Our Centre CI Professor Jamie Rossjohn (Monash University ) and AI Dr David Jacques (UNSW) and their teams are finalists for Department of Industry, Innovation and Science Eureka Prize for STEM Inclusion!

Sensory Scientific Exhibition explained

We congratulate and keep our fingers crossed for ARC Laureate Fellow, Professor Jamie Rossjohn, Dr Gabby Watson and Dr Erica Tandori from Monash University and Dr David Jacques from the University of New South Wales who have been named as finalists for the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science Eureka Prize for STEM Inclusion. The team developed an innovative program that aims to engage members of the blind and low vision community with science.

Often when science is conveyed to the public, the audience is assumed to be able-bodied. Members of the community with disabilities are frequently overlooked when the method to communicate the scientific discovery is not specifically tailored to their needs. A prime example is the blind and low vision community of more than half a million Australians.

Conceiving the idea for the Sensory Scientific Exhibition and Discovery Day, Professor Rossjohn joined forces with project leader Dr Watson, and legally-blind artist-in-residence Dr Tandori, who transformed scientific concepts into tactile models and artistic displays that were specifically tailored to this community.

“As the artist working with this amazing team, I can open up a world of scientific discovery to the low vision and blind communities – finally, we can all be part of the wonder of science, and share this in a way that is accessible to everybody,” Dr Tandori said.

“As scientists, we try to make discoveries that benefit everyone,” Dr Jacques said.

Following the overwhelmingly positive feedback from the first exhibition held at Monash in May 2018, the team engaged with Dr Jacques at UNSW, who spearheaded the second Sensory Scientific Exhibition held in Sydney in December the same year.

Acknowledgment: This is based on an article originally published by the Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute.