National Science Week has today been officially launched with a joint media release, with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Minister Michaelia Cash also attending an early CSIRO STEM in Schools event at Kent Street Senior High School in Perth, WA. The students eagerly took selfies with the Prime Minister and happily chatted about their STEM adventures in school led by their teacher, Prime Minister’s Prize for Science Teaching recipient Suzy Urbaniak.
With so many events and activities happening all around the nation (some so eager they have already taken place!), the launching fun is continuing with state and territory local launches and exciting things happening in many parts of the country.
- On Tuesday 7 August festivities in New South Wales officially kicked off with celebrations as part of the launch of the Sydney Science Festival at the Australian Museum.
- In the ACT there will be a gentle launch as part of The Curious Feast event at the pop-up space at the Australian National University on Friday 10 August. This will involve tasty noms, warm drinks and sweet sounds under fairy lights on a crisp Canberra winter night all with a serve of science of course.
- Northern Territorians get things cracking with a launch as part of a performance of Pathetic Fallacy at the Darwin Festival on the evening of Friday 10 August. This piece takes on our changing relationship to weather, fusing raw fantasy with research into classical art, small talk, forecasting and how storms get named.
- The Queensland Museum and BHP is taking Unearthed to Mackay on Sunday 12 August as they host a free community event to celebrate the start of National Science Week.
- In South Australia, the scientific community are putting on their glad rags to celebrate the 2018 South Australia Science Excellence Awards as well as launching Science Week on Friday 10 August. This gala dinner acknowledges the outstanding STEM work taking place in South Australia and will hear from Professor Alan Duffy
- Down south the state Minister for Science and Technology will have the honours, alongside the Launceston STEMinists, of launching Science Week in Tasmania on the morning of Friday 10 August. The Launceston STEMinists are an evolving group revolving around women interested/passionate/working/studying in STEM.
- Victorians are celebrating a launch on Friday 10 August with Victoria’s Lead Scientist, Dr Amanda Caples and the Royal Society of Victoria. The event is a cocktail party hosted by the Magnet Galleries in their Docklands studio, surrounded by an exhibition of science photography on subjects ranging from the local to the galactic.
- And in Western Australia, it is a Launch Gala with taste teaser of some of the experiences and events to find during Science Week. On Thursday 9 August The Hon. Minister Dave Kelly and international guest speaker Yamilee Toussaint, the CEO and Founder of STEM from Dance in the USA will participated in the gala which was followed by networking and plenty of excitement building!
So we are officially off and running! Happy National Science Week everyone – enjoy your adventures in STEM all around the country. And don’t forget to share your experiences with us by using #scienceweek in all your National Science Week chatter!
