National Science Week is Australia’s annual celebration of science and technology during the month of August.
Running each year from 13-21 August, it features more than 1000 events around Australia, including those delivered by universities, schools, research institutions, libraries, museums and science centres.
Discover what’s on near you
Sydney, NSW
Sydney Science Trail
The Sydney Science Trail returns this National Science Week with a jam-packed program for schools, community Saturdays and an online trail!
Join a one-day science bonanza jam-packed with workshops, science shows and activities for kids of all ages!
See spectacular science demonstrations, hear about climate change solutions from Dr Karl, expand your understanding of First Nations tools and technologies and get your giggle on with silly science!
Wildlife-loving children can meet furry possums, slithering pythons, preening birds and more at the free Australian wildlife shows. Dinosaur enthusiast in the family? Watch a T-Rex autopsy show, learn about megafauna, and keep your eyes peeled for Winny the Muttaburrasaurus, our roving puppet dinosaur!
The Sydney Science Trail program includes ticketed and free activities – Explore the full program and book your spot for workshops, shows, talks, and the Sydney Science Trail expo!
When: Saturday 20 August, morning session: 10am-1pm | afternoon session: 1pm-5pm
Info and bookings: Sydney Science Trail – The Australian Museum
The Alphabet of Awesome Science
National Science Week with Professors Lexi Con and Noel Edge (the Word Nerd and the Science Freak) for a thrilling voyage through the alphabet – where great big chewy sesquipedalian words inspire mind-blowing scientific surprises.
Professor Lexi Con has curated a curious collection of her favourite words (one for every letter of the alphabet) with each word providing Professor Noel Edge with an inspirational jumping off point for 26 quirky scientific demonstrations – that squish and squirt, float and fly, erupt and explode.
Together, this dad-joke quipping, prank-pulling pair of polished professors strut their stuff in a performance that’s equal parts explosive, messy, spectacular, hilarious, fascinating and gross.
When: 12 – 13 August
Where: Wagga Wagga Civic Theatre
Info and bookings: The Alphabet of Awesome Science
Sydney Science Trail at the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney
Join a family-friendly science bonanza at the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney, the Australian Botanic Garden Mount Annan and the Australian Museum.
Celebrate all things science with free talks, outdoor activities and hands-on science fair stalls. See science come to life with fizzing experiments and hair-raising demonstrations, and get up close with wildlife.
Meet scientists from the Australian Institute of Botanical Science, the University of Technology Sydney and the Centenary Institute as they take you through educational activities that will awe the whole family.
Learn about First Nations medicine, see rare plants in the Orchid Nursery, visit our Plant Clinic and learn about the conservation work of botanic gardens.
When: 13 August
Where: Royal Botanic Garden Sydney
Info and bookings: What’s on in the Royal Botanic Garden and Domain
Science in the Scrub
Science in the Scrub, a free family fun day out at Western Sydney Parklands this National Science Week.
Learn about the Parklands, meet our native animal residents and let your curiosity guide you as Lizard Log transforms into a pop-up village of scientific delights.
Unearth your inner scientist through hands-on, family-friendly science experiments and displays, learn bush survival skills at our bush craft village, and be sure to keep an eye out for the incredible roaming dinosaur, who arrives for a prehistoric tour through the scrub.
Meet real life scientists like geologists, zoologists, astronomers and marine biologists as you visit over 30 awe-inspiring stalls and activity stations. It’s free to attend with food trucks, picnic areas and fun science activities to entertain both adults and children alike.
When: 14 August
Where: Lizard Log, Western Sydney Parklands
Info and bookings: Western Sydney Parklands | Science in the Scrub 2022
Adelaide, SA
National Science Week Adelaide Zoo: Build your own ecosystem
Build your own ecosystem
Create your own mini ecosystem, a mesocosm terrarium, and learn about how the zoo controls micro climates to keep environments suitable for animals and plants.
You’ll be led by the Adelaide Zoo team to create while hearing about how we look after species that live in specialised environments like the Yellow Seahorse, the Magnificent Tree Frog or the Rough Scaled Python. As you build the layers, you’ll get an understanding of how environmental changes affect ecosystems.
When: Saturday 13 – Sunday 14 August – 2x 90-minute sessions per day at 10am and 2pm
Info and bookings: National Science Week: Build your own ecosystem
Marine Science VR Shark Cage Dive with Shakka the Great White Shark
Take a virtual journey under the sea into a world of marine science at this detailed exhibition of the longest recorded Great White Shark landed in South Australia. Shakka was accidentally caught and drowned in local waters near Port Germein when she was just 23 years.
You can learn about the marine science that is helping us better understand these amazing creatures in this just-upgraded VR Shark Cage Dive experience that takes shark science to the next level without the need to get wet or face real sharks. Be mesmerized as manta rays and other marine life glide gracefully by, preparing you for the next level of suspense and surprise.
When: 1 Aug – 31 Aug
Where: Port Pirie Tourism and Arts Centre
Info and bookings: Tourism & Arts Centre
Introduction to Telescopes & Binoculars
In this astronomy education session we look at the most essential equipment used by amateur astronomers: telescopes and binoculars. The telescope for some is their first foray into astronomy. We look at different types of telescopes and discover some of the mysteries of optics. This may help those who are wondering what type of scope to buy as a beginners instrument.
When: 3 August
Where: The Braggs Lecture Theatre, The University of Adelaide
Bookings and info: Astronomy Education
Science Alive!
Science Alive! really is all kinds of awesome and the largest of its kind in the country. Join us for a fun family day out and discover how science and technology influences our everyday lives.
With over 80 exhibitors including all the big names in science and technology, experience interactive and dynamic displays, plus spectacular science shows and performances for all ages. There’s something to spark the curiosity in all of us.
When: 6-7 August
Where: Adelaide Showgrounds
Info and bookings: Science Alive!
Melbourne, VIC
The National Science Quiz
Join a fantastic night of science and fun with The National Science Quiz.
Hosted by Charlie Pickering from ABC-TV’s The Weekly and joined by some of Australia’s top scientists with our special guest team captains, comedian Lawrence Leung and ABC weather presenter Nate Byrne, each team will battle it out for the honour of being this year’s National Science Quiz champions.
When: 7 August
Where: Edge Theatre, Federation Square Melbourne
Info and bookings: National Science Quiz – Much more than trivia!
Planetarium Nights
The Melbourne Planetarium reawakens after hours for adults only with a stellar line-up of fulldome film screenings.
Journey through fluorescent coral reefs, marvel at the cosmos, dive into black holes and get ready for an alien invasion in the latest Melbourne Planetarium showcase of films on the dome.
There are two screenings a night. The 7.30pm session focuses on astronomy and may feature What’s in the Sky Tonight (WITST), a presenter-led tour through the night sky. The 9pm session features a fulldome art film offering an immersive voyage into unseen worlds. So, whether you are into science or art, or both, we’ve got you covered.
In August, celebrate National Science Week at Planetarium Nights! We’re exploring rare and rarely seen astronomical events such as a total solar eclipse, supernovae, and gravitational waves. Astronomers have a strange relationship to the idea of ‘rare’; something we seldom see on Earth may be commonplace at a universal scale.
When: 5 – 26 August
Where: Scienceworks / Melbourne Planetarium
Info and bookings: Planetarium Nights – Scienceworks
THINK SCIENCE! at Old Gippstown
Come see the wonders of science at Old Gippstown’s THINK SCIENCE! event. We will have a large range of engaging activities and stalls for both children and adults alike. Our heritage park, where we are hosting the event, has 8 acres of space to hold stalls and activities and we are filling it up quickly.
From a live butterfly house, to a native animal petting zoo, to smoothie bikes, and glass blowing demonstrations, this event has a little bit of everything to celebrate science. We look forward to helping our community learn about all different aspects of science and to providing a great day out. There will also be food vans and a café on site.
When: 13 August
Where: Old Gippstown
Info and bookings: Events at Old Gippstown
Science on Show at Melbourne Museum
During National Science Week we’re bringing out some of our rarest and most fascinating objects and specimens at Melbourne Museum for Science on Show.
Science on Show features curators and scientists delivering pop up talks on their research, rare artefacts and the stories behind them.
One of the rarest dinosaur fossils in the world – a near complete Triceratops skeleton is on display for your palaeontological pleasure.
When: 13 – 21 August
Where: Melbourne Museum
Info and Bookings: Science on Show – Melbourne Museum
SWARM at the Science Gallery
From Saturday 13 August 2022 you can enter SWARM, a space that uncovers the very essence of human behaviour and questions what drives us to be social.
There are more of us now than ever before – 7.9 billion people across the entire globe – with most of us now living highly urbanised lives in an ever-growing network of cities. We are also increasingly connected through a technological frenzy of social media and digital interfaces, allowing us to share our lives to hordes of followers, to crowdsource ideas, digitise workforces, and be part of global political movements.
Humans are not alone in our collective social behavior. From swarms of social insects, murmurations of birds, to molecular movements, swarming behavior underlies nearly everything. We are also seeing swarm algorithms driving our future lives, in which we will see swarms of drones and nanorobots helping (or hindering) the very essence of what it means to be human.
Through a series of collaborative exhibits and projects, SWARM delves into the science and art behind what it means to be part of a pack. You’re encouraged to reflect on your role in the collective. Will you go it alone? Or join the swarm?
When: 13 Aug – 3 Dec
Where: Science Gallery, Melbourne
Info and bookings: SWARM exhibition opens August 13
Queensland
Switch on to Science
Join us to explore how scientific knowledge is discovered, and how technology uses that science to make lots of very useful things. Using our displays of vintage equipment, which are simple and easy to understand, we will talk about the science that makes them work, the stories about how they were invented, and what we use today.
We will look at marshmallow towers, glass blowing, blacksmithing, steam engines, telegraph, telephones, radio, structures, colours and dyes, music, photography, minerals and gemstones, printing and more. These are hands-on activities that you can touch and try.
Then enjoy the Laser show by guest presenter Ruben Meerman, aka The Surfing Scientist, who will take us on a spectacular science educational journey. Celebrate National Science Week’s theme Glass: more than meets the eye and the United Nations International Year of Glass with a light-bending presentation about the wonders of optics and photonics.
When: 8 August
Where: Redland Museum
Info and bookings: Switch on to Science Tickets
The science of butterfly food
Through Butterfly Botany, The Science of Butterfly Food, the Australian Butterfly Sanctuary at Kuranda aims to grow participant’s love and interest of science and in particular botany.
Scientific talks will be held by our resident butterfly experts and will focus on caterpillar food, where it is found, why it is important to the lifecycle of butterflies. Talks will be feature samples of various caterpillar food plants, butterfly eggs that have been laid on them and information on how to feed caterpillars. These talks will be held twice each day on 13 – 14 and 20 – 21 August.
When: 13 – 21 Aug
Where: Australian butterfly Sanctuary
Info and bookings: Australian Butterfly Sanctuary
Moreton Minds: How science can save the world
Discover how science can save the world in our latest free panel discussion.
From fires, floods, and other catastrophes, there is no shortage of problems facing humanity and our environment. The role science can play in helping us tackle them is a hot debate.
Join superstar of STEM Dr Alexandra Campbell, ecologist extraordinaire Dr Ben Gilby, and the bright light of chemistry Dr Ryo Sekine for a panel discussion about how scientists contribute to the survival of the human race.
When: 17 Aug
Where: Redcliffe Library
Info and bookings: Moreton Minds: How science can save the world
Perth, WA
Scitech
Visit Scitech this August for a day filled with brand new shows and pop-up science.
Head to the planetarium for Birth of Planet Earth, the spectacular new show that tells the tale of our planet’s origins.
Join us to explore some of the greatest questions in science today: How did the Earth come into being? What does its history tell us about our chances of finding other worlds that are like our special planet? How did life on Earth begin?
Jump into the Hot vs Cold show to discover how the hidden properties of materials affect how heat forms, flows and feels with this dramatic demonstration of thermodynamics. It is Hot vs Cold – can you predict who will win?
Or investigate things that make noise in the Quiet as a Mouse puppet show. In this new show with a brand new puppet, families will be invited to imagine themselves small enough to fit through a mousehole and into the home of an Australian jumping mouse who lives in the wall of a small child’s room.
When: 1 – 31 Aug
Where: Scitech Discovery Centre
Info: Scitech: Science Exhibitions
Biggest Science Lab Ever
Celebrate National Science Week with the Biggest Science Lab ever at WA Museum Boola Bardip.
Whether you’re a science novice or nerd, we’ve got some enjoyable events for the whole family. Make sure you don’t miss anything across this bonanza weekend by following the science trail to all our activity spaces.
Look out for maker spaces, drop-in zones, pop-up presentations and lectures from experts in their field plus much, much more.
When: 13 – 14 Aug
Where: WA Museum Boola Bardip
Info and bookings: Biggest Science Lab Ever
Science After Dark
Science After Dark is a science fair run at the Museum of the Goldfields each year over National Science Week. The event showcases what mining companies, the council and other organisations in the region are doing.
The objective of this program is to encourage an interest in science among the public and encourage children to be fascinated by the world we live in.
When: 18 Aug
Where: Museum of the Goldfields
Info: Tours & events | Western Australian Museum
Hobart, TAS
Join a NASA astrobiologist and 150 roving scientists for a drink – Hobart, TAS
NASA astrobiologist David Flannery, physicist Dr Karl Kruszelnicki, science journalist Natasha Mitchell, climate activist Craig Reucassel and other boffins will be up for a drink and a chat in Hobart.
About 150 roving scientists will be on the loose, talking to punters as part of Beaker Street Festival of arts and science at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery.
They will also give talks and workshops and enjoy some science art, live music in a bar and Tassie food and drink.
When: Friday 5 August – Sunday 7 August.
Where: Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery Dunn Pl, Hobart
Event details: https://www.scienceweek.net.au/event/beaker-street-festival-2/hobart
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