Biomanufacturing. AI & creative jobs. Aerospace innovators. Queensland's quantum summit.
National Science Week
Great National Science Week BUSINESS stories up for grabs now around Australia
- Biomanufacturing: from lab-grown meat to life-saving medicine – Sydney, NSW
- From Yarrabah to the White House: an Indigenous aerospace trailblazer – Randwick, NSW
- Meet the crew building Australia’s Moon rover and other Queensland innovators – Hamilton, QLD
- Surveying gets high-tech: mapping mine sites in the dark and more – Milton, QLD
- Qx Summit puts Queensland’s quantum, semiconductor and deep tech breakthroughs on show – Fortitude Valley, QLD
- Will there be creative jobs for today’s students? – Adelaide & regional SA
- Flying taxi made by Sunshine Coast students, mentored by industry – Warana, QLD
More on these below and visit ScienceWeek.net.au/events to find more stories in your area.
Scientists, experts, performers and event organisers are available for interview throughout National Science Week.
Read on for direct contact details for each event, or contact Tanya Ha, [email protected] or 0404 083 863.
Visit the Media Centre for all media releases and images available for media use.
From lab-grown meat to life-saving medicine – Sydney, NSW
Could the technology built to grow cultivated meat also make the medicines of the future? Biotechnology entrepreneur George Peppou – founder of cultivated-meat company Vow – will trace the path from food innovation to advanced therapeutics.
Peppou will draw on his industry experience to explain how techniques developed for food production could transform the manufacture of life-saving drugs, and why NSW is positioned to lead the next generation of advanced biomanufacturing.
The talk is part of the Science & Research Breakfast Seminar Series run by the Office of the NSW Chief Scientist and Engineer.
Wednesday 12 August: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/world-leading-biomanufacturing-from-production-of-meat-to-biologic-drugs/sydney
Media enquiries: Bruce Ritchie, [email protected] or 0429 412 426.
From Yarrabah to the White House: an aerospace trailblazer – Randwick, NSW
From the Far North Queensland community of Yarrabah to the lawns of the White House, Daniel Joinbee will share the story behind Australia’s first and only 100% Aboriginal-owned aerospace consultancy.
A proud Gunggandji man and Royal Australian Air Force veteran – the first Air Force officer to earn navy diving and demolitions qualifications – Joinbee has gone from diving beneath naval boats in pitch-black water at night to building an aerospace venture grounded in his heritage.
In conversation with host Jonathan Webb, Joinbee will discuss his journey and how programs like Raising Horizons help First Nations communities blaze their own trails.
Thursday 13 August: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/daniel-joinbee-indigenous-aerospace-trailblazer/randwick
Media enquiries: UNSW Centre for Ideas, [email protected] or 02 9065 0485; Gunggandji Aerospace or [email protected] .
Meet the crew building Australia’s Moon rover and other Queensland innovators – Hamilton, QLD
Microplastics researcher Dr Cassandra Rauert and the robotics engineers building Australia’s Moon rover will headline the Science Week Business Showcase, a free evening exploring how science, technology, engineering and maths shape Brisbane businesses.
Dr Rauert, a Senior Research Fellow at the Queensland Alliance for Environmental Health Sciences, will discuss her world-leading microplastics research and industry partnerships, while EPE Engineers will share how they are building Australia’s “Roo-ver” robot for the Moon.
Environmental scientist and Queensland Chief Scientist Prof Kerrie Wilson will also talk about the strategy driving Queensland's sustainable economic growth.
Free to attend thanks to Inspiring Australia – Queensland, the event is open to business owners, students curious about STEM careers, and anyone interested in Brisbane’s innovation sector.
Thursday 13 August: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/science-week-business-showcase/hamilton
Media enquiries: Alana Rauert, [email protected] or 0417 041 929.
Dr Cassandra Rauert, Prof Kerrie Wilson and EPE engineers are available for media interviews.
Quantum tech isn’t coming, it is already here – Fortitude Valley, QLD
Under the theme ‘Make it in Queensland’, the Qx Summit puts the state’s quantum, semiconductor and deep tech breakthroughs on show – the ones already being deployed, locally and globally.
Speakers from industry, government and research trace how the research is translating into health, sports tech, logistics, AI and defence, and examine how Queensland is positioning itself to attract investment, talent and partnerships.
Sessions also cover the skills, education and training pathways already feeding the state’s advanced technology workforce, with time to meet investors, researchers and policymakers.
Tuesday 18 August: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/qx-summit-queenslands-advanced-technologies-future
Media enquiries: QUBIC, The ARC Centre of Excellence in Quantum Biotechnology, [email protected]
Map a mine in the dark – Milton, QLD
Emesent’s Hovermap and GX1 scanners build a 3D map of a space as they move through it, including underground where GPS cannot reach. At the company’s Brisbane headquarters the engineers who built them will run them live and narrate what the sensors are seeing.
The evening also covers how digital twin technology is being used to record and protect heritage sites, with exhibit stations on surveying, SLAM technology, mining safety and public safety applications, and engineers on hand throughout.
Run with Surveyors Australia for industry professionals and students weighing up career pathways.
Thursday 20 August: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/surveying-the-future-he-high-value-skills-and-advanced-technologies-driving-the-science-cities-and-businesses-of-tomorrow
Media enquiries: Amy Uhlhorn, Emesent, [email protected] or 07 3548 9494.
Will there be creative jobs for today’s students? - Adelaide, Mawson Lakes, Whyalla & Mount Gambier
What role should AI play in creative work? How do we balance innovation with ethical responsibility? What choices do we want young people and communities to make as technology develops? And what is Australia’s place in this global technological transformation?
Prime Minister Albanese is establishing an AI office. What do the experts say? Ask Australian AI researchers Dr Rebecca Marrone and Dr Maria Vieira.
Dr Rebecca Marrone is a Senior Lecturer at Adelaide University’s Centre for Change and Complexity in Learning (C3L). She has a background in educational psychology, and her research is primarily in the fields of creativity, wellbeing, and human and artificial cognition.
Dr Maria Vieira holds a PhD in STEM and a master’s degree in the psychology of creativity. As a member of the Centre for Change and Complexity in Learning (C3L), her research explores creativity, human-AI collaboration, and gender equity, with a particular focus on STEM fields in which women remain underrepresented.
Rebecca and Maria will be speaking at the ‘Future Minds: Creativity and ethics in the age of AI’ series of lectures and student workshops (for years 9-12), inviting audiences to reflect, discuss and engage with some of the most important questions shaping our technological future.
Media enquiries: Annabel Mansfield, [email protected] or 0479 182 489.
Rebecca Marrone and Maria Vieira available for media interviews.
Flying taxi made by Sunshine Coast students – Warana, QLD
A group of Sunshine Coast high school and university students have built a full-scale electric flying taxi, assisted by industry mentors.
Their eVTOL - Electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing aircraft, often called an air taxi - is capable of flying autonomously from Maroochydore to Brisbane in just 20 minutes.
The full-scale aircraft seats one person. It can fly at speeds exceeding 250 km/h, cover distances over 200km, reach altitudes of up to 3,000 ft, and take off and land on a helipad. It is built primarily from carbon fibre composite, with aerospace-grade aluminium, titanium, glass, and a small amount of steel.
The project is an initiative of the Manufacturing Excellence Forum, developing its own eVTOL in partnership with the University of the Sunshine Coast, Sunshine Coast Council, and the Queensland Government, backed by the effort of more than 50 students.
Meet the people involved and see the prototype and scale models at the Future Flight Science Fair at Javelin Aerospace & MKRS Space Sunshine Coast. Visitors will also have the chance to design, 3D print, and launch their own glider, experience a six-degree-of-freedom flight simulator, and other activities.
Saturday 15 August: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/future-flight-science-fair
Media enquiries: Bhavna Reetoo, eVTOL Sunshine Coast Manufacturing Excellence Forum, [email protected] or 0451 042 406.
National Science Week: background
National Science Week is Australia’s annual opportunity to meet scientists, discuss hot topics, do science and celebrate its contribution to our lives. Science drives economic and social change – from safe and nutritious food to reducing cancer deaths; from smart phones to AI; from under Antarctica’s ice floes to distant planets.
First held in 1997, National Science Week has become one of Australia’s largest festivals. Last year about 3 million people participated in more than 2,500 registered events and activities.
National Science Week 2026 runs from Saturday 15 to Sunday 23 August. Event details can be found at www.scienceweek.net.au.
National Science Week is proudly supported by the Australian Government, alongside key partners Questacon, CSIRO, the Australian Science Teachers Association, and ABC Science.
