Recipients 2024

28 recipients will share in almost $500,000 worth of funding in 2024 to help increase public participation in Queensland scientific research and STEM-based (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) engagement events and activities under the Engaging Science Grants program.

• Gulli'angah Student Citizen Science Nature Trail

  Organisation: Griffith University

  Amount: $20,000

  This project will engage primary school students with local community groups, Indigenous Elders, and scientists to establish an Internet of Things educational nature trail to monitor ecosystem health. Students will learn about the plant growth cycle, get to grow their own plants and see their plants used in an authentic setting.

• Flossie Finders: Conservation through Ecotourism

  Organisation: Glossy Black Conservancy Inc

  Amount: $20,000

  Citizen scientists including ecotourists will help develop a photographic database of the female Glossy Black-Cockatoo in South East Queensland, recently listed as a vulnerable species. Data will be used to determine local population numbers, dispersal patterns, breeding success and habitat-use changes during different seasons and weather conditions over a landscape-scale area.

• Coral reefs of the Keppel Islands: Connecting urban school students with citizen science opportunities

  Organisation: Brisbane Adventist College

  Amount: $14,970

  Aquatic Practices students from Brisbane Adventist College will contribute to the ongoing monitoring and preservation of the Great Barrier Reef through providing data to the Eye on the Reef citizen science program. Students will use their existing open water dive qualifications to work in the Great Keppel Island area with accredited ecotourism operators in which they will conduct monitoring surveys, learn about ecotourism, and identify ongoing threats to the reef.

• Culture in Engineering - delivered on Country (pilot program)

  Organisation: Queensland University of Technology

  Amount: $20,000

  This project will immerse Indigenous Australian engineering students in holistic experiences aimed at exploring how engineering can harmoniously co-exist with First Nations culture and heritage. The project consists of two discovery expedition programs in Townsville and will include engagement with archaeologists, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander guest speakers, and excursions to Aboriginal-owned companies, providing exposure to language, bush tucker and other cultural social activities.

• Gifted Global Green Program

  Organisation: Tinaroo Environmental Education Centre

  Amount: $15,000

  This mentorship program will target Year 5 students with high learning potential. The students will organise, plan and execute STEM projects alongside the guidance of a mentoring teacher. Project activities, including an industry forum, an excursion to the Cairns Aquarium, and student presentations to industry professionals, will enable students to grow in a range of STEM skills and competencies.

• Guardians of the Reef: learning through inquiry

  Organisation: St Clare's School, Tully

  Amount: $19,605

  Students from St Clare's School in Tully will work on a project of inquiry with teachers, local scientists and First Nations peoples to develop their understanding of reef ecosystems, threats to the reef, and how they can enact the role of reef guardians.

• Experience Daintree: engage, explore and contribute

  Organisation: Queensland Trust for Nature

  Amount: $19,920

  A bioblitz and citizen science activity will explore biodiversity on land beside the World-Heritage-listed Daintree Forest and aims to build a knowledge-sharing and inspiring community of ecologists and conservationists, as well as a more informed and engaged public. This project also involves the upskilling of Yalanji Rangers and community members and empowers them to continue monitoring biodiversity throughout Queensland.

• Robotics in action

  Organisation: St Patrick's College Mackay

  Amount: $18,000

  This project is a series of activities and events designed to increase student engagement in robotics through STEM, build teacher capacity across the region, showcase learning to the broader community, and work with scientists to solve real world problems. Students at St Patrick's College will be engaged in this project to increase STEM skills.

• Sounding Symmetries

  Organisation: The University of Queensland

  Amount: $17,300

  This project comprises a series of events designed to introduce audiences to various types of symmetry central to modern mathematics and physics (particularly particle theory). Each event will be a combination of a public science lecture and a live music performance and will be presented to several different audiences, including school students in Brisbane and regional Queensland, and the general public.

• Making our birding count: an e-learning toolkit to grow the bird counting community

  Organisation: BirdLife Australia

  Amount: $19,305

  This project aims to increase enthusiasm for bird surveying, and ensure strong conservation for Australian birds thanks to the data collected. Designing and implementing an e-learning toolkit to be used by Birdata users will help with standardised surveys and an improvement in data quality. This project's activities also seeks to increasing the participation of citizen scientists, and improve connectivity between regional communities and the QLD BirdLife Network.

• Plastic patrol: citizen science for cleaner Australian coastlines

  Organisation: Riverside Christian College

  Amount: $20,000

  The project aims to assess microplastic presence and environmental impacts around the Fraser Coast region and involves microplastics surveys being undertaken by STEM students and teachers in monthly field trips at various locations ranging from Burnett Heads to River Heads, Hervey Bay.

• Nudgee Beach wader bird citizen science engagement project

  Organisation: Nudgee Beach Environmental Education Centre

  Amount: $19,828

  Free community citizen science education days and shorebird programs will be delivered to enable investigations into shorebirds such as sandpipers and curlews. Through experiential and hands-on learning, attendees, including school students, will learn about shorebirds and shorebird conservation, while also contributing to citizen science platforms.

• 'Snapshots of citizen science in our backyard' - engaging students and the Cairns community in citizen science projects on the Great Barrier Reef

  Organisation: Newman Catholic College Smithfield

  Amount: $12,953

  This project aims to develop a world class high school marine science program at Newman Catholic College in which students are joined by Yirrganydji sea rangers on Yirrganydji Sea Country to gain knowledge on the impacts of climate change, carry out photographic surveys, create an educational short film, and raise awareness about citizen science within the Cairns community.

• Interactive eco-explorations: Engaging Queensland’s youth and public in conservation

  Organisation: Queensland University of Technology

  Amount: $19,740

  This project aims to blend science education and community engagement to ignite a passion for STEM and an understanding of the Earth's ecosystems among high school students and the community at large. Through leveraging virtual reality, participants will explore the Great Barrier Reef and the Daintree Rainforest, with simulated conservation scenarios and discussions that will encourage preservation, habitat restoration and species protection.

• Skin deep science

  Organisation: QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute

  Amount: $9,590

  Three days of workshops and forums at Cloncurry State School and St Joseph's Catholic School will be delivered to highlight the science of skin through discussions, presentations and hands-on lab work. Through an exploration of topics such as skin parasites, skin microbiota and DNA, students and community members will gain awareness around research processes, the role of health, and the possibilities of science as a career pathway.

• STEM changemakers – be what you see

  Organisation: Townsville STEM Hub via Smart Precinct NQ

  Amount: $20,000

  Seeking to increase the participation rates of regionally-based girls in STEM professions, this project includes a series of interactive activities including an engineering-based challenge. It will provide opportunities for young girls to engage with STEM professionals and promote STEM careers.

• Mangrove listening: engaging citizen scientists in soundscape monitoring of mangrove ecosystems

  Organisation: Ocean Connect Inc

  Amount: $19,474

  Mangroves are vital to our ecosystems, and this project will engage citizen scientists and researchers to monitor the biodiversity of mangroves on the Gold Coast. The project activities include conducting workshops, training citizen scientists in ecoacoustics, establishing a baseline assessment of the condition of mangrove soundscapes, and developing a methodological framework to be used for future ecoacoustic monitoring.

• Springsure Innovation Project

  Organisation: Insight Technology Education

  Amount: $19,911

  This five-day initiative will foster engagement in STEM subjects for students at Springsure State School by providing practical learning experiences aimed at showcasing the applications of STEM in rural Queensland settings. Through presentations by industry scientists, workshops, game creation activities and the programming of VinciBots, students will increase their understanding of STEM subjects and career pathways. The students will also showcase their work to parents and community members.

• Design, build and fly it - flight simulation STEM project

  Organisation: FNQ Aviation Museum Ltd

  Amount: $19,815

  A series of events including interactive workshops and the construction of a flight simulator will educate and inspire students in STEM disciplines. Students will engage in activities surrounding design, construction, control testing, operating software and operating the simulator.

• Malanda community bioblitz

  Organisation: Malanda and Upper Johnstone Catchment Landcare Association Inc

  Amount: $10,350

  Community members will be invited to attend the 36-hour bioblitz citizen science event to capture the local biodiversity via the iNaturalist platform and to learn skills in scientific observation and species identification. The local school will also be incorporated into the event and to provide ongoing monitoring of the site.

• Dolphin spotter – a land-based citizen science project in southeast Queensland

  Organisation: University of the Sunshine Coast

  Amount: $17,682

  Training workshops will be delivered to teach members of the community how to observe and record sightings of coastal dolphins as well as how to identify different species and interpret dolphin behaviour. Members of the public can apply their citizen science training to useable data and share it with the research team.

• Writing and editing with science write now - a mentorship program for Queensland secondary students

  Organisation: A-Plus Freelance

  Amount: $20,000

  A mentoring program to assist 8 Queensland secondary students to reach across the art-science ‘divide’ to explore new kinds of science and science communication to help students engage in STEM related subjects.

• Healthy rivers to reef STEM innovator schools program

  Organisation: Reef Catchments (Mackay Whitsunday Isaac) Ltd

  Amount: $20,000

  This project involves a series of in-school workshops delivered to 10 schools in the Mackay-Whitsunday region targeting year 7-9 students.  Students will gain a deep understanding of environmental condition and challenges, as well as an improved understanding of the value of monitoring, reporting, data collection and subsequent management actions through hands-on activities, immersive and interactive digital experiences and collaborative STEM projects.

• Blue biosphere bioblitz

  Organisation: Sunshine Coast Regional Council

  Amount: $12,000

  This festival and bioblitz celebrates the marine biodiversity of the Sunshine Coast. Throughout the festival visitors will have the opportunity to attend guided tours of coastal habitats, attend educational presentations, engage in citizen science initiatives, appreciate artistic expression regarding conservation, meet scientists and learn from the Kabi Kabi First Nations people. School groups can also engage in citizen science and learn about STEM careers.

• From Minecraft to reality and beyond: designing disaster-resilient infrastructure for Queensland's coastal communities

  Organisation: Griffith University

  Amount: $20,000

  This project aims to conduct a series of one-day engineering and built environment computer design experiences in which senior primary school students design coastal roads and bridges that can withstand a cyclone. In using engineering software, students will learn about the benefits of designing infrastructure improvements before disasters, and will learn about the various careers that exist regarding sustainable development, climate change and biodiversity.

• Hooked on healthy waterways: a community forum on fish habitat restoration

  Organisation: OzFish Unlimited

  Amount: $17,550

  These native fish habitat forums will educate and inspire local community members and organisations to participate in local restoration efforts, helping to benefit waterways throughout north Queensland. Through interactive talks, and a field-based fish monitoring event, this project will increase community participation in citizen science, counteract misinformation, and grow opportunities for engagement with scientists.

• Inspiring champions for the bay

  Organisation: Moreton Bay Environmental Education Centre

  Amount: $9,800

  Years 4–6 students will take on the role of Environment Managers to explore marine and coastal environments by recording, observing and investigating marine debris and the possible impacts on the marine environment. The project aims to link students to authentic ‘real world’ science to enhance student engagement and connection with possible future STEM careers.

• Universal inclusion: space science for all ages and abilities

  Organisation: eXplorimental

  Amount: $20,000

  This project is the development of a series of tactile space science events designed to break down barriers for individuals with impaired vision and allow them to experience fun and exciting learning experiences that have been tailored to their senses. The experience will involve unique experiences based around touch (meteorites, 3D printed models), sound (sonification of data), taste (astronaut food) and smell (space perfumes).