Last Friday saw the culmination of months of planning when 965 school children from 35 schools came onto campus over two days for the Far Out Science event.
This is an important engagement activity for our community and also one of the many ways we aim to support and grow our on-campus student numbers.
Many staff worked behind the scenes and on the ground, and I would like to thank Dr Kirsti Abbott and her team who organise the event with the schools, and to the staff in the Sciences who prepared exciting projects for the students to participate in.
Thanks also to Professor Caroline Gross who did the opening welcome.
To give you an idea of the scale of the event, the activities were run by 25 staff and 26 demonstrators across the science and ag precincts and included the Natural History Museum.
There were also 24 volunteer guides with staff and students from S&T, ERS, Health, MPA, International, Advancement and Discovery Support from FMS, UNE Life (catering, safety & security), timetables and AV/IT.
We had 22 different events happening, from the wonder of chemistry, the thrill of brain science and the awe of astrophysics and each student participated in four events.
Students came from local schools, and as far away as Grafton and Moree, and the Science precinct was humming with their (and staff!) excitement. We are currently undertaking appraising the event in various ways, including student and teacher evaluations. I will update the Faculty as appropriate.
T3 is a busy time of year with staff still teaching and preparing for classes, or ramping up their research, and I appreciate very much the time staff have taken to bring about this excellent community event.
— Professor Aron Murphy, Dean, Faculty of Science, Agriculture, Business and Law
Photo: UNE Biomedical Sciences lecturer Dr Gal Winter with school students during Far Out Science.