Teamwork fuels Ambassador success

Let’s hear from Madeline Davies about her favourite activities during the program, the challenges she faced, and the advice she has for the next generation of Science Ambassadors.

What school did you attend and when were you a UQ Science Ambassador?

Everton Park State High School and was a UQ Science Ambassador in 2019.

What types of activities did you deliver as an Ambassador?

We organised a lot of different activities ranging from an annual space (egg) drop competition, astronomy trivia for National Science Week, excursions to the Brisbane Science Festival, and visiting the QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute with other students interested in science.

Can you share the details of a successful activity and how you ran it?

One of my favourite activities that my peers and I organised was the egg drop competition. Despite it seeming like a simple task, there was a lot of planning involved with many meetings to agree on the structure, materials, and requirements of the designs. Looking back now, I believe it was a success through our meticulous planning and team work on the day. Without working together as group and listening to each other, this activity and our future one could not have been successful.

What was the highlight of your time as a UQ Science Ambassador?

Coming from a smaller school, there weren’t many opportunities to explore what science research was and its impact in our community. But through the program it gave us a push to explore the science opportunities around Brisbane and eventually lead us to the QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute. There, we were able to work with real scientists and explore the importance of their work on the world and the people within it, which was a big deciding factor in choosing to study science at university.

Describe an activity that didn’t go so well and why?

The least engaged activity was by far the astronomy trivia. There were quite a few reasons why this event didn’t work, but the most influential factor was how the answers were collected. There were trivia sheets in our library, with a response box for students to submit in their own time, however, many students forgot about this, and it led to a low response rate. This was a result of us not thinking of our audience (high school students) to choose the best way of delivering the activity, which in our school would have been to organise a set time for students to participate and run the activity with structure and guidance.

How did you manage that at the time?

We did include reminders in the school notices about the trivia in the library to remind students, and visiting year level assemblies to encourage them to participate. Despite this, there was still a low number of students which engaged. But this just fuelled us to create and run better activities for our school for future events.

What skills did you develop as a UQ Science Ambassador that have helped at uni or might translate to a career post-university?

There were many skills which I developed through the program and have truly aided me in my time at university and in my professional life. I developed my teamwork skills through working collaboratively to run and plan activities which has helped in both group assignments for uni and working in a professional environment to plan events for science engagement. Additionally, it really drove my overall understanding of the importance of engaging the community in science and I learnt how to adapt activities for different purposes and groups, which is a skill that I cherish to this day.

What advice would you give to current UQ Science Ambassadors?

Without trying you can’t change or do anything. From my own experience, it was difficult to get interest from other students to engage and participate in science-related activities, but through persevering and trying to make change in my school, we were able to engage some of the students in science and pass on our love and enjoyment of science. It’s definitely tough in the beginning, but push through and you can achieve anything.