The Royal Society of Victoria and Inspiring Victoria are delighted to congratulate the eight Victorian recipients of major grants in support of events for National Science Week in August 2024! Many of this year’s projects support diversity and inclusion in science, allocating grant funding from $2,000 to $20,000 for individuals, groups and organisations across the nation.
Because gender stereotypes have portrayed certain STEMM fields as masculine, leading to fewer women studying and working in STEMM, these fields tend to sustain exclusionary, male-dominated cultures that are not supportive of or attractive to women and other underrepresented groups. It is a perpetual cycle that we need to break.
It might sound daunting to talk to kids about new and complicated technology, but learning is a beautiful and rich experience at any age, and there are plenty of great tools to help you do it either for yourself, or for any little ones you have around you. And it’s important – AI isn’t going away, and by educating young people, we can make sure these new technologies are used appropriately in the future.
From tiny bacteria to giant blue whales, the chemical reactions going on inside all living things – including us – that keep them alive cannot happen without water. By taking NASA’s lead and following the water, scientists can pinpoint the most compelling locations where life – either past or present – might possibly exist in the vast expanse of the solar system beyond our home planet.
No new antibiotic classes have been invented for decades – the high cost and high risk of failure in blue sky research means new products are variants of existing compounds discovered prior to 1984. So students were invited by Whittlesea Tech School to develop new anti-microbial products to kill harmful bacteria while keeping the good ones safe.