052, Australia
How do we create a more diverse workplace? What can we do to make inclusion a priority in science? Why is it important to increase diversity and inclusion in STEM?
This event brings together speakers prominent in advocating for diversity and inclusion in STEM to explore how we as individuals can create positive change. We hope this event will increase awareness of issues faced by minority populations or groups and inspire all to embrace an inclusive culture.
The panel of speakers will share their inspiration for positive change for diversity in STEM, followed by a Q&A panel discussion. We welcome you to continue the dialogue over refreshments at the networking session.
Doors open at 5.30 pm for a 6.00 pm start.
This event is organised as part of Monash University’s Diversity and Inclusion Week.
