News

The first half of the two-week  I’m a Scientist, Get me out of Here! in Australia event has gone down a storm with both students and scientists. The ‘Ask’ forum and the live-chats in each themed zone, Agriculture, Disease and Wet & Wild have been full of thought provoking questions from students aged 10-18 years. Scientists have done their best to keep up, providing informative, interesting, and fun answers. Although a public holiday in many states, day 1 was a busy one. Students submitted their first round of questions after reading the scientists’ online profiles – the what? the why? the how? Student: What made you enter this competition? (Wet & Wild) Scientist (@Jenny): … The simple answer is I thought it would be fun … I also think it’s important to get the next generation thinking about science … it is responsible for almost everything we have and take … Continue reading →

The countdown is on! It’s less than two weeks before I’m a Scientist, Get Me Out of Here! in Australia starts again in March. So it’s time to announce the scientists and schools taking part. The event is supported by our major partner TechNyou and will be running from 11th – 22nd March. It features three themed zones – Agriculture, Disease, and Wet & Wild. We have scientists from across the country in disciplines including health, medical research, agricultural science, aquatic ecology, nanotechnology and marine biology. Our Agriculture zone is supported by the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES) and the Council of Rural Research and Development Corporations. Students will have an opportunity to see a couple of their questions answered at the Outlook Conference on Tuesday 5th March with a panel involving our scientists Kim Ritman (the Chief Scientist at ABARES), Dominique Cotterill and Rebecca … Continue reading →

Thank you for being a part of I’m a Scientist, Get Me out of Here! in August/September. It was an amazing effort, the final stats are as follows:   Zone Students Questions Comments Live Chats Boron 388 350 74 23 Organs 307 339 74 19 Disease 213 196 30 14 Total 908 885 178 56   The big news are the Student Zone Winners. In each zone we award a $50 iTunes voucher and certificate to a student based on the recommendations of our scientist and moderators, recognising a quality question, contributing to a interesting discussion or degree of engagement with the Q&A, Live Chat or how well they’ve worked on their own profiles. We’ve also made some special commendations and those students will receive certificates. Certificates and vouchers are being posted via your coordinating teacher. The winners are: Boron Winner: nibbles Highly Commended: hetalia, kian, halle12, svetty, jslat56 and clarkie Disease … Continue reading →

The countdown is on! It’s only a couple of weeks before I’m a Scientist, Get Me Out of Here! in Australia starts again in August. So it’s time to announce the scientists and schools taking part. The event is supported by our major partner TechNyou and will be running from 27th August – 7th September. It features three zones – one general zone (Boron), and two themed zones on Disease and Organs. We have scientists from across the country in disciplines including health, medical research, ecology, geology and astronomy. Schools We have a record 33 regional and metropolitan schools taking part, from all states and territories in Australia, and from year 5 – Year 12. We’re hoping energy levels will be high and classes at these schools will have a great experience. Thirteen of these schools are participating for a second or third time, and we look forward to welcoming many … Continue reading →

Thank you for joining us for I’m a Scientist, Get Me out of Here! over the last few weeks. It was an amazing effort, the final stats are as follows: Helium: 384 Questions, 274 Comments, 18 Live Chats from 254 students Lithium: 114 Questions, 75 Comments, 15 Live Chats from 225 students Beryllium: 126 Questions, 57 Comments, 20 Live Chats from 290 students The big news are the Student Zone Winners. In each zone we award a $50 iTunes voucher and certificate to a student based on the recommendations of our scientist and moderators, recognising a quality question, contributing to a interesting discussion or degree of engagement with the Q&A, Live Chat or how well they’ve worked on their own profiles. We’ve also made some special commendations and those students will receive certificates. Certificates and vouchers are being posted via your coordinating teacher. The winners are: Helium: Winner: pnemonoultramicroscopicsillicovolcanoconiosis Commended: … Continue reading →

It’s only a matter of weeks before I’m a Scientist, Get Me Out of Here! in Australia starts in May. So it’s time to announce the scientists and schools taking part. The event is supported by our major partner TechNyou and will be running from 14th – 25th May. It features three general zones with scientists from across the country and in disciplines including health, ecology, technology and astronomy. Schools   Almost 30 regional and metropolitan schools will be taking part, from as far north as Cairns, as far south as Hobart and as far west as Perth. We’re hoping energy levels will be high and classes at these schools will have a great experience. One teacher who has signed up again said “Tried it last year ! The year 9s were very impressed that the scientists were ‘normal’ people, that what they were doing may make a difference in their … Continue reading →

Today we heard back from Aimee Parker, winner of the Hydrogen Zone. She says: ‘I’m a Scientist, Get me out of here!’ gave me practice in answering lots of different science questions. I was really pleased to be voted the winner and I wanted to do something with the prize-money that you guys could be involved with. CSIRO’s The Helix magazine has helped me set up a writing competition for the future Scientists of Australia! There are some great prizes on offer and a chance to have your science article published in The Helix magazine. Now it’s your turn to get writing and teach me something about science. I will be reading every entry so I look forward to seeing YOUR thoughts on a range of scientific topics. Good luck!

Thank you all of you, it’s been an absolute blast! After two weeks of intense debate, stimulating chats and thought-provoking questions, the Australian pilot of I’m a Scientist, Get me out of Here! draws to an end. The five scientists in each zone have battled it out for your votes. The scientists have been eliminated one by one, to reveal the winner in each zone. So, congratulations to the following scientists: Food Kate Patterson Garvan Institute of Medical Research and MediPics and Prose Health Upulie Diviskera Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre Hydrogen Aimee Parker Monash University The winning scientists all receive $1000 to spend on science communication, and we can’t wait to see their wonderful ideas put into practice! Thank you, and commiserations, to all the other scientists. You’ve been brilliant participants and each and every one of you contributed to the success of this year’s event. Thank you to all … Continue reading →

We’re at the pointy end of  I’m a Scientist, Get me out of Here (Australia). Only two remain in each zone. And there can be only one! Our third and penultimate eviction was at 3pm today (Thursday 23 June) and we’ve had to say goodbye to more fabulous scientists Join us in offering a big “So long and thanks for all the science” to: Kieran Lim (Hydrogen), Krystal Evans (Health) and Edward Shin (Food). The remaining scientists are still eager to answer your questions (and collect your votes!) so keep them coming. Remember one eviction per day till the winner in each zone is announced on Friday (TOMORROW). So keep on VOTING for who YOU want to win the $1000 for a science communication project. We’d like to thank all the scientists for taking part and hope they have enjoyed the experience. When scientists are evicted you can still view their … Continue reading →

Our first eviction was at 3pm today (Tuesday) and sadly we’ve had to say goodbye to one scientist from each zone. Continue reading →