The Power of the Science Community
Along with our students and staff, the University of Melbourne's vibrant science community is made up of tens of thousands of alumni, donors, volunteers and industry partners.
We have always valued our connection and your support, and despite this year's unpredictable circumstances and remote connections, we have seen countless examples of the tremendous power of our community.
Members of our Science Community have supported us in countless ways. Mentors have helped to shape our students' post-study career plans; generous philanthropists have enabled critical research and provided vital student financial support; industry partners have collaborated with our academics to bring research to life and creatively provided socially-distanced work integrated learning opportunities for students; alumni guest speakers have inspired fellow alumni.
STEM Industry Mentoring program
In 2020, more than 440 mentors supported our students in the program this year, making it a record year, providing valuable career advice to over 450 student mentees.
In the video, alum Di Angus shares her experience from this year. This is Di’s second year as a STEM Industry Mentor, and she mentored two students during this time.
Industry projects
In 2020, 200 industry partners provided 261 internships and 52 industry projects, to give students like Akriti and Daniel real-word experience of putting their learning into practice.
Philanthropy
In 2020 more than 240 donors gave to Science, contributing to a variety of projects including the development of data visualisation for national electricity market data, the WISER (Women in Science Excellence Researcher) awards, and the Dean’s Fund for Science Scholarships.
Peter Turner, who features in the video, has generously provided funding to support more than 10 early career researchers since 2017, helping them to foster international collaborations and further their research and careers.
Alumni engagement
During 2020, well over 3,000 alumni and friends participated in our online programming. The most popular by far was Cosmic Creatures: Linking animals to the stars in Australian Aboriginal astronomy, the fascinating webinar by Associate Professor Duane Hamacher with Bachelor of Science student and Yorta Yorta person Jessie Ferrari. You can learn more about the subject and watch the webinar here.
There are so many examples of how the community has made a difference over the past twelve months, far too many for us to list, so we've selected just a few examples to highlight in the video below.
From everyone in Science at Melbourne, we are truly grateful for your involvement this year and we look forward to growing our Science Community with you in 2021.