NSW Women's Week: Bio and Beyond

“You can do anything you set your mind to, don’t lose sight of that” - The Hon. Bronnie Taylor, Minister for Mental Health, Regional Youth and Women

The Hon. Bronnie Taylor with year 10 PLC Armidale students

As part of the BIOTech Futures Challenge, we hosted the BIO and Beyond symposium in collaboration with Women NSW to mark women’s week 2020. Students in years 10 - 12 from across NSW were invited to participate as audience members, including regional students from PLC Armidale and Uralla Central School. This offered them a chance to be enlightened by the opportunities that a career in STEM has to offer and to empower them to recognise their own potential as bright future leaders.

The day was hosted by students from Merewether High School, winners of BIO Challenge 2019, who also spoke about their journey in developing their Universal Transdermal Patch. Opening the event was Prof. DUncan Ivison, Deputy Vice Chancellor of Research at The University of Sydney, while the Hon. Bronnie Taylor MLC, Minister for Mental Health, Regional Youth and Women, provided the closing remarks.

Students were also inspired by the incredible work presented by some of our most eminent researchers. These included Prof. Maria Kavallaris, a children’s breast cancer researcher and the 2020 NSW Premier’s Woman of the Year, Prof. Omad El-Omar, who studies gut bacteria and Prof. Kathy Belov, known for her work on Tasmanian Devil facial tumours.

Finally, our teams from SGHS and PLC enlightened us with the incredible work they achieved with their mentors. Here are the topics presented on:

“It was so fun and has definitely changed a bit of my thoughts on what I want to be when I finish school” - Hollie, Uralla Central School

“An enjoyable way for us to learn more about fields of biology I would have otherwise been unaware of ” - Sarah, PLC Armidale

PLC and SGHS students presenting their research