Saturday Club is pleased to announce the return of the fantastic
presenters from the Why Waite program in Term 4 2019.
FULL SEASON TICKETS ONLY RELEASED CURRENTLY
NOTE: DUE TO THE MATERIALS COMPONENT IN THIS TERMS PROGRAM THE REFUND
POLICY HAS BEEN SET AT 7 DAYS.
The program offered will look to expand participants knowledge in the
biological sciences, exposure to a more complex scientific vocabulary
and lots of hands on science!! Participants are asked to wear
appropriate clothing (long pants and clothes that may be stained),
tied back hair and closed toe shoes.
JUNIOR (5-8 YR)
Biological Sciences Junior Program 2019 centre around the world of
plants. There will be two key presenters Merek and Debbie who will
also be supported by other Adelaide Uni Staff and Students
26 October: What do we Eat?
9 November: DNA Extraction
23 November: How Do They Propogate? (Pt1)
7 December: How Do They Propogate? (Pt2)
INTERMEDIATE (8-12YR)
Biological Sciences Intermediate Program 2019 will lean towards
environmental issues that are topical in the modern world. There will
be two key presenters Issie and Ruby who will be supported by other
Adelaide Uni Staff and Students.
26 October: Bioplastics
9 November: Healthy Soils = Healthy Plants (Pt 1)
23 November: Sustainable Foods
7 December: Healthy Soils =Healthy Plants (Pt 2)
SENIOR (12-16 YR)
Biological Sciences Senior Program 2019 will centre on the life giving
process of fermentation. Most people associate fermentation with the
production of alchohol or raising in breads possibly, but it is so
much more being central to how many cells produce energy. The key
presenter is Bianca who leads the Why Wait program, she will be
supported by other Adeaide Uni Students.
26 October: Food Aroma and Native Foods
9 November: Fermentation – Yeast and Microscopy
23 November: Fermentation – Sugars versus Carbohydrates
7 December: Fermentation- Native Fruits
Biographies
Bianca Kyriacou:
Bianca Kyriacou, is currently the Outreach Coordinator for the School
of Agriculture, Food and Wine at the University of Adelaide. In this
role she has created and manages Why Waite, a lab-based STEM outreach
program for secondary schools. I am immensely proud of the product she
has created; it is the direct result of her hard work and
determination to create a sustainable program to encourage young minds
to see themselves as the future of science.
Bianca completed a bachelor of Biotechnology with Honours in 2006.
Passionate about plants and human health, Bianca embarked on a
successful PhD in rice genetics, increasing iron in the major food
staple. During and after the completion of this, she worked in plant
cell wall research, learning about dietary fibre, plant pathogen
resistance and beer making. During this time, she developed a work
experience package which would alleviate pressures for post-doctoral
researchers having to scramble to entertain visiting high school
students, while engaging and teaching the new fresh faces of the
future science world. This program has now morphed into the hugely
popular Why Waite program. High schools around the state visit the
Waite campus every week to attend Bianca’s workshops and complement
their classroom learning with lab based STEM activities in
agriculture, food and wine. Bianca also runs the social media
presence, runs the National School Wine Competition workshops and
welcomes thousands of children and parents to the Royal Adelaide Show
to create terraria and visualise themselves in as scientists of
tomorrow.
Additional to this, Bianca also founded the Women of Waite program,
designed to bring together the skills, talent and community of all who
identify as female at the Waite campus, regardless of employment,
study or science status. This has resulted in the group presenting an
amazing panel discussion at the 2018 National Science Week event;
Conversations with Women of Waite.
Her work with Children’s University and Bright Sparks, Saturday Club
and DreamBIG events has also helped science reach more children than
before. The Why Waite program has been in place for 4 years, seeing
Bianca share the load with many incredible volunteers and even
continued while Bianca went on maternity leave- twice! Bianca’s new
focus is creating new activities and workshops based on the important
value of indigenous flora and the sustainable future of science in
South Australia.
Check out her impact online-
youtube.com/watch?v=utQA5vdaKME
linkedin.com/in/biancakyriacou85
@WhyWaite_UoA
Deborah Devis:
Deborah began her PhD in plant genetics at the University of Adelaide
in 2016. During her studies, she realised that explaining her work to
a general audience posed many difficulties, and that a thorough
understanding of science was unavailable to many people, especially
school aged students. She realised that using metaphors and popular
culture was an effective way of spreading complex scientific concepts
in a simple and engaging manner, and began writing a blog that used
the popular phenomenon, Pokémon, as a basis. The blog, Professor
Rimu, was popular on the platforms Pokémon Amino and Wordpress, as it
explained concepts such as symbiosis, mitosis and genetic mutation to
a teenage audience by using simple words and familiar concepts from
Pokémon.
Due to the success of her blog, she collaborated with a partner from
the USA to expand the concept into a weekly podcast. The Silph Scope
Podcast ran for a year and placed in the top 100 in New Zealand, as it
explained concepts such as speciation and evolution in an isolated
environment in friendly and relatable language.
In 2017, Deborah volunteered for the Why Waite science outreach
program, where she quickly realised she wanted to pursue science
communication as a career. She presented classes on DNA, aroma
chemistry and soil science and helped develop a PCR practical lesson
for years 10-12. She also volunteered at the Royal Adelaide Show to
promote the science that happened at the Waite Campus, and taught
Aroma Chemistry to high school students at the Wine Show. She
continued to volunteer throughout her PhD until she was hired as a Why
Waite Outreach officer in 2019 and continues to deliver classes and
help develop new lessons.
In 2018, Deborah became a Moderator at MOD At UniSa, where she aids in
visitor experience by giving tours and explaining scientific concepts
such as genetic modification, the psychology of pain and the
aerodynamics and visual stimuli bees experience. She enthusiastically
engages with museum visitors and continues to deliver excellent
science information with a friendly and encouraging attitude.
In 2019, Deborah joined the University of Adelaide to develop lessons
for Science Academy, a free science outreach program that is delivered
in schools for years 8-12. She developed lessons on how agriculture
influences food and genetics, and molecular chemistry in food. She is
engaging and relatable to a young audience and hopes to develop more
lessons in the future.
Deborah will graduate with her PhD in August 2019 and plans to focus
her career on science outreach and communication. She passionately
believes science needs to be accessible to everyone and hopes she can
open the world of science up to young adults, as they are the future
of science.
Isobel and Ruby Hume
Both Issie and Ruby began their academic careers in environmental
science - studying everything form marine biology, weather systems,
volcanoes, mathematics, policy, and performing animal dissections!
Issie became increasingly interested in how humans interact with their
environment: where we source our food, and what footprint we leave
behind. She looks at satellite images of our city to find land that
could be used to grow food.
Ruby, on the other hand, is a soil chemist, trying to understand the
things we can’t see. Specifically,
she is looking at how nutrients move through soils, and how they can
be used by plants, animals, and
humans.
They will both continue this research at the University of
Adelaide’s Waite campus, which is dedicated to improving the future
of Food, Wine, and Agriculture.
Margaret Wambui Kirika
A plant scientist, with great motivation to use science to produces
resilient plants/crops that can withstand
the changing climatic conditions. I’m a PhD student in the final
year at the Waite Campus, working on
nitrogen use efficiency in wheat. My research focuses on improving
nitrogen fertilizer uptake and remobilization to improve grain protein
content in Australian wheat varieties. Grain protein is important
because farmers get more dollars for wheat with higher protein and the
final wheat products (bread, noodle, cakes e.t.c) depends on the grain
protein content.
I was born and raised in the capital city of Kenya, Nairobi. I hold a
Bachelor of Science degree in
Biotechnology from Kenya, and a Masters in Plant Biotechnology from
the Netherlands. I have worked with various crops throughout my
studies including; tomato whereby we were exploring resistance genes
against powdery mildew, and potato, focusing on the characterization
of pathways that lead to tuberization (making a tuber from roots and
not a fruit from flowers). I have also worked with a model plant,
Solanum Dulcamara, to understand how the plant survives both in
flooded areas and sandy dunes.
Aside from the science stuff, I love cooking, watching science fiction
movies and traveling (with so many places in my bucket list and just a
few ticked off).
Merek Kesser
I grew up in the agricultural Central Valley of California and was
raised spending weekends at farmer’s markets and eating fresh fruit
and veggies from my family’s garden, cultivating an early and strong
interest in food and agriculture. I completed my Bachelor’s degree
at UC Davis in Viticulture & Enology and afterwards I had amazing
experiences travelling and working in different winegrowing regions
around the world for the next five years. Through these experiences, I
became very intrigued by different viticultural management
practices—from organic, biodynamic, and other sustainable
ideologies—and found myself wondering what their actual impacts were
on both the environment and the wine produced. These unanswered
questions led me to pursue a Master’s degree in Organic Agriculture
& Food Systems at The University of Hohenheim in Germany and at Aarhus
University in
Denmark. Having the chance to participate in research at these two
European universities was a great learning experience and encouraged
me to explore the possibility of doing a PhD degree. Hoping to combine
my interests of sustainable agriculture and wine, I very luckily wound
up at the University of Adelaide in the Department of Viticulture,
where I have just begun a PhD program in August of this year. I am
planning to study the effects of different vineyard management
practices on soil health, biodiversity, and the expression of terroir
in South Australian wine-growing regions. I am very happy to be here
to work on such a relevant and exciting area of research. I am
still in the planning phases of my PhD project so I am giving a
general bio and background. Let me know if this is what you are
after, or would something more specific and scientific be
more suitable?
FAQS
WHAT CAN I BRING INTO THE EVENT?
Please bring water and a snack for the mid session break. Adults are
catered for with tea, coffee and biscuits.
DO I NEED TO REMAIN WITH MY CHILD?
We ask that you stay on site while the children are in session to
assist us in the even that they become upset or need support.
HOW CAN I CONTACT THE ORGANIZER WITH ANY QUESTIONS?
Please email GTCASA via our website.
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24/11/2019 Last update