New research Expo showcases STEM collaboration and innovation
Victorians stretched their intellect and satisfied their curiosity at a new STEM research Expo, which was added to the free public program for the University of Melbourne’s annual Science Festival this year.
All photos by Treeby Images
Led by the Faculty of Science, the ‘Collaborate to Innovate’ Expo was held at Science Gallery Melbourne on 17 August – during National Science Week – and attended by more than 600 people, including five school groups.
Research groups showcased their discoveries, technological developments, and training activities through hands-on displays covering topics ranging from infectious diseases to neuroscience, pollution mitigation, solar energy, recycled materials, stroke rehabilitation, animal reproduction, and human fertility.
Exhibitors were drawn from the Faculty of Science, the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, the Faculty of Engineering and IT, and the Faculty of Arts. The Dean of Science, Professor Moira O’Bryan, said the Expo was designed to make cutting-edge research engaging and accessible for school students and the public.
“We invited visitors to see, hear, touch, and experiment with displays and technology from laboratories across the University, and explore how our discoveries and inventions are going to shape the future,” Professor O’Bryan said.
“For example, we encouraged visitors to play virtual reality games designed to help amputees learn to use a prosthetic hand and to examine advanced prosthetic limbs. They could drive robotic vehicles and learn how they’re used in space missions or drive an electron microscope to see the world at the atomic scale,” she said.
“Everyone was welcome to ask our staff and students about their displays, training, experience, or career paths.
“I hope some of the school students who attended the Expo will end up studying or working with these clever people one day, helping to make the world a better place through discovery research and collaborative innovation.”
Exhibitors included the Australian Institute for Infectious Diseases, the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence in Exciton Science, the Ghosal Laboratory, the Human Robotics Laboratory, the Indigenous Knowledge Institute, the Medina Laboratory, the National Broadband Network, Porous Lane, the Social and Affective Neurodevelopment Laboratory, the Stuart-Fox and Medina Laboratories, Virtetic, and several research groups from the Bio21 Institute.
Other events in the University’s 2023 Science Festival included a lunchtime Masterclass series and two expert panel discussions: Science gets real: from problem to lab innovation to real-world impact (the latest in the Science at Melbourne lecture series) and Should we care about science denialism?