No light.. no life!
No light…no life! Centre’s staff participate on the Hermitage Research Facility Schools Plant Science Competition
On 18th and 19th of August, several of the Centre’s researchers participated in the 2015 Department of Agriculture and Fisheries Hermitage Research Facility Schools Plant Science Competition Awards Day & Ag Science Expo in Warwick, Queensland, which this year focused on photosynthesis and was part of the National Science Week activities.
More than 231 schools registered to the competition and the Hermitage distributed more than 1092 kits, reaching an estimated 13,650 students.
The Awards day, was a marvelous celebration of science, attended by more than 300 students and their teachers, who traveled from Warwick, Toowoomba, Oakey, Dalby, Brisbane, Sunshine Coast and even Rockhampton, as well as members from agricultural bodies and government.
One of the activities of the day was a tour of the Hermitage which included a variety of activities including barley pathology, residue detection dog team, pulse research, post-harvest grain protection and sorghum research.
The Centre’s outreach team was in charge of one of the tour stops with a presentation called Photosynthesis: looking at the bright side of plants, which included displays using sticky photons and a timeline in which the students were able to measure themselves against events of the evolution of life on Earth.
Later on the day, there was a science show alley with interactive displays including, photosynthesis: Shining the light on plant DNA, Lollecules, drones in agriculture, horticulture and entomology, beekeeping, bio-security, interactive animal nursery, goats and angus heifers.
On Wednesday 19th, several of the Centre researchers participated in an inspiring science forum entitled Let’s talk science: using light to feed the world targeted towards students in years 9, 10, 11 and 12.
The forum was a unique opportunity to interact with world-class scientists from the DAF Hermitage Research Facility, Warwick and the Australian National University, Canberra regarding the topics of photosynthesis, global food security, science in general and career opportunities.
Andy Borell, one of our associate researchers and Principal Research Fellow/Centre Leader (Hermitage Research Facility), spoke about Food for our future: science feeding the world and Professor John Evans from ANU gave a talk entitled Photosynthesis: the most important chemical reaction in the world. Hear Dr Andy Borell, one of the Centre’s research associates, talking about a life in science to Belinda Saunders from the ABC Southern Queensland for National Science week.
The forum ended with an inspiring session of questions and answers with Panelists: Dr Andrew Borrell (DAF Hermitage/UQ), Professor John Evans (CoETP, Canberra), Dr Emma Mace (DAF Hermitage), Dr David Jordan (UQ), Dr Barbara George-Jaeggli (DAF Hermitage/UQ) and student representatives.