With just three minutes to sell their idea, the competitors need to convince the judges, the public, and author Tim Winton that their project is most worthy to receive funding.
Join us at the Big Science Pitch
An expert panel chooses the overall winner, and there is $10,000 up for grabs for the People’s Choice award, and a further $10,000 ‘Winton’s Choice’ award for the project chosen by Tim Winton, patron of the Native Australian Animals Trust.
The Big Science Pitch is where science comes to life. Sometimes I feel my research is too niche, filled with numbers, equations and black-and-white images. But the Big Science Pitch showed me how to make it meaningful for people from all backgrounds. It gave me funding to continue exploring the natural mysteries I'm passionate about, and the chance to connect with inspiring early-career researchers and experienced science communicators. Laura Bibiana Ospina-Rozo, 2023 Finalist
Our Big Science Pitchers
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Felipe Martelli Soares Da Silva
Forty percent of non-pest insects, including vital pollinators such as bees, may face extinction in the coming decades, threatening ecosystems and agriculture. Focusing on vinegar flies and native bees I will use this funding to examine how they are impacted by climate change and insecticide contamination and test solutions to save them.
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Ludovica Monti
Antimicrobial resistance is a critical global health crisis, threatening our ability to treat deadly infections. This research aims to uncover how specific DNA structures drive the evolution of drug-resistance in bacteria. Understanding these mechanisms will allow us to develop innovative treatment strategies that improve patient outcomes and ultimately save lives.
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Marie Dade
Small parks are an increasingly common sight in cities, but we know little about the well-being benefits they provide and how they differ from bigger parks. My project will explore how small urban parks support the well-being of urban residents and how they improve the liveability of cities.
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Oliver Eales
In August 2024 the World Health Organization declared a public health emergency of international concern due to the emergence of a new strain of mpox. My project will use mathematics to predict the impact of this new strain in Australia, and to develop optimal vaccination strategies to prevent deaths.
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Rebecca Webb
Hundreds of frog species around the world are threatened by the amphibian chytrid fungus. Experiments to understand this disease usually involve infecting live frogs. My project will use frog cells along with gene editing techniques to develop an efficient and ethical model for testing novel conservation approaches.
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Veronique Paris
Mosquitoes aren’t just a nuisance - they spread dangerous pathogens like Ross River virus. But could the key to stopping them lie within the mosquitoes themselves? My research explores insect-specific viruses that live in mosquitoes and how we might be able to use them to block disease transmission.
Watch the 2024 Big Science Pitch
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