Funding sparks 40 citizen science projects

Forty community projects, from insect and koala research to waste management and space education, are to be funded a total of $660,320 under the Queensland Government's latest Engaging Science Grants.

"The Engaging Science Grants help to increase participation in science-based activities and engagement between scientists and the community," Science Minister Meaghan Scanlon said.

"Through the grants, we also support events and activities that inspire students to study STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) subjects, promote STEM careers, and engage the wider community to increase awareness of the amazing science happening in Queensland.

"The grants also support citizen science projects that contribute to important Queensland research, with successful applicants receiving funding of up to $20,000."

Ms Scanlon said the grants have been awarded to schools, universities, citizen science groups and other organisations that are passionate about connecting students and other Queenslanders with science and scientists.

"The Office of the Queensland Chief Scientist has allocated more than $2 million in Engaging Science Grants to 189 grant recipients since 2016 with more than half of these supported projects located in regional areas," Minister Scanlon said.

"In addition, since 2019 the Queensland Government has allocated almost $1.2 million to 43 Queensland Citizen Science Grant recipients across the state for longer-term citizen science projects ."

The successful applicants in the latest round of Engaging Science Grants are:

• Australian Marine Science Association - North Queensland, which received $20,000 for its project "Indigenous workshop and engagement with marine scientists" that will deliver a week-long series of activities in Cairns to promote Indigenous engagement in Australian marine science.
• Baringa State Primary School, which received $18,000 for its project "Turtley awesome" where, working with The Sunshine Coast Council Coastal Discovery Van and volunteers from Turtle Care and University of Sunshine Coast, students will investigate the key stages in the life cycle of a sea turtle and the threats that face them.
• Bats and Trees Society of Cairns, which received $19,999 for its project "BatSoc community engagement and citizen science" that will encourage locals and visitors to participate in citizen science events such as bat monitoring, while outcomes of the various projects will be presented at the annual Cairns Bat Festival.
• ‍Brisbane South State Secondary College, which received $19,696 for its project "Drosophila research education laboratory" that will involve a series of activities including establishing a Drosophila (fruit fly) Research Education Laboratory at the school in partnership with QIMR Berghofer.
• Burnside State High School, which received $9,000 for its project "Creative engineering autonomous vehicle" where students will undertake a STEM project to design and build an autonomous vehicle.
• Catholic Education Diocese of Rockhampton, which received $7,800 for its project "Waste watch" that aims to reduce waste in schools and across the community and to explore and share alternative and sustainable methods of reducing what goes to landfill.
• Citizens of the Great Barrier Reef, which received $20,000 for its project "Great reef census", which will engage schools to analyse reef survey images to help assess reef health, with funding to engage citizen scientists from schools across Queensland, in particular those living along the reef from Bundaberg to the Torres Strait, including at least one school from a predominantly Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander community.
• CQUniversity, which received $14,551 for its project "Drones and developing agriculture technology knowledge" that partners with Isis District State High School to deliver an agricultural technology drone project for adolescents.
• CQUniversity, which received $19,942 for its project "Smart grubs in schools" that will provide a series of activities for Park Avenue Primary School (Rockhampton) students that helps inform them about food waste solutions other than landfills.
• Desert Channels Queensland, which received $3,650 for its project "Desert Channels Queensland citizen science waterbug project" to engage school children in the National Waterbug Blitz public database while providing ongoing information about the health of waterholes, rivers and town water reservoirs within the Lake Eyre Basin catchment.
• Earth Guardians, which received $12,700 for its project "STEM for Earth" that will enable students from 10 Cairns schools to map the biodiversity of their school and environs to be displayed as augmented reality tags to wider stakeholders.
• Grand Company, which received $20,000 for its project "Grand opportunities in STEM" that will increase awareness of, and engagement with Queensland science careers and industry opportunities among year 9-12 students across Queensland.
• Griffith University, which received $15,000 for its project "Monitoring and DNA profiling koalas", which will engage high school students to monitor and collect data to reveal movements and family relationships of koalas initially in Toohey Forest (and then expanded), to help build Australia's first long-term citizen science koala DNA program.
• Griffith University, which received $18,889 for its project "STEM program about space exploration (SPASE)" where 11 secondary schools from south-east Queensland will have the opportunity to work collaboratively with Griffith University and Gilmour Space Technologies to build and launch a low earth orbit prototype satellite.
• Griffith University, which received $20,000 for its project "Smart environmental sensing Australia" that partners with Substation33 to engage the community in a citizen science initiative to proactively monitor local waterways. The three collaborating partner schools are Park Ridge State High School (Logan), Corinda State High School (Brisbane), and - Numinbah Valley Environmental Education Centre (Gold Coast).
• Gulf Savannah NRM, which received $18,980 for its project "Gliders in the spotlight" that allows secondary school students to join with James Cook University scientists in nightly fauna surveys for the Greater Glider as well as a range of ancillary activities.
• Gympie Regional Libraries, which received $14,140 for its project "Gympie Regional Libraries science outreach project" to provide additional STEM learning opportunities to the children and their families who live throughout the Gympie region.
• integratedSTEM, which received $19,954 for its project "Innovate in AgTech regional STEM tour" comprising STEM career tours and an "Ag-Innovations" research night in the Darling Downs-Maranoa region.
• Invasive Species Council, which received $20,000 for its project "Biosecurity monitoring and reporting of invasive ants" that involves citizen scientists helping to locate infestations of the highly invasive yellow crazy ant in the Townsville region to support eradication efforts.
• Kuranda Envirocare, which received $19,847 for its project "Frog friendly waterways" that will build on the organisation's frog monitoring project across creek sites by introducing more students and community members to a variety of activities to help preserve the critically endangered Kuranda Tree Frog.
• Mackay Regional Council, which received $16,795 for its project "Leaper Reef - diversity and resilience study" that focuses on coral species on Leaper Reef, near Sarina Beach, giving citizens, local government, industry and environment organisations an awareness of the coral life inhabiting this area.
• Mooloolah River Waterwatch and Landcare, which received $16,900 for its project "Bugs to the rescue…. and rescuing bugs!" to increase public awareness and action to facilitate science-based solutions to the threats to the fragile riparian areas of the Mooloolah River.
• Mudgeeraba Creek State School, which received $4,950 for its project "STARS & Sista's in STEM" to support the STARS (Scientists Taking Astronomy to Regional Schools) program to engage rural students and their families through a series of visits by research scientists and PhD students in astronomy and astrophysics.
• North Queensland Natural History Group, which received $17,412 for its project "Finch monitoring and awareness on country" that will provide "on country" surveying and monitoring events, with training for participants and a focus on the Gouldian Finch, which is endangered in Queensland.
• Parramatta State School (Cairns), which received $7,793 for its project "Yellow crazy ant detectives" where STEM Academy students will collect data on the distribution and spread of the ants to contribute to current eradication projects.
• Power of Engineering, which received $19,500 for its project "Engineering in-a-Box 2.0" that will build on the pilot program of the Engineering in-a-Box teacher resource, developed to showcase the role engineers play in their own community, demonstrating different disciplines, reaching up to 70 remote schools in Queensland.
• Royal Australian Chemical Institute, which received $3,100 for its project "RACI Queensland youth lecture" that provides an opportunity for a practising chemist to visit schools across south-east and far-north Queensland to promote education and careers in chemistry.
• St Benedict's Catholic School (Townsville), which received $19,983 for its project "St Benedict's re-building biodiversity project" that will support a series of activities including a transect study of local habitat, a study of flora and fauna using a citizen science app and rehabilitation of local bushland.
• STEAMfesta, which received $19,990 for its project "STEAMfesta Robotique and Battle at the Brolga", a series of interactive workshops across Maryborough and Hervey Bay aimed at developing students' and community participants skills in costumery, robotics, 3D printing, Arduino programming and futuristic gadgetry.
• STEM Avenue, which received $7,505 for its project "Interview a scientist" that consists of a series of activities that engage secondary students from Brisbane schools with scientists from Griffith University.
• The Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Foundation, which received $19,744 for its project "Deadly Rockets" that will deliver aerospace STEM innovation workshops for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students and other young people in the Bundaberg, Gladstone, Gayndah, Kingaroy, Cairns and Thursday Island regions.
• The University of Queensland, which received $19,943 for its project "Study Fresh: air quality science" that will see Darling Downs and Western Downs students and teachers build their own indoor air quality sensors, monitor air quality data in their classrooms and through reflection on the data, learn ways they can improve it.
• The University of Queensland, which received $20,000 for its project "Worm power for sustainable community farming" that will study the transformation of organic waste products into biobased fertilisers through vermi-composting with the Gympie and District Landcare Group.
• The University of Queensland, which received $20,000 for its statewide project "What are my native bees doing?" where students, teachers and the general public will be engaged in meaningful data collection to answer a series of research questions about native stingless bee colonies.
• Toogoolawa Schools, which received $19,700 for its project "Second chance nestboxes science and habitat project" where wildlife nest boxes and monitor cameras will be used by Toogoolawa School students to gain valuable experience and knowledge about the natural world, biodiversity and connections within the environment.
• Treeforce Association, which received $18,700 for its project "Treeforce school engagement focussed programs", allowing the organisation to work with local schools, as well as local university and TAFE students studying conservation and ecosystem management in the Cairns region.
• Trinity Bay State High School, which received $20,000 for its project "Young Indigenous women's STEM development project" that features a series of weekly STEM events and once-a-semester citizen science activities for year 7 to 9 at Trinity Bay State High school.
• University of the Sunshine Coast, which received $18,786 for its project "Coast4D monitoring program" that aims to use photos collected with a smartphone to frequently and cost-effectively monitor changes in dune vegetation and beach volume.
• University of the Sunshine Coast, which received $19,991 for its project "Bite me! Insect predation and (micro)habitat in playgrounds" involving 10 rural schools focused on insects to monitor environmental change.
• Watergum, which received $17,380 for its project "Gold Coast Mini-BioBlitzes 2022" allowing the general public the rare opportunity to join scientists and experts on environmental surveys and assist with the collection and analysis of real scientific data.

Queensland Chief Scientist Professor Hugh Possingham said these grants would expand the opportunities for Queenslanders to participate in local science events like robotics workshops and careers fairs as well as citizen science projects to help scientists collect data.

"This participation will enable more Queenslanders to value science for some of the many things it does – expanding cultural horizons, improving public debate, creating jobs and protecting the environment," Professor Possingham said.

"We live in a complex world, and it's vital people can discern fact from fiction when they make decisions.

"It's also important that young people are inspired to study STEM subjects and pursue STEM careers, as we know Queensland has to import many of its highly-skilled workers from overseas.

"Thank you to those project leaders who will work with local communities to encourage more Queenslanders to love science for its own sake, and for what it can do," Professor Possingham said.