Calling all citizen science program leaders, contributors, scholars and volunteers!

We invite you to join us for the July 2019 meeting of the Victorian Chapter of the Australian Citizen Science Association. This meeting will focus on citizen science and education.

The meeting will commence with three presentations, which will be followed by break-out group discussions. There will also be plenty of time for sharing your project stories, networking and developing our community of practice.

We’ve asked these fabulous speakers to talk to you about their experiences and insights:

Sandra McCullogh, Earthwatch Australia
Sandra is a program manager for Bush Blitz and TeachLive at Earthwatch Australia. After completing a Bachelor of Science (major in Geology) at the University of Melbourne, she worked as a Geologist for Rio Tinto Exploration for five years, before leaving in 2015 to change careers, and joined Earthwatch in 2018.

Julian O’Shea, Unbound
Julian is a social entrepreneur and educator and is the CEO of Unbound – an organisation leading social impact education programs with Australian universities. He is the lead of the SolarTuk Expedition – an ambitious around-the-world journey by solar powered tuk tuk. He was recently named one of Australia’s Most Innovative Engineers.

Edmond Lascaris, City of Whittlesea
Edmond Lascaris has been the Stormwater Management Coordinator at the City of Whittlesea for the past 7 years where he works on a range of water sustainability and education projects. This year, his students won the National Gallery of Victoria – Victorian Design Challenge 2019 Waste in the high school / primary school category for their invention of a Robot Walking School Bus designed to process waste and guide school children safely to school. In the past, Edmond as taught at up to 7 different primary schools and the Mill Park library teaching coding, electronics and design. Edmond completed his PhD at Swinburne University using industrial enzymes to help recycle paper at Visy.

Following the three presentations, we will break into group discussion sessions, where we will explore some of the key challenges and opportunities in citizen science in Victoria.

The Australian Citizen Science Association convenes a community of practice in citizen science, exploring ways to make participation in research by non-scientists not just instructive, but also engaging, fun and social.

Our thanks to our committee Chair, Kade Mills at the Victorian National Parks Association, for hosting our 2019 gathering.

From your ACSA-Vic committee –
Chair: Kade Mills (Victorian National Parks Association)
Vice Chair: Tess Hayes (EPA Victoria)
Secretary: Yvonne Cabuang (Melbourne Water)
Committee Members: Linden Ashcroft (University of Melbourne), Julian O’Shea (Unbound), Pat Bonney (Federation University) and Christine Connelly (Victoria University).