National Youth Science Forum National Youth Science ForumThe Council was set up under the constitution of the National Science Summer School Incorporated to oversee the management and operation of the National Youth Science Forum and the NYSF Staff training program.
The basic membership consists of representatives of the major scientific organisations in the ACT, namely, one nominee of:
In addition, up to five other persons elected for a period ending at the conclusion of the next Annual General Meeting.
Below is the current membership of the National Science Summer School Council:
Geoffrey has had a colourful career working as a science writer, television presenter and documentary film-maker especially with ABC Television’s long-running “Quantum” programme. In previous lives he tested marijuana on cultured human brain cells, studied robotics at MIT in Boston, and as a research zoologist documented fox attacks on kangaroos in the outback. Brief stints playing Mr Doobee on “Romper Room” and wrangling wombats on “A Country Practice” no doubt qualified him to become the first television science news reporter in the country for the Seven Network. In his years with “Quantum” he won numerous awards for films ranging from the Big Bang, to the chemistry of consciousness. His acclaimed series on drugs, “What’s Your Poison” has screened in 18 countries and a fossil bandicoot has even been named in his honour.
Before taking up the position of Director of the NYSF, Geoffrey was the head of CSIRO’s Media Unit in Canberra.
Tom has enjoyed varied work experiences including positions as a physics and chemistry teacher, superintendent of science, university lecturer, head of a university international office, and CEO of an international education provider. In 2007 he “retired” from full-time work as principal of Canning College, an adult college in Perth, and took up a range of consultancies.
Internationally he has worked in Singapore and, with the marketing of international education and projects, travelled extensively in Asia, India and the Gulf States since 1987.
For recreation, sailing and travelling have taken over from an earlier addiction to flying.
In January 2009 Tom was appointed to the NYSF with the exciting task of putting together the first Forum in Perth, 2010. While enjoying every position he has had in the past “this has to be the best job yet of my career”.
Sandra was born in Nairobi, Kenya, lived in the UK for some 7 years, then immigrated to Australia which she now calls home.
As Operations Manager, Sandra organises the International Programme and many of the providers to the Programme of the NYSF such as the Governor General, Australian Academy of Science, ANU, and UC. Sandra has also enjoyed dealing with the many students and parents since starting with the NYSF back in 1989.
Sandra loves to travel and has been to many a country, such as Papua New Guinea (where she lived for 3 years on sabbatical), a tour with her husband to USA, UK, Europe (a 14 day whirlwind tour including places such as: Paris, Venice and Vienna just to name a few) and New Zealand. She has also travelled to South Africa on two occasions with the NYSF students to attend the National Youth Science Week in Pretoria. Her goal is to go back to Nairobi with her family for a holiday.
With her love of her family and the silver Astra Convertible newly acquired the world is her oyster.
Lucy grew up on a property in Inverell, a rural town in Northern NSW. She attended the NYSF as a student in 2002 and returned as staff in 03,04 and 06. Her university studies took her to Armidale, where she studied a double degree, BScience/Law and also worked for the University of New England’s Marketing and Public Affairs division.
In the Marketing and Communications role Lucy’s job is track down the elusive NYSF Alumni, liaise with our many University and Industry partners and to keep the Alumni and E-Newsletters up to date and entertaining.
Our resident Swede, Birgit loves life.
With friends all over Australia, and all over the World, it’s little wonder she enjoys travelling.
Rado is a past NYSF student from 1993. He completed a BSc (Hons) at The Australian National University, and then went on to complete a PhD in Physics at the same institution.
His current position is Information Manager at the Forum for European-Australian Science and Technology cooperation (FEAST), a role that sees him engage with a wide range of researchers and bureaucrats all over the world. Rado also runs his own i-commerce business.
As IT Manager at the NYSF, he is responsible for all computing needs. In particular, the main server, database, and website.
He is married to the lovely Heather, who is a great friend to the Forum and can often be seen at the Science Dinners during January.
While the forum is run by students from the two years before, they can’t possibly be there in case of emergencies, as well as some personal difficulties. To fill this role, Rotary sends a husband and wife couple each session to act as “Surrogate parents” for those two weeks. Any medical or personal problems that might be encountered will be seen to by these two people.
As well as this, Rotary also provides several meals within the programme at which the students have the opportunity to talk to many Rotarians.
Stuart Bayley
Lucy Brooks
Ken Clark
Debbie Daley
Terry Daley
Henry Drury
Jane Drury
Judy Fetherston
Alan Johnston
Carol Johnston
Kerri Nixon
Jenny Oscar
Samantha Virtue
Darryl Wickham
Elizabeth Wickham
The 14 student staff on each session of the NYSF are all previous participants in the programme generally from the past year or the year previous. On average they are only about a year or two older than the current participants and none of them are yet 20 years old. During their time as students of the programme they will have displayed an ability to relate well to their peers, to promote the philosophy of the NYSF and to respond to the needs of others.
These people have only just finished school and become a great source of information on what its like to go through year 12, to apply to universities, and on what university and various different courses are really all about, from the inside.
The staff are not there to tell people what to do, but rather to be there in case something goes wrong. Almost as if it were advice from those who had gone before.
Over the past year they will have been involved in the planning of the NYSF programme for next January, always aiming to improve on the previous year. Over the ANZAC period, some of the staff and students from the most recent NYSF are involved in a planning session where they brainstorm and implement further initiatives into the programme. It also gives these people a further chance to develop their skills in leadership and social interaction. From this ANZAC meeting the staff are selected to return next January. Not all of those who attend at ANZAC will be present on session in January, due simply to the number of staff places available.
Sarah Ayles
Megan Bleeze
Liana Gibson
Ajeet Hansra
Kerry Jewell
Hayley Kimball
Laura Koefler
Jake Leopold
Josh Lynch
Ryan Swagemakers
Holly Thompson
Richard Xin
The NYSF isn’t only about science, but while that plays a large component, people are just as significant. The connections made in two weeks in January last beyond those two weeks by a long way. Over 160 people become friends with another 160 people, and those friendships continue through year 12 and into university.
One of the aims of the NYSF is to help you build a network of connections with leading companies and organisatons such as CSIRO, Holden, Res Med and the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation. This may help you to gain useful work experience before or during your degree. The value of a science, engineering or technology degree can be greatly enhanced if you complement it with professional experience. As well, the network of colleagues you form at the NYSF will remain with you through your university days and beyond. You can make overseas connections too. The NYSF has developed a very large international programme and students from the NYSF have an opportunity to be chosen to attend forums and seminars in other countries. In turn, students from overseas attend the NYSF in Canberra.
The people that go to the NYSF aren’t your stereotypical science geek at all! To pass through the selection process, an all-rounded approach is required. People who attend might be good at drama, music, public speaking; Perhaps they like to read, or just talk for hours to good friends.
However, the people that attend share common interests: Science, engineering, technology and the pursuit of excellence both in those fields and in their own lives.
When walking into university for the first time, the friends you made a year or two previously will become an instant base from which to work. They’ll be doing the same sorts of courses, and have the same sorts of extra-curricular interests as each other, which makes life much more comfortable.
The participants themselves also become a kind of supportive network. If you need something, chances are that you can look up a phone number and talk to one of those 144 people who have probably been doing something similar. It has been estimated that were a bus to be driven around Australia, it would be no more than 8 hours between stops to visit friends from session, and sometimes more like 8 seconds.
Meeting so many people could prove to be slightly difficult in such a short time, and so there’s lots of different ways of meeting and knowing all 144 participants. Two very important groups to get to know are the activity and floor groups.
The accomodation is arranged in “floors” of 12 people. The accomodation is multisex with one staff member sleeping on the same floor. Many of the evening activities rotate around the floor group, with competitions such as the trivia quiz being held between floors.
Every participant is allocated a “Buddy” who is both on their floor and in their activity group. Generally, these people will come from a distant part of the country, but allocation is almost completely random.
During their trips overseas, the NYSF staff meet hundreds of people from most of the countries in the world. The London International Youth Science Forum (LIYSF), for example, had over 60 different countries attending. Meeting these people is certainly an experience, and meeting them in their own environment gets everyone itching to bring them back and show them how the Australians do things.
And so each year a few people from around the world return our visit. New Zealand, South Africa, Ireland, Britain, Canada… The list goes on. These people take part in the program as participants and fully enjoy their time.