National Science Week at UOW

Bionic ear pioneer Graeme Clark to give public lecture

This week (15-23 August) is National Science Week, and the University of Wollongong is hosting a number of events to promote science education and make the exceptional research happening at the university accessible to the public.

Professor Graeme Clark, world renowned scientist and pioneer of the Bionic Ear will give a free public lecture at the Wollongong Science Centre & Planetarium on Wednesday 19 August, as part of National Science Week.

Professor Clark, a Chief Investigator with the ARC Centre of Excellence in Electromaterials Science (ACES), is responsible for the pioneering research and development of the Bionic Ear - a multiple channel cochlear implant. Since 1978, more than 100,000 people all over the world have been fitted with a bionic ear. It has been hailed as one of the most important breakthroughs in medical science. Last week it was announced that Professor Clark won one of the world’s major scientific prizes – the Otto Schmitt Award for exceptional contributions to advancements in medical and biological engineering.

Professor Clark's talk on will be titled "Big thinking, small technologies". This lecture is sponsored by ACES, UOW and the Science Centre & Planetarium and supported by the Royal Australian Chemical Institute.

At the end of the talk, Dean of Science Professor Will Price will be announcing the winners of the Bionics for 2020 competition which was open to high school students to design what they think is the future of bionic research.

The best time for photo/filming opportunities and to speak with Professor Clark is 12.30pm.

Media are also invited to a preview of the iDome – the first stage of a unique interactive exhibition developed by ACES in partnership with Wollongong Science Centre. Photo/filming of the iDome can also take place at 12.30pm.

Exhibition: Fire, water, earth and air - the elements of conservation

Also during Science Week, the University of Wollongong’s Institute for Conservation Biology will be holding a photography exhibition at Wollongong City Gallery, opening on Friday 21 August.

The images on display are selected from two recent photography competitions and show the main areas of research by the Institute staff and students into local, national and global conservation issues. The exhibition looks at elemental themes that encompass fire ecology, marine and terrestrial biology and animals that live in the air. Each photograph is accompanied by a description explaining how it relates to the research and why this research is important. Our aim is to bring the world class environmental research performed at the University to the community.

As part of the exhibition, a ‘Photographing Wildlife workshop’ will be held for the general public on Saturday 12 September. For more information regarding this workshop please contact the gallery directly.

The exhibition will run from 21 August - 1 November at Wollongong City Gallery (cnr of Kembla & Burelli Sts, Wollongong). It will be opened on Friday 21August at 6.30pm by Dean of Science Professor Will Price, and all are welcome to attend.

For more information, contact Sharon Robinson on 4221 5753 or 0400 056 549, or Julie Wright on 4221 3450. More information and an online gallery can also be found at the ICB website http://www.uow.edu.au/science/biol/icb/

Workshops for high school students

To complement the exhibition above, two workshops – looking at “Maggots and Murder” and “Life in the Freezer” will be held on Wednesday, 19 August at Wollongong City Gallery. The workshops are aimed at student in Years 10 and 11 who have a strong interest in biology; around 40 students will attend. The students get the chance to experience how forensic entomology is used in murder investigations in Maggots and Murder, and in Life in the Freezer they can gain an insight into how plants respond to climate change induced environmental stress in Antarctica.

The students will arrive at the gallery from 10am and the best photo/filming time is 11am. For more information please contact Julie Wright on 4221 3450

For more information about Science Week visit: http://www.scienceweek.gov.au

Last reviewed: 17 August, 2009