The Imaging CoE engages the public with messages conveying the impact, importance, and excitement of its science.
Sensory Science
Chief Investigator, Prof Jamie Rossjohn is bringing an extra sensory dimension to the community with his Sensory Science Exhibitions (SSE).
Following the success of the first exhibitions in 2018, Prof. Rossjohn and the Sensory Science team have developed one-day exhibitions that are specifically designed for the blind and low-vision community.
Half a million Australians are blind or have low vision, and the exhibition is a space where they can learn about science by using their sense of smell and touch.
The exhibitions include tactile posters, interactive sculptures, 3D models of viruses, a variety of molecules and antibodies, and activities that make key concepts in biomedicine accessible and comprehensible to all members of the public.
The Sensory Science team would love to take their exhibitions across Australia so that all blind and low vision Australians have the opportunity to take part. The idea is to bring science to everybody!
Keep an eye out on our events calendar for upcoming SSEs across Australia.
Top: Dr Erica Tandori, artist-in-residence in the Rossjohn lab.
Bottom: HIV model, handmade by Dr Erica Tandori.
Interactive Science Expo, UNSW
In November 2019, the research students and staff at Single Molecule Science (SMS) from the Imaging CoE’s UNSW Node, hosted an Interactive Science Expo to engage audiences with multisensory exhibits. Special guest, David Choi, a deafblind artist from New Zealand, shared his story and his ‘Brain Tree’ artwork that depicted the five senses.
Staff and students of SMS used tactile displays and hands-on activities to communicate Imaging CoE and SMS’s research. To take audiences with vision impairment through a typical experiment in the laboratory, one team recorded the sounds produced by equipment and reproduced some of the smells a researcher would encounter at different steps of isolating and analysing proteins.
Another team created a replica of the cell culture system they use to study how cells sense stretching and vibration—like the hair cells in human ears. When touched, flashing LED lights on the interactive model demonstrated how electrical messages are transmitted through a cell when it is stretched.
The interactive science expo was attended by over 100 visitors including, clients and affiliates of Guide Dogs NSW/ACT and Vision Australia, a Deaf Learners group, student groups from the Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children, and hearing support units from schools around Sydney. To bridge the accessibility gap for deaf attendees, interpreters from the Deaf Society played a vital role and their rapid response communications skills were impressive.
The success of the event was clear from the response of the audience, who were engaged, excited, appreciative and very curious. Teachers were also eager to explore the materials and activities, and keen to incorporate some of the ideas into their science classrooms.
The expo was sponsored by the UNSW Division of Equity Diversity and Inclusion; the Imaging CoE; and the UNSW School of Medical Sciences.
International Student Science Fair
The International Student Science Fair (ISSF) was hosted in 2015 by John Monash Science School. Our Centre contributed to the ISSF by providing hands on experience in an authentic reserach environment. CI Harry Quiney devised the program for the day which spanned immunology, biology, computation, theory and experiment.
John Monash Science School
The JMSS is the focus of our student scientist outreach relationship. The co-location of JMSS on the Monash campus provides a strategic advantage to the delivery of scientific outreach and education programs. The CoE and JMSS plan to develop an education module within the VCE curriculum that will allow students to enjoy reserach based experience and to develop communication skills. Inspiring them to continue with a career in the sciences.
Growing Tall Poppies
Two of the Imaging CoE CIs are on the advisory committee of Growing Tall Poppies and contributed to its conception and development. GTP is an educational research initiative developing a pedagogy for the effective promotion of science in secondary schools and in particular the retention of girls into physical and mathematical sciences. Several of the Imaging CoE physics PhD students – from La Trobe University and the University of Melbourne — have been student mentors in the GTP program.