ENVIRONMENT highlights from across Australia this National Science Week
- Caring for the rare: meet the people saving Victoria’s species – online via Parliament House, VIC
- How hydrogen could create jobs and cut carbon dioxide – Hawthorn, VIC
- Saving the planet by gardening underwater – Lake Macquarie and Sydney, NSW
- Tree scientist encourages gardeners to grow the urban forest – Adelaide, SA
- Feeding caterpillars to get butterflies – Kuranda, QLD
- Wattle vs Wollemi: what is Australia’s favourite tree? – online
More on these highlights below.
Scientists, performers and event organisers are available for interview leading up to and throughout National Science Week: 13 to 21 August.
Read on for contact details for each event, or call:
- Tanya Ha – tanya@scienceinpublic.com.au, 0404 083 863 or 03 9398 1416
- Jane Watkins – jane@scienceinpublic.com.au or 0425 803 204
Visit ScienceWeek.net.au/events to find stories in your area using the event listing.
Media centre here. Images for media here.
Individual event details and media contacts
Caring for the rare: meet the people saving Victoria’s species – online via Parliament House, VIC
Victoria’s Zoos, Museums and Botanic Gardens are more than places for people to visit - they are also engines of scientific research and field work:
- Reproductive Biologist Marissa Parrott is breeding bandicoots and pygmy-possums at Zoos Victoria to save these species.
- Conservation horticulturalist John Arnott is developing collections of locally significant rare and threatened plant species. It’s part of Care for the Rare, a Victorian Botanic Gardens initiative.
- Plant identification expert Megan Hirst is saving seeds for the Victorian Conservation Seedbank.
- Geneticist and conservation biologist Joanna Sumner is biobanking tissue samples and DNA, from Australian animals, used for research on evolution, taxonomy, and conservation. She manages the research laboratories and the Ian Potter Australian Wildlife BioBank at Museums Victoria.
- Darren Grover managing Zoos Victoria’s challenging mission to protect 27 key species from extinction in Australia.
Find out about the ways these scientsts and their colleagues are planning to help plants and animals adapt and persist through multiple challenges in our immediate future.
Sunday 21 August. Event details: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/care-for-the-rare
Panellists are available for media interviews.
Media enquiries:
- For Joanna Sumner, contact the Museums Victoria media team, media@museum.vic.gov.au or 0466 622 621
- For John Arnott and Megan Hirst, contact Maraika vanWesse, Maraika.vanWessem@rbg.vic.gov.au or 0497 200 989
- For Marissa Parrott and Darren Grover, contact Michelle Lang, MLang@zoo.org.au or 0425 723 985; or Natalie Filmer, nfilmer@zoo.org.au or 0418 586 141
Hydrogen energy 101 – Hawthorn, VIC
Hydrogen is a promising solution to tackle climate change and it will also create jobs across a range of sectors. But what is hydrogen? How is it applied in daily life? Why is it important? And, most importantly, how does it impact your future?
Ask the experts at the Victorian Hydrogen Hub at Swinburne University of Technology.
Monday 15 August and Tuesday 16 August. Event details: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/lunch-and-learn-hydrogen-101/hawthorn
Media enquiries: Breck Carter, breckcarter@swin.edu.au or 0402 015 037
Dr Kim Beasy, Victorian Hydrogen Hub Research Fellow, is available for media interviews.
Saving the planet by gardening underwater – Lake Macquarie and Sydney, NSW
The NSW coastline has endangered underwater seagrass meadows that are badly in need of restoration. Posidonia australis seagrass meadows provide habitat for native aquatic species, improve water quality, help stabilise the seabed, and can capture carbon up to 35 times faster than tropical rainforests.
Experts from Operation Posidonia share the science behind the restoration of these habitats in NSW estuaries through workshops, a field trip and collaborative art projects. Focusing on underwater seagrass meadows found in two of NSW’s most developed coastal areas, the project equips participants with the knowledge and skills to become active citizen scientists in their own communities.
Saturday 20 August. Event details: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/gardening-below-the-surface-with-operation-posidonia-sydney/mosman
Media enquiries: Clayton Mead, clayton.mead@unsw.edu.au or 0425 325 899.
Operation Posidonia founder Adriana Vergés and researcher Clayton Mead available for media interviews
Tree scientist encourages gardeners to grow the urban forest – Adelaide, SA
Trees reduce pollution, create shade and encourage biodiversity, according to plant scientist Dr Kathryn Hill.
Kathryn studies how well trees are growing and how much carbon they’re storing by measuring their scientific values. She even compares how plants grew 65 million years ago to how the same species grow today.
Amateur plant scientists can help her grow and study more trees in Adelaide by attending her National Science Week workshops.
Saturday 20 August and Saturday 28 August. Event details: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/what-is-the-value-of-urban-forest
Media enquiries: Kathryn Hill, kathryn@debillenvironmental.com.au or 0423 693 733
Feeding caterpillars to get butterflies – Kuranda, QLD
What botany is needed to feed very hungry caterpillars so they can grow into big, beautiful butterflies?
The Australian Butterfly Sanctuary in Kuranda has the largest butterfly aviary and exhibit in Australia, gardens containing a variety of critical butterfly food, and a collection of native butterfly species, including the red lacewing, the mountain blue or ‘Ulysses’, and Australia’s largest butterfly, the Cairns birdwing, with a wingspan of about 18 centimetres.
Hear scientific talks from experts about the secret lives of butterflies, caterpillar food, where it is found, why it is important to the lifecycle of butterflies.
Saturday 20 and Sunday 21 August. Event details: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/butterfly-botany-the-science-of-butterfly-food-8/kuranda
Media enquiries: Angel Benioni, media@capta.com.au, 07 4093 7575 or 0437 724 529
MSC scientists and fisheries managers available for media interviews. Footage and images available for media use
Wattle vs Wollemi: what is Australia’s favourite tree? – online
Do you love the water-bulging boab or the towering mountain ash, the world’s tallest flowering tree? Are you intrigued by the carbon capturing power of grey mangroves or the ‘living fossil’ story of the Wollemi pine?
The search is on to find Australia’s favourite tree. This National Science Week, ABC Science wants people to go online to explore the wonder and science of the plant kingdom, and vote for their favourite tree.
33 different tree species have been long-listed by ABC’s resident tree-lovers in consultation with horticulturalists so that people can get to know our natives and vote for their favourites.
Until Friday 26 August. Visit: www.abc.net.au/trees.
Media enquiries: Laura Boland, laura@scienceinpublic.com.au or 0408 166 426
Experts available for media interviews. Media kit at: www.scienceinpublic.com.au/abc/trees.
About National Science Week
National Science Week is Australia’s annual opportunity to meet scientists, discuss hot topics, do science and celebrate its cultural and economic impact on society—from art to astrophysics, chemistry to climate change, and forensics to future food.
First held in 1997, National Science Week has become one of Australia’s largest festivals. Last year—despite a global pandemic—1.3 million people participated in more than 1,750 events and activities.
National Science Week 2022 will run from Saturday 13 to Sunday 21 August. Event details can be found at www.scienceweek.net.au.