Scientists, experts and event organisers are available for interview before and throughout the ‘week’.
Here are Regional NSW highlights from the national festival that reaches more than 3 million people through 2,500+ events. National Science Week will run 15 to 23 August 2026.
Direct contact details for each event listed below and online.
Contact national publicist Tanya Ha for contacts and tips: [email protected] or 0404 083 863.
Highlights across New South Wales:
- Meet nature’s glue: the plants holding the ground together – Armidale
- Saving lives at sea – the science behind marine rescue – Port Macquarie
- Snowy Hydro invites students to run an energy company – online, via Cooma
- Start your engines: 150 students race solar cars – Charlestown
- Could you spot a koala? – They need you – Bermagui
- Robots, stunt clown, garbology, and the giant inflatable Poo Palace - Newcastle
- Flower power: what is Australia’s most amazing wildflower?
- NSW launch event with Indigenous researchers: Tuesday 11 August in Wollongong.
More on these below including contact details for interview.
Also see our highlights in and around Sydney.
Or find more stories in your area at ScienceWeek.net.au/events.
Visit the Media Centre for all media releases and images.
NSW state launch: Tuesday 11 August in Wollongong
Science and Country. Weaving Knowledge Together
6pm launch event at the University of Wollongong Science Space with:
- Gundungurra woman and human geographer Dr Crystal Arnold, who investigates land care and weed management through the perspective of healing Country.
- Jerrinja/Yuin man, artist and Aboriginal education lecturer Peter Hewitt whose work focuses on embedding Country and Indigenous knowledge within research and education.
- Awabakal and Gamilaraay academic A/Prof Anthony McKnight, Director of Culture and Community at Early Start and Associate Professor within UOW's Indigenous Strategy Unit.
- Anatomist A/Prof Theresa Larkin from the Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health, whose research focuses on clinical anatomy, hormones and health.
- Cancer geneticist and NSW Deputy Chief Scientist and Engineer Dr Darren Saunders.
Where: Science Space, Innovation Campus, University of Wollongong, Innovation Way, North Wollongong
Media enquiries: Meredith Hall, [email protected] or 0421 614 145.
National Science Week in NSW: regional highlights
Meet nature’s glue: the plants holding the ground together – Armidale
University of New England botanists will set up a pop-up science stall at Armidale Farmers Markets, inviting visitors to become “seed detectives” and discover how plant roots act like nature’s glue, holding soil together and stopping it washing away.
The hands-on stall lets visitors examine a wide variety of Australian seeds – from ones that hitch a ride on animal fur to others that parachute through the air – and use interactive models to see soil erosion in action.
Real UNE botanists will be on hand to answer questions about how plants eat, breathe and survive, as part of the University’s Discovery Voyager outreach program.
Sunday 9 August: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/armidale-farmers-markets-pop-up-botany-science-stall/armidale
Media enquiries: Aaron Creamer, [email protected] or 0413 925 930.
Saving lives at sea – the science behind marine rescue - Port Macquarie
How do life-jackets fill up with air. How do emergency beacons know where you are, and where do flood waters like to go first. For the volunteers of Port Macquarie Marine Rescue, this is the science and technology they use to save lives.
The Marine Rescue team is throwing open their boat shed to explore high-tech equipment, high-stakes sea rescues and give some hands-on physics demonstrations (i.e., how to tie a really, really good knot).
Saturday 15 August: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/the-science-behind-saving-lives-at-sea/port-macquarie
Media enquiries: Lilly De Belle, [email protected] or 0434 762 544.
Snowy Hydro invites students to run an energy company – online
Block by Block hands students 20 blocks and the role of an energy company decision-maker, challenging them to prioritise sustainability issues from renewable energy to community safety – until a surprise “curveball” scenario forces real-time trade-off.
The free interactive lesson, developed with Snowy Hydro’s Snowy STEM Academy, is designed as a 30–50-minute session for years 7–10 (adaptable for years 6–12) and explores STEM careers and the intersection of science, business and ethics. Teachers register to receive the resource, which stays available after National Science Week.
Available from 13 August (online in-class resource): www.scienceweek.net.au/event/block-by-block-building-a-sustainable-future-with-snowy-hydro
Media enquiries: Erica Gibbs, Snowy STEM Academy, [email protected].
Start your engines: 150 students race solar cars – Charlestown
Up to 150 students from 10 local schools will become clean energy engineers for a day at the Muswellbrook Solar Car STEM Challenge, hosted at the STEM Innovation Lab in the Donald Horne Building.
Working in teams, students will rotate through five hands-on stations: adjusting gears and solar panels on professional UNSW solar car models, exploring a mobile Net Zero Education Trailer, learning how “urban mining” recycles metals from old phones and gadgets, and sharing their views on clean energy in a quick survey.
Every participating school will take home Solar Engineering Kits so students can keep building and testing ahead of the Newcastle EV Challenge in September.
Friday 21 August. Event details: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/muswellbrook-future-foundries-solar-speed-and-circular-science/charlestown
Media enquiries: Peter Melling, [email protected] or 0490 101 501
Peter Melling available for media interviews.
Could you spot a koala? – They need you - Bermagui
Spotting a koala sitting at the top of a gum tree can be pretty hard when you’re standing on the ground, but members of the Koala Action Network have a whole range of tricks to help, from high-tech acoustic monitoring to the very low tech (looking for koala poo).
Accurately counting koalas in the wild is crucial for efforts to help their populations regrow after devastating losses from bushfires and other threats, but conservation efforts across the South Coast are still held back by patchy or incomplete surveys. The Network will train you so you can learn to find koalas in your local area, log your sightings and be a citizen scientist, filling in the critical missing pieces.
Saturday 22 August. Event details: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/koalas-in-our-backyard/bermagui
Media enquiries: Tamlyn Magee, [email protected] or 0411 101 168.
Robots, stunt clown, garbology, and the giant inflatable Poo Palace - Newcastle, NSW
- Follow food from lips to lavatory in a giant inflatable Poo Palace
- Meet stunt clown The Pretty Amazing Jono
- Climb inside a City of Newcastle Garbage truck and talk to the driver
- Build and race your own mini solar car
- See humanoid, dog and combat robots
- Plus, shark eggs, video games, explosive stage shows, science-themed baked goods, and more...
The Hunter Science Festival is a free public event held annually at Newcastle Museum. It’s full day of hands-on science, live shows and interactive displays, presented with help from local researchers, councils, universities, community groups, small businesses and charities. The event celebrates science in the community, promotes science as a career choice, and showcases local science achievements and personalities. Highlights include science demonstrations, Indigenous science, The Bubble Laboratory, roving entertainment, and popular attractions such as Hunter Medical Research Institute’s Poo Palace.
Sunday 23 August: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/hunter-science-festival-4/newcastle
Media enquiries: Michelle Meehan, [email protected] or 0438 325 303.
What do you think is Australia’s most amazing wildflower? – online
ABC Science wants Australians to discover our hidden “flower power”, the kind you find in botanical gardens rather than hippie communes.
With the help of experts, ABC Science has selected ten flowering plants from across the country.
Not just another banksia or waratah, but blooms from the unsung understory that also do something unbelievable. These ten wildflowers are more than just a pretty face; each one hides a surprising superpower. The public will decide which is the most amazing.
Voting to decide Australia’s most amazing wildflower will start just before National Science Week in August, with the winning bloom announced on Friday August 21 in a live broadcast on Radio National.
The shortlist:
- Bladderwort (Utricularia) – Traps and digests insects inside tiny floating “bladders”
- Star flower (Calytrix) – Changes colour like a ‘traffic-light’ to direct pollinators
- Flannel flower (Actinotus) – Blooms from bushfire ashes like a floral phoenix
- Flying duck orchid (Caleana) – Traps insects for pollination and looks like a duck!
- Mulla mulla (Ptilotus) – Thrives, and flowers, in tough, hot arid environments
- Murnong/yam daisy (Microseris) – Provided a significant year-round nutritious food for Indigenous people
- Richea scoparia – Survives extreme cold and feeds snow skinks
- Creamy candle (Stackhousia) – Looks like a candle and emits a sweet fragrance at night
- Triggerplant (Stylidium) – Hits insects with pollen using a catapult-like trigger
- Underground orchid (Rhizanthella) – Lives underground and looks like a tiny demogorgan.
Wednesday 5 August – Friday 21 August. To find out more and vote, go to www.abc.net.au/wildflowers.
For interviews with Dr Ann Jones, contact Rob Caulley, ABC Publicity, [email protected].
About National Science Week
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.
