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Psychedelics reshaping mental health care. Making muscle. Virtual ER. 60 years of medical research, in a retro caravan.

National Science Week

Great National Science Week HEALTH stories up for grabs now around Australia

• Psychedelics reshaping mental health care - Hobart
• The fleet of caravans that transformed chronic disease – Busselton, WA
• Making lung, brain, muscle and kidney tissue in the lab to find new treatments – Melbourne
• From lab-grown meat to life-saving medicine – Sydney
• The emergency department in your lounge room – online, with Melbourne talent
• Get inside the brain of a professional rugby player – Toowoomba, QLD
• Dementia: the science of prevention and treatment (Mandarin) - Sydney
• Hunt the superbugs outsmarting our medicines – Brisbane
• Knitting the gut-brain connection – Sydney
• Remote Aussies learn why climate change is bad for health – Alice Springs, NT
• Reading a mosquito’s DNA to find out where it came from – Cairns, QLD
• What is your brain doing while you daydream? – Noosaville, QLD
• Cell therapy one step closer for stroke patients – West Wodonga, VIC
• TV versus reality emergency departments – Geelong, VIC

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.

Psychedelics reshaping mental health care - Hobart, TAS

Medical mushrooms, LSD, MDMA and other once-taboo substances are reshaping mental health care.

Psychedelic plants and fungi have long been used in traditional medicine. Substances like LSD and MDMA were later scientifically studied as potential treatments for conditions from addiction to anxiety. Then came the War on Drugs, bringing most psychedelic research to a halt for decades.

Now, psychedelics are having a second act. In 2023, Australia became the first country to approve the clinical use of MDMA and psilocybin at a national level for specific mental health conditions.

Dr Paul Liknaitzky ─ head of Monash University’s Clinical Psychedelics Lab ─ has played a central role in establishing the field of clinical psychedelic research in Australia and has led several world-first studies and psychedelic trials.

He will speak at Tasmania’s Beaker Street Festival – along with a participant in a recent psychedelics trial – to discuss emerging findings, future directions, and the lived experience of psychedelic-assisted therapy.

Saturday 15 August: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/psychedelics-revisited/hobart

Media enquiries: Matt Fraser, [email protected] or 0401 326 007.

Paul Liknaitzky is available for media interviews.

The fleet of caravans that transformed chronic disease – Busselton, WA

In 1966 a small fleet of caravans carrying health researchers arrived at the City of Busselton to survey some 3,400 adults about their lifestyles and health risk. From these humble beginnings grew one of the world’s leading long-term community health studies: for the past 60 years more than 20,000 participants have helped generate over 600 scientific publications on heart disease, diabetes, lung health and more. For decades this community partnership has helped shape the modern understanding of chronic health conditions. Explore the global legacy of the Busselton Health Study Biobank (complete with vintage caravans) in a special anniversary exhibition in Mitchell Park this National Science Week.

Monday 17 August: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/celebrating-60-years-of-the-busselton-health-study-a-journey-of-discovery/busselton

Media enquiries: Michael Hunter, [email protected] or 08 9754 0548.

Making lung, brain, muscle and kidney tissue in the lab to find new treatments – Parkville, VIC

Meet the stem cell scientists whose work is changing our understanding of debilitating diseases and forging a path to new or better treatments:

• Dr Rhiannon Werder is researching stem cell-grown lung tissue to transform the discovery of new therapies for respiratory diseases, from genetic conditions like cystic fibrosis to infections including the common cold.
• Dr Callum Dark grows muscle tissue in the lab to find treatments for muscle conditions that affect people as they get older.
• Dr Kellie Veen makes 3D models of specific brain regions to understand Alexander disease, a progressive and fatal childhood disease.
• Dr Jessica Vanslambrouck who is using new ideas to grow kidney tissue in the lab that could one day improve treatments for patients with kidney disease.
• Dr Roslyn Le Gautier who brings together researchers, patients and clinicians to help shape new treatments, including stem cell technologies, to meet patients’ needs.

These researchers from the reNEW node at Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (MCRI) are sharing their work in a series of short talks alongside the art exhibition EMERGENCE[Y] at Science Gallery Melbourne. Visitors can also see Patricia Piccinini’s Células Madre, the work produced after a residency at MCRI as a follow-up to her seminal work Still Life with Stem Cells .

Saturday 15 August: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/stem-cell-lightning-talks/parkville/

Media enquiries: Helen Flett, [email protected] or 0408 341 182.

All scientists are available for media interviews.

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.

The emergency department in your lounge room - online

When you call for emergency help you expect a trip to hospital. Increasingly you get a video call instead – and often that is the better outcome.

Dr Loren Sher, Director of the Victorian Virtual Emergency Department, can explain how one of Australia’s largest digital health experiments came together, and what the evidence says about access to emergency care and patient outcomes.

She joins a free online panel with La Trobe University’s Dr Urooj Raza Khan and digital health graduates Samantha Tudor and Rob Park, who talk about a career path that barely existed a decade ago.

Friday 21 August: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/the-science-of-digital-health-national-science-week-2026-sarah-awaiting-details

Media enquiries: Urooj R. Khan, La Trobe University, [email protected]

Dr Urooj Raza Khan, Dr Loren Sher, Samantha Tudor and Rob Park are available for media interviews before or after the event.

Get inside the brain of a professional rugby player – Toowoomba, QLD

Step inside the brain of a professional rugby player as science and sport come together through an immersive virtual reality experience.

The ‘Brains, Boots & Beyond’ is an interactive VR installation that explores neuroscience, sports psychology and wellbeing.

It’s the brainchild of Queensland learning design consultancy Concinnity in partnership with Toowoomba’s Western Clydesdales rugby league club and the University of Southern Queensland (UniSQ).

Avatars of Clydesdales players guide people through the virtual reality experience, revealing how the brain manages focus, resilience, teamwork and recovery.

UniSQ will host the installation with a public launch event and daily sessions. Queensland Museum Cobb+Co will also host sessions.

Launch: Tuesday 18 August: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/brains-boots-and-beyond-exploring-sports-psychology-in-vr/darling-heights/

Media enquiries: Anna Nicholls, [email protected] and 0400 912 171.

Available for media interviews:

A/Prof Edward Bliss: a UniSQ neuroscientist whose research explores how exercise, lifestyle and blood flow to the brain influence cognition, healthy ageing and human performance.

Anna Nicholls: is the founder of Concinnity Consulting and Project Manager of ‘Brains, Boots & Beyond’, who has more than 30 years' experience in learning and development, including digital innovation.

Brian Canavan (launch guest speaker) is a respected rugby league administrator and current Chair of the Queensland Rugby League. Brian has long championed the role of sports science, athlete development and evidence-based performance, making him a passionate advocate for the intersection of neuroscience, human performance and elite sport.

Dementia: the science of prevention and treatment (Mandarin) - Ryde, NSW

Our brains naturally slow down a little as we get older, but serious health issues like dementia are far more severe (and worrying). Professor Daniel Chan can explain how doctors identify dementia, the latest research on prevention and treatment, and how to best support yourself or someone in your life following a diagnosis.

Daniel is an expert on vascular dementia, Parkinson’s disease and geriatric health. He is presenting a talk on these topics in Mandarin at Ryde Library (followed by a Q&A session) during National Science Week.

Thursday 20 August: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/dementia-prevention-by-prof-chan-presented-in-mandarin/ryde

Media enquiries: South Western Sydney Local Health District media office, [email protected] or 02 8738 6848 (After Hours Mobile: 0417 697 079). Prof Chan can conduct interviews in Mandarin or English.

Hunt the superbugs outsmarting our medicines – Saint Lucia, QLD

Some bacteria are fighting back against modern medicines. This hands-on adventure lets visitors become a scientist for the day to explore the world of these “superbugs.”

Through interactive demonstrations, participants discover how bacteria become resistant to antibiotics, how researchers detect harmful bacteria and develop new ways to fight infection, and how everyday actions like proper handwashing help slow the spread.

Antimicrobial resistance is one of the biggest health challenges facing the world today; the event aims to leave visitors with a new appreciation for the tiny microbes that have a huge impact on our lives.

Friday 21 August: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/journey-into-antimicrobial-resistance-adventures-in-the-invisible-world/saint-lucia

Media enquiries: Lyman Ngiam, Centre for Environmental and Agricultural Solutions to Antimicrobial Resistance, [email protected].

Step inside a giant, woolly gut – Sydney, NSW

Textile artists and community members have knitted a giant walk-in gut to explore the gut microbiome and its impact on mental health.

It’s part of the ‘Gut Feelings’ exhibition, the brainchild of three artists behind a collaborative science-based crafting initiative that builds on the success of the Neural Knitworks project.

For the past three years, the team has presented workshops and informal knit and stitch sessions across Sydney. This has brought people of all ages and abilities together to create textile microbes and intestinal villi and find out about the gut-brain connection.

Community members involved in ‘Gut Feelings’ have engaged with researchers and followed scientifically-informed patterns to knit, crochet, weave and stitch more than 4,000 villi, 450 gut epithelial cells, hundreds of microbes. The result is an exhibition of artworks, including:

• a giant soft sculpture gut filled with knitted villi,
• a life-size crochet silhouette of the body showing the gut-brain connection via the vagus nerve, and
• a crochet version of the Bristol Stool Chart.

Researchers who participated in the project are from UNSW Sydney, University of Sydney, University of Technology and ANSTO.

A workshop at Five Dock Library and free exhibitions at St George Hospital’s Atrium and the Indigenous Science Experience at Redfern will immerse visitors in ‘a playful yet serious’ exploration of the gut-brain axis.

Tuesday 18 August to Saturday 22 August. Multiple dates and locations

Media enquiries: Pat Pillai, [email protected] or 0408 213 844 and Mary Hyman, 0424 100 597. Lead artist Pat Pillai and art educator Mary Hayman are available for interviews.

Remote Aussies learn why climate change is bad for health – Alice Springs, NT

The climate is changing: what does that mean for our health, especially in the Red (hot) Centre? And what can we do about it?

Ask Dr Rishu Thakur, a researcher at the Menzies School of Health Research. She works with people living in remote regions so that they can collect data to monitor environmental conditions, document their lived experience of climate change, and co-design adaptation and mitigation strategies.

Rishu has organised the ‘Science for Health: Climate and Health Awareness in Remote Australia’ events in Alice Springs so that locals can explore how the changing climate and extreme heat affect the health of the environment and, directly and indirectly, human health. Students can also learn about science and health careers.

The day will include a Solar Centre scavenger hunt exploring renewable energy, tracking air quality with apps, soil and water testing, microscope sessions exploring beneficial versus harmful microbes and the importance of hand hygiene, and a fun climate and health quiz.

Temperature monitoring with thermal cameras will show indoor versus outdoor heat, the value of shade, and how hot it gets in a closed car – all in full heat-mapping colour. And thermochromic paint (paint that changes colour with temperature) will be used to visually demonstrate surface heat.

Wednesday 19 August: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/science-for-health-climate-and-health-awareness-in-remote-australia/sadadeen/

Media enquiries: Rishu Thakur, [email protected] or 0469 019 994.

Reading a mosquito’s DNA to find out where it came from – Cairns, QLD

Mosquitoes travel further than you would think, and the QIMR Berghofer Mosquito Genomics team can now read their genomes to work out how invasive species are moving, surviving and adapting.

Through the Mozzie SHIELDS project the researchers combine that genomics with citizen science, education and population modelling to track the mosquitoes that spread disease, and to design control methods that lean less heavily on chemical insecticides.

Meet the team at the STEM in the Tropics launch and find out how the work runs from the field, to the lab, and back to the field again.

Saturday 15 August: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/uq-skills-sport

Media enquiries: Alyssa Peterson, QIMR Berghofer, [email protected] or 07 3845 3051.

A/Prof Gordana Rasic is available for interviews.

What is your brain doing while you daydream? – Noosaville, QLD

Eighty-six billion nerve cells, all talking to each other with electricity. British neuroscientist Dr Hannah Critchlow takes an audience inside the most complex machine in the universe – what happens while you sleep, drift off, or lock onto a tricky game.

Critchlow is the author of Brainwave: Find Your Focus and Unleash Your Brain’s Superpowers .

Friday 21 August: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/the-science-of-brainwaves-with-hannah-critchlow

Media enquiries: Rachel Smith, Noosa Libraries, [email protected] or 07 5329 6578.

Cell therapy one step closer for stroke patients – West Wodonga, VIC

A cell therapy targeting the damage caused by acute strokes will begin Phase II clinical trials in Victorian hospitals later this year, offering new hope for stroke patients around the world.

Co-lead of the clinical trial Chris Sobey will discuss his research into inflammation in the brain and the development of the new treatment in a free event at La Trobe University’s Albury-Wodonga campus.

Amnion stem cell therapy, which was developed in collaboration by La Trobe University, Hudson Institute of Medical Research and Monash Health, recently passed a critical safety benchmark. Now the second stage of clinical trials will establish the efficacy of the treatment for ischemic stroke patients.

Wednesday 19 August: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/chris-sobey-dedicating-a-lifetimes-work-to-science-and-new-treatments-for-stroke/west-wodonga/

Media enquiries: Julia Brown, [email protected]

In a real emergency department, nobody knows what is wrong – Belmont (Geelong), VIC

On television, Dr Robby and Dr Ross crack the case quickly, dramatically and decisively. In an actual emergency department the information is incomplete, the symptoms do not point anywhere in particular, and the high-stakes decisions still have to be made.

Dr Mary Dahm, Senior Lecturer in Health Ethics and Professionalism in Deakin University’s School of Medicine, researches how doctors and patients talk about diagnosis, risk and uncertainty. Over 45 minutes and a Q&A she covers why uncertainty is unavoidable, how it is communicated to patients and families, and what medical dramas leave out.

Part of Talks on Tuesdays, a lecture series held in Geelong pubs, bars and social venues.

Tuesday 25 August: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/uncertainty-in-emergency-what-the-pitt-and-er-dont-tell

Media enquiries: Simi Gosling, Talks on Tuesdays, [email protected]

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.