More than 1,300 events are already registered
National Science Week will run from 15 to 23 August, with more than 1,300 events and activities already listed at ScienceWeek.net.au/events.
Across Australia, the festival reaches more than 3 million people through more than 2,500 events. This year’s programme spans food, arts and books, the future of farming, sport, disabilities, education and science.
Highlights already flagged include a hydroponic farm four levels under Sydney’s CBD, a space film festival in Canberra, orchid conservation in Perth, sea cucumber farming on Groote Eylandt, and talks on ocean science, psychedelics and cosmic collisions.
Urban Green Sydney in Barangaroo
In Sydney, Urban Green Sydney will open its hidden indoor farm in Barangaroo, next to Darling Harbour. The hydroponic site sits in an underground carpark four levels below the CBD.
Owner and founder Noah Verin will explain how the farm grows food without soil. He uses coconut coir as a growing medium, turning coconut husk waste into a useful resource for plants.
Visitors will also see a simple example of circular farming, where waste is reduced and materials are reused. The event shows how cities can use small or underused spaces to support food security.
Melbourne Science Gallery events
On 15 August, Melbourne Science Gallery in Parkville will host artist Patricia Piccinini with stem-cell researcher Professor Melissa Little. Their event links art and medical research through Piccinini’s new work, Células Madre.
After a year inside stem cell laboratories, Piccinini created the piece as a return to her work Still Life in Stem Cells 25 years later. It sits within the EMERGENCE(Y) exhibition in Melbourne.
Meanwhile, another Melbourne event on 25 August will examine the science inside a bottle of bubbly. Presenter Emma Donnelly studied Champagne at the University of Champagne-Ardenne in France before founding Culinary Science.
That session will cover the best Champagne glass and the physics of fizz. It adds another food-focused event to the wider National Science Week programme.
Canberra, Perth and Groote Eylandt
On 23 August, Canberra will host the Space Faring Civilisation Film Festival. Founder Masoud Varjavandi, an Iranian refugee and Trekkie, built the event around progress, peace and what he calls a “better future”.
In Perth, one session will look at orchids being “liked to death” on social media. Organisers warn that online attention can send visitors to fragile sites and put rare plants at risk.
Farther north, Groote Eylandt in the Northern Territory will feature a First Nations enterprise that links mining manganese with sea cucumber farming. The project is presented as a way to secure the community’s future.
Elsewhere, Eyre Peninsula in South Australia will host surfing scientists discussing fear, love and algae blooms. Hobart will stage a talk on mushrooms and MDMA in mental health care.
Queensland events will include scientists shaping Brisbane businesses, including work on Australia’s Moon rover. A national session will also ask an astrophysicist what cosmic collisions “sound” like and what those signals reveal about the Universe.
More local events and state listings are available through ScienceWeek.net.au/events.
