Feb
25
2026
A program designed to encourage high school students from long-disadvantaged backgrounds to consider taking a university degree has logged large year-on-year growth. Teenagers from First Nations, first-in-family and low socio-economic families have been historically less likely to seek a professional credential at university. The Australian Catholic University’s Step Up Into Teaching program fosters their participation …read more
Feb
25
2026
Monash University students were delighted when jailed Iranian wildlife conservation scientist Niloufar Bayani was temporarily set free in 2023, before her permanent release some months later. They had been working on a campaign for Bayani’s freedom for months, and one student had been quietly told about the scientist’s impending release before the news was made …read more
Feb
25
2026
Ensuring the thoughts and preferences of autistic people are at the heart of every policy and research decision is a central tenet at La Trobe University’s Olga Tennyson Autism Research Centre. The first Australian research centre dedicated to autism, OTARC opened in 2008, and there has always been an unwavering focus on establishing what the …read more
Feb
25
2026
Clean and green microalgae production systems can use sunlight to capture carbon dioxide and convert it into a wide range of products including proteins, oils, pigments, bioplastics, nanomaterials, novel carbon-storing building biomaterials, and even pharmaceuticals. Following the global success of solar power and solar heating, research on this transformational “third way” of harnessing the sun’s …read more
Feb
25
2026
Years of missed tax returns, financial abuse, bewilderment, anxiety: clients of Charles Darwin University’s Free Tax Clinic arrive with all manner of financial problems. The clinic assists Northern Territory residents who need help with their tax affairs and can’t afford professional tax advice. One of the clinic’s clients hadn’t filed a tax return for 10 …read more
Nov
4
2025
In this new age of AI-enabled warfare, Australia’s Defence Department needs to rethink the way it procures military equipment, says Professor Toby Walsh, Scientia Professor of Artificial Intelligence at the University of NSW’s Department of Computer Science and Engineering. “The ADF typically puts out a tender, a specification, and throws a lot of money at …read more
Oct
27
2025
Boarding is an “all in” experience at the Anglican Church Grammar School, says headmaster, Dr Alan Campbell. Better known as Churchie, the day and boarding school for boys in Brisbane doesn’t offer weekly boarding or flexible arrangements of that type, Campbell adds, because the school’s policy is to remain with the “traditional model of a …read more
Oct
25
2025
Most of the 180 boys who board at Marist College Ashgrove come from farming families in rural districts, says principal Michael Newman, and only a dozen or so of the school’s boarders are from city-based families in Brisbane. These boys board on a weekly basis – they leave the Brisbane school on Friday and return …read more
Oct
16
2025
Women comprise about 20.9 per cent of full-time Australian defence force personnel and there is no expectation that gender parity will ever be reached. Head of Military Personnel Rear Admiral Tish Van Stralen says while there are important targets for increasing women’s representation, with a goal of at least 25 per cent women in the …read more
Oct
16
2025
As Australia grapples with increasing geo-political uncertainty and rising transnational crime, the Australian Signals Directorate is “probably one of the busiest arms of government”, says Director-General Abigail Bradshaw. Sifting through a never-ceasing storm of foreign electronic communications to gather intelligence, ASD computer experts monitor electronic communications important to Australia and its allies and track down …read more