 All right guys, I can see a few more people are continuing to join but we might kick off Good evening everyone Welcome to Adelaide STEM careers night and my name is Tom Brown and I'm from the Faculty of Engineering, Computer and Mathematical Sciences And my name is Ari. I'm from the Faculty of Sciences. We'll be your MCs for the evening. Thank you all so much for joining us We're really really excited to have you here So throughout the session tonight You're going to be learning about some of the new and exciting developments in the fields of science technology engineering and mathematics You have the opportunity to hear from our industry representatives and alumni and much more Before we do go any further. I would like to thank you all for joining us We have guests attending from all across Australia into state and broader as such I would like to acknowledge the traditional owners on the land in which we meet but also pay our respects to all first nations people Ari and I are coming to you live from the North Terrace campus Which is built upon the land of the Ghana people traditional custodian for the Adelaide Plains region and it's on this land That the North Terrace rose worthy and white campuses are built upon So we'd like to acknowledge the ongoing relationship the Ghana people have with their land and pay our respects to Ghana elders, bars, present and emerging So Just as a little bit of housekeeping. We do have a chat function available Through zoom if you put your mouse towards the bottom of the screen Please use that for general technical questions or concerns So if you're having trouble hearing us at any point pop it in the chat We've got Nicole and Sarah monitoring the chat for anything there If you do have a question for tom myself or any of one from The session tonight including our fantastic graduates in the panel who you hear from a little bit later Can you please make sure you type it into the q&a section rather than the chat Your question will get lost in the chat if you've had a look at it all it's already flowing quite quickly So if you have a question for any of the speakers, please make sure you put it in the q&a section So tom and I are going to give you a little bit of an overview And then you'll get to hear from that panel a little bit later on So as the name of this event suggests we we are here to talk about STEM careers and the world in which these careers are going to play a pivotal role So to summarize the STEM professional Uses the principles of science and mathematics to correct change in the world in which we live But it's much more than that as well A STEM professional is someone who is curious someone who utilizes that creativity to look at the world around them Address the issues that exist and bring a critical analytical mindset to the table to solve some of these problems Up on screen what you can see is 17 goals So as I said a STEM professional in essence is a problem solver and the world's facing so many challenges right now And it's the future STEM professionals who are really going to be leading that charge and solving some of these challenges So as I mentioned up on screen at the moment You can see that there are 17 goals that united nations have identified And these are the 17 challenges that they have seen that we need to tackle by 2030 to have a more equitable and sustainable future So most of tonight's session is really going to be helping you understand how a STEM professional Has the ability to tackle some of these major issues as well as how the university of adelaide is tackling some of these issues head on ourselves One awesome problem that you're not going to have to tackle Is the is employability So with rapid development of artificial intelligence automation data analytics and more the world's currently experiencing the fourth industrial revolution or industry 4.0 The fantastic outcome of this is STEM careers are growing faster than any other industry And due to high demand for these skilled graduates the top five highest paid jobs in adelaide currently within STEM industries and the bottom two graphics Talk about you know the actual demand for and also the need for the skills So not only are the skills in high demand, but they're really highly valued by employers So these skills are much more than just your discipline knowledge There are transferable skills that are taught in all STEM fields these skills include active learning critical thinking Creativity interpersonal skills because these are the attributes That are key to being a successful STEM professional At the university of adelaide We are in a really great position to to help you get into those STEM careers and to help you be really successful In whichever field you choose to pursue So we're actually ranked top 150 in the world and number one in the state for STEM So we are very much in the lead In this area and as well a hundred percent of our STEM research is rated at or above world standard So those are actually the two top rankings for excellence in research Australia Now I know there's probably some year 12s in the room that as soon as I said the word research It's crinkled up their faces a little bit because of the research project but this is a really important thing to talk about because That research is actually done by the people who are going to be teaching you when you come and study with us So your teachers are the people who are driving their fields forward. They're actively contributing to the research That is helping to progress society forward and as a result of that you're learning from people at the cutting edge You're getting to take advantage of their industry insights and industry connections So it's a really great way for you to get a bit of extra support and a bit of a leg up when you're going through And looking at employment. So we really take pride in the fact that our academics are actively contributing to solving the world problems Over the next few slides what we're going to do is talk about some of the degrees that we have available We've carved them up into Intersections now to be really honest with you We have far too many degrees in the STEM field to be able to cover in the time we have with you today So we've just picked out a few that are relating to each area We've also put up some of the relevant majors So majors are essentially a specialization available within a particular degree That you can then go and get an extra layer of study in so let's say for example You're doing mechanical engineering and you choose to major in mechatronics You're graduating as a mechanical engineer and you have a specialization in mechatronics So you're getting that little bit of an extra deep dive. So again, we're only going to be able to cover a few different areas today But it will hopefully get you started and then of course you're more than welcome to ask us questions afterwards If there are any areas or degrees that you're interested in that didn't get mentioned So the first area that we're going to be looking at is agriculture food and wine So agriculture is a huge industry for south australia and in fact australia It's one of our major exports and it's a really really important industry to to the australian economy Now one thing that many people get confused about with agriculture is They generally make the assumption that agriculture is all about working on farms and working in the fields And while there is certainly that element to it, it's actually one of the most rapidly technologically advancing industries in the country I won't spoil too much. We do have a graduate working in in the field here For the panel today, but There's really great examples about using satellite technology to monitor the health of crops introducing remote sensing technologies So there's quite a large amount of of industrial development in agriculture food and wine The beauty of this industry as well is just that it's um It's constantly constantly evolving and as a result of that there is all these new job opportunities available. So Um at any one time there's typically five jobs available per agriculture graduate So one of the challenges that is facing the agricultural industry is making sure that we're actually producing Enough food to suit an ever-growing population. We have more people on the planet than ever before We need to be able to make sure that we can feed them. Um, and so that kind of ties us into our degrees So one of the challenges that we're looking at in some of our ag focused degrees Is how we can better improve the quality of food But also how we can take advantage of waste products that are produced in the manufacturing process So for example, um in the food science area, we actually have a graduate who a graduate who's working on a project to turn Per leftover potatoes. So basically what happens is every year in the supermarket There's about three million tons of potatoes that don't make it to the shelves because the supermarkets deem them to be Too ugly to go up for sale And as a result, we've got the student who's worked with our food waste research center to go through and turn that potato product into a puree That puree is now then being turned into an a kid. You know, ice cream So we found a way to turn leftover potatoes that would otherwise go to waste into a vegan dairy A ice cream And as someone who is lactose intolerant, I can confidently tell you that it actually does taste Just as good as the real thing but without the consequences So in other areas as well, we've got people who are working on the Char from grapes in the wine making process is a lot of leftover waste And they're actually looking at how they can turn that char into a biofuel to power small machinery to help Keep the sustainability of farming practices up So in the past few years, we've seen rapid development in the areas of defense cyber and space abroad We've seen development in reusable rockets via spacefes We've locally we've seen the establishment of the Australian space agency Which is just across the road from the university at lot 14 And coming along with that, we've seen the growth of so many South Australian space startup companies Just leveraging the opportunities that comes along with the space industry So the great thing about the growth in the Australian space agency Is there are so many different ways for graduates to get involved As Ari mentioned, we can't go into all of them. So we've just highlighted a few So whether it's studying the very matter of space via space science and astrophysics Designing and building spacecraft and satellite through mechanical engineering or electrical electronic engineering Or by studying the core discipline that underpins it all physics The opportunities for graduates in these fields are really quite broad Cyber security is another field that's really continuing to expand it globally So many industries are currently transitioning to an online environment at the hands of industry 4.0 So they really need IT specialists who can integrate existing software As well as computer scientists who can create brand new software and brand new systems In South Australia, we're continuing to see gradual opportunities in the defense industries as well And we're training graduate technologists to directly meet the growing needs present Hence the brand new suite of programs in the Bachelor of Technology But to power this innovation, the world requires both resources and energy So across the country, we're seeing new investments in both renewable and traditional resource sectors Earlier this year, a large new gold copper mine at Karapatina in our states north Started producing its first round of product after opening up in late 2019 Resources like this are going to be crucial to creating our renewable energy infrastructure And only earlier today was there an announcement that why Alice still works was gonna is receiving $1 billion in In support to essentially Redo some of its infrastructure and that still will be so important to generating things like Wind turbines and some of those renewable energy industries that really need Some of those resources behind them Something quite cool is in the next 10 years the South Australian government aims to generate more clean power than is required for its own use So by 2030 South Australia aims to be a global player in clean energy production market by distributing and by Producing hydrogen energy fuel cells. So really revolutionizing the way that we can actually store How we can store energy and how we can send it across So you can tap into these industries via a number of pathways With engineering for example, you can take on the renewable energies major through mechanical, electrical, electronic, civil, environmental, chemical Engineering or you could even improve the processes in the traditional resource sector with mining or petroleum engineering Last year South Australia ran a global competition Which called for geologists and data scientists to analyze geological survey data To be able to predict where new mines would be located. So essentially they uploaded lots and lots of information about you know This is where we found things previously. This is where we have searched and they actually put that to a competition To see where we can find new reserves So competitions like this really highlight the importance of understanding large data sets being able to manipulate them And being able to use that applied data analytics mindset to solve Challenges like this. So we're seeing some really exciting careers and opportunities for graduates. We have that applied data analytics mindset So another element that we need to consider is the environmental factors for a natural world the physical environment They humans live in and how we're going to maintain that in a much more sustainable way But also address the impact that climate change is having on the world So in terms of the degrees that tie into this there's quite a very broad range available So it's really really important that we look at the physical environment of humans in fields like architecture And construction. So that way what we're looking at is developing structures that are uniquely suited to the particular climate that they're in So taking advantage of the arid climate in South Australia, for example In Ghani Wardley, which is actually a building on the North Terrace campus There's this six green energy efficiency star educational building. So What they do in this building is they actually have Glass windows to try and reduce the amount of electricity to run lights. The building itself generates its own source of power through solar It's almost got a zero footprint in terms of needing to take power on from the environment So we're looking at how we can build sustainable housing for people But we also need to look at how we can protect our natural environment as well How are we going to be able to predict natural disasters? How are we able to isolate and contain them? But also how are we then going to reintroduce the native species of animals and plants and Rehabilitate the land. So it is quite A topical area and with the impacts of climate change being ever more present It is going to continue to become a very very important part Australia's natural resources are very important to the country And to our people And so we need to make sure that we find a way to secure them and protect them Of course people are also important to people So the next area to talk about is is health and biotechnology and understanding Our health and our future So south australia is positioning itself to be the biotech city With the south australian health and medical research institute The second one is coming soon the new hospital the whole biomedical precinct is very much Going to be a core focus of our state The other thing that is really interesting is that south australia itself is actually one of the top biotech economies in the world Is a very evolving industry and australia is very much at the heart of it So in terms of the degrees that you can study as part of this, there's quite a broad range available These degrees typically focus in understanding viruses diseases and how they impact on the human body identifying them finding new ways to treat them and also understanding the individual impact of these conditions so Ever since the human genome project we've had the ability to individually map the genetic structure of a person So what we are wanting to do in the future is to to take that information and move away from a one-size-fits-all medication where you essentially have A medication or a treatment that is ideally just Going to work for the majority of people and actually create individualized personalized medicine that suits the specific genetics of a human We're still a ways off from achieving that but that is the the future direction And of course, it's not just in the medical sciences You've also got the opportunity to pursue a career in maths and computer science And we are actually using your skills to help model the spread of infectious diseases and help create Intervention strategies to stop the spread of those diseases as well So that was a little bit of a whirlwind there I guess just one thing that tom and I really wanted to reiterate is that Students at the university have a fantastic experience and are really really prepared for the careers of the future. So We are actually ranked number one in South Australia for graduate satisfaction So that means that our graduates are going out into industry feeling prepared Feeling that they've got the skills and experiences necessary to be successful And then we do that through all of our work experience programs We have a career service center that supports our students throughout that process as well And something that we really take pride on is the student the level of student support that we provide overall So the university has a drop in writing and math center, which are of course free Because of the sheer volume of students who do first-year maths. We also have a specialist first-year maths drop in center The faculty of sciences puts on a chemistry biology and physics support service There's quite a lot of academic support available from your peers as well So we have students in the last year of their degree offering up their time to run mentoring sessions for students in the first year And we even have an after hours online mentoring service that's available while you're working on assignments The university also supports students through a counselling service disability service We even have an elite athlete service The most important thing to remember is that this support is available But it is really important to approach us and ask for help University staff will move mountains to help Any student that comes and sees them, but we just need you to make take that first step and come and talk to us Awesome. So we've spoken a little bit about some of the research some of the areas that we see rapid development in We have got a speaker here with us by the name of Akalia Akalia actually runs a program which is available for current year 12 students So if you're currently or in the audience and studying year 12 at the moment and are interested in Science technology engineering mathematics I'm hoping you are because you are here with us tonight But Kali is going to talk to you a little bit about a program that would be really Beneficial for you to hear a little bit about but also look at potentially joining up because it has some awesome opportunities available to you If you're there Kali, do you want to just jump on? Thanks so much tom before I kick off I suppose I should just make sure that you can hear me. All right All good fantastic Um, hi everyone as tom said, my name is kalia and I am the program coordinator For a program called stem academy Um, so I know I've probably got a few of you watching tonight who are already registered for stem academy Um, and that's fantastic But there's probably a few of you that have never heard about stem academy before so I'm just going to go through Basically what it is and what we can do for you in just a couple of minutes Um, because I know we've got some great speakers to get to after me Um, but essentially this is kind of what stem academy is So the university of adelaide stem academy is an outreach program designed for students in years eight to 12 Who are passionate about science technology engineering and mathematics? So stem academy is broken down into two streams. Um, broadly we work in Stream one being years eight to 11 and then stream two as tom said dealing with year 12 So i'm aware that there's probably many of you in the audience tonight who are in that year eight to 11 Age bracket or potentially might even be a little bit younger than that And the way that you can get engaged in stem academy is actually through your school So if this seems like something that's interesting to you I encourage you to go and have a chat to your teachers particularly Your career counselors or your stem area leaders and ask them if they've signed up for stem academy And if not, um, let them know about how they can get involved I'll be leaving some details at the end of the night So my next couple of slides are going to be specifically about those of you who are in year 12 And what we can actually do for you through stem academy as as a year 12 So in terms of what's in it for you Probably one of the massive things that we find is a really big component of stem academy Is that we can offer an early conditional offer into a range of our stem degrees at the University of Adelaide To those who are signed up to participate in the program through year 12 Now tonight i'm not going to go through the ins and outs of the early conditional offer But I've got a stack of contact information at the end of my little slide presentation And so you can go on and read a lot more about it on our website or also get in touch with me directly if you have any questions Our invitations to exclusive on-campus events and activities them That has also now been extended obviously to include a lot of online events and activities And I'll go through in a moment an example of some of the things we've been doing with our stem academy students this year Also offering networking opportunities with industry representatives and current university of Adelaide stem students and graduates So as part of stem academy We actually have six stem communicators who work with us And at the moment they're getting in touch with our stem academy students through some online platforms And they'll also be going out to meet with school students as part of the 8 to 11 stream and delivering workshops as well So those guys are a really amazing resource for students like yourself who are interested in science technology engineering and mathematics And you'll get a bit of a glimpse of that tonight when you get to hear from some of our graduates in this space as well As part of the program We also offer opportunities to meet other like-minded peers who have a passion for science technology engineering and mathematics And also one of the things that we really pride ourselves on as part of the program is providing ongoing support from University staff such as myself, but also from admissions staff and faculty staff like we have present tonight to really help with that process of Subject selection and also degree selection going into um transitioning into the university So just to give you a little bit of an indication about some of the things we've run for our stem academy participants this year in the april school holidays We run a little program with some of our stem communicators and our students in years eight Sorry in years 11 and year 12 and we were able to do some really cool workshops here So here we've got a stack of ones on the screen But the one I really want to single out is pokemon science because this was my absolute favorite one to learn about Probably like a lot of you in the audience I was a big pokemon fan when I was growing up And so it was really interesting to hear from one of our stem communicators just about The way that that kind of virtual world or digital world has been built on real life science technology engineering and mathematics concepts So in there we also have some great people in marine biology There was a lot of civil engineering work Some things in maths, which was also really interesting just to hear about some of the real world applications of mathematics And another really great one that conversations in biology And that was also really great for a bunch of students to sort of rock up have a cup of tea Have a coffee and speak to a doctor in molecular biology about some of the career opportunities they can have in stem So if this sounds like something you'd like to get involved in There are a couple of things that you need to meet in order to be eligible to apply to the year 12 stream of stem academy So firstly you need to be undertaking year 12 either in states or ivy in south australia this year And you must be enrolled in or have already completed at least one of the eligible science or mathematics 20 credits say stage two subjects as listed in the table there or obviously the ivy equivalent counts as well So we do need you to just have one of these subjects as these are the ones that most closely aligned to the degrees that tom and Ari have mentioned tonight that sit within our stem areas at the university of adelaide So if that sounds like you if you're meeting one or more of those subjects, we'd love to have you on board for stem academy So here is what I promise those contact details if you'd like to know more if you'd like to register All the information is at the stem academy website that you can see there And you can also contact me or contact a member of my team through the schools at adelaide email address that you've got there as well So with that I will hand back over to tom and we can hear from some of the awesome graduates that we've got Thank you, kalia Yeah, the stem academy program is a fantastic opportunity because it just really gives you a chance to Continue on a journey like this like, you know, we're here learning about How science technology engineering maths can lead to some fantastic careers the stem academy does a great job of building upon that So yes, as kalia mentioned if you are in year 12 Definitely sign up independently if you're in years eight to year 11 Have a chat to your science teachers because it is an awesome opportunity And something that you can definitely make the most of So as both arie myself and kalia have now alluded to we do have some members of our Alumni so our previous students, but they're also out working in industry in some really cool and exciting fields. So What I'll do shortly is introduce a few of them and then they'll give you a little bit of a spiel about You know who they are what they do But as arie mentioned earlier in the evening If you do have any questions that you do want to ask the alumni And industry reps make sure you throw it into the q&a panel I can see that a couple have come through so far, but if you've had anything That you've listened through so far that you want to Expand on a little bit make sure you put it in the q&a panel rather than chat because that one's just going to keep filtering through and if you hear anything that are I guess say during their sort of intro and presentation Make sure to check that question in the chat because we will have an opportunity to speak with them A little bit further down the line. So without any further info I will Introduce remi Who is our first Guest for tonight I'm remi if you'd like to come online and just sort of introduce yourself and a bit about your background as well Hi, my name is remi And I currently work at main pharma, which is a pharmaceutical company based here in sa, which is pretty cool Um whilst I was here at la university. I studied biomedical science So I actually majored in genetics and biochemistry and yes the two doesn't sound like you can get into farm pharmaceutical Industry, but you actually can with what I studied and they were really great and taking me on so Um, I studied for four years here. I extended my degree To double major yeah in biochemistry and genetics and I actually never thought that I'd get into science or go into science, but um, I ended up loving it and here I am so What I do on a day-to-day Basis is I work in the validation team Which basically means in a pharmaceutical company that we want to make sure that our medicine is effective and working And it's it's up to the standard that it needs to be so my team and I We make sure that the process Um from start to finish is validated and verified and that it works We make sure that our equipment is clean. So I do a bit of swabbing I did some swabbing this morning actually on some equipment So basically we want to make sure there's no contamination. We don't want any crossover of drugs going from one equipment to another That's not not ideal And basically we also track a lot of our medicines to make sure that they are meeting standards Because obviously we are working with medicines that people really need To make them healthy. So Studying science that I laid was fantastic and I actually really got involved There's a lot of programs that I got involved in a women in stem, which I'm sure will bring up later Was a fantastic program And on top of that I had a lot of support from the career service doing mock interviews and Oh, so many different things. So it was fantastic Other than that, I really utilised the programs and the support To get me where I am today The the career service is fantastic for that. So I never felt Out of the loop because it can be a bit overwhelming. I think in science If you get in there and you're not sure, I mean, I wasn't really big on laboratory work Which I thought I would be and that kind of stressed me out, but With the help and guidance I was able to find that there were other careers out there for me In science I like to call them alternate science careers, which I think a lot of the panelists here will be able to tell you about Whether they did science or engineering. You don't it's not a straight line. You don't have to go into You know, uh laboratory research, um, you think there are so many different fields out there I had other friends that studied biomedical science And some of them have now gone into state. Yes to study. Uh, one of my friends Maggie studies, um and researchers, um cancer And she's over there in melbourne and another friend has now done her She has done her honors in chemistry Um, and another one has gone into teaching. So there is a lot of different areas that you can get from biomedical science Um, I think that's all from me. I can help answer some questions later, but I'll hand that one back to you guys If you've got any questions pop them down and yeah, happy to answer later Thanks, reby. Um, so the next graduate we'd like to introduce is jordy So if you wouldn't mind just popping your camera and microphone on Um, so jordy's an agricultural science graduate. He's the one I was uh teasing a little bit earlier In my spiel about ag. So I hand over to jordy Thanks arry Uh, yeah, so i'm jordy. I run an ag tech company called meq I'll give you a bit of a background to explain My transition from uni through to a career Um, so I finished school Uh started agricultural science because I really wanted to be a farmer Um, while I was at uni. I did a range of different work experiences just trying to get my hands on Um, everything I could to try and work out what I did like and didn't like Um, I was the president of the ad late uni agricultural students association So I got to work really closely with lots of different industry bodies Um to help sponsor different events and things and that was a great great way to meet people and create networks throughout the industry I think we're really lucky in south Australia that you can get to know whatever industry you want to work in You can get to know the whole industry really quite quickly if you want to um so, um I graduated and then I went home on the family farm um, I managed a lot of the livestock operations there amongst other things and then uh left the farm and decided I wanted to start my own company And so I started working on a range of different things trying to start a company of some description I really didn't know what I was doing, but I was just um trying to find Uh a big problem with lots of With lots of demand and try and build a solution around it So I was working with working on a lot of different um like computer vision projects and traceability projects I set up a a blockchain traceability project in northern australia to trace mangos from catherine to soul um before Getting started on the meq project which um, so to explain what meq does we measure the eating quality of meat so you've probably gone to Coles or Woolworth's or a restaurant and One week bought a steak and it was beautiful and tender and then you buy the same one the next week and it's not It might be chewy and you don't have such a good experience And the reason that happens is there's no objective way to measure the eating quality of meat So we've built a tool that uses lasers and artificial intelligence to predict what the eating experience will be with a piece of meat Um, and so yeah, we kicked that off about three years ago and over the last three years has been a bit of a whirlwind of Building product going through the mvp poc cycles raising money from investors Hiring people firing people And now we have a really brilliant product with an amazing team of engineers lots of software engineers database engineers Obviously artificial intelligence engineers We have a technical team that runs stuff around the country um, so yeah, we are really very much a stem company um bringing both the the meat science side together with the technology side Together, which is it's awesome fun to work in a team full of people who are from stem because everyone Is so passionate about solving problems and everyone is so brilliant at what they do and wants to learn and get a get better so I think um Anyone who's thinking about getting in stem definitely should because we have a a unbelievable shortage of talent in In australia, but I'd say even more so in south australia. We have to import a lot of people either from sydney and melbourne but we also have people working in At the moment like brazil poland mexico All around the place. So it'd be great if we could foster some more talent here in sa Um, because I think that'd be a really positive thing not just for our company, but for everyone That's awesome. Um, I saw the q&a uh numbers just keep skyrocketing like uh during yours So you've got a really interesting story there. So definitely keen to hear some more about it um, the next uh graduate that we have tonight is uh, tasia Tasia if you're there, do you want to turn on your webcam and microphone and tell us a little bit about your journey And you know what you studied and what you're up to these days Okay, cool. Hi everyone. My name is tasia. Um, so currently I'm working as a project coordinator for a company called honeywell um Which apparently no one in australia knows what that is But we are a multi-national company and I specifically work in an area that deals with building automation Um, so integrating systems. So security systems and control systems for large air conditioning systems um So I got my way there by studying a bachelor of engineering mechanical majoring in mechatronics As well as a bachelor of mathematical and computer sciences majoring in computer science um, so I started off with the company in uh, melbourne actually working as a project engineer Working on a large installs of a security system at a prison And then came back to adelaide as the project coordinator. So I now manage all of our um All of our small projects through our service business Um So while I was at uni I it was involved in a lot of volunteer programs Uh, particularly with outreach. Um, so I was heavily involved with the ambassador program through the ecms Uh marketing department. So I did a lot of tours and things like that But I was also heavily involved with a group called robo girls that did a lot of outreach with schools running free robotics workshops So I was the president of that student club and continued being involved with that uh outside of uni as well um So yeah, I've got a broad background for being out of uni for about three years. Uh, so let me know if you have any questions Thanks so much. Um, so before I introduce our last graduate just as a quick reminder If you do have any questions for the panel, um, particularly as you're learning a bit more about them Please make sure you pop them into the q&a section. Um shortly after we've finished here We will have plenty of time to ask questions of the panel and the staff that have presented So, uh, it's now my pleasure to introduce sam Um, if you could just pop your camera and mic on please for a sim So sam has a very large number of degrees available under his uh, his little title here So I'll let him go through and explain all of those to you. Thanks sam Thank you. Harry. Uh, hello everyone. Um, my name is dr. Senra sovi And I'm currently the project manager at fuse tech And so fuse tech is a is an adelaide based company We create medical training devices and other medical devices And so by that, I mean we create body parts for surgeons to practice their surgeries And so my role here as project manager is to uh, collaborate with a lot of, uh Local surgeons and international surgeons Um, see how they went through their training and I'm trying to come up with a way to improve the way that they train At the moment a lot of this training is done on cadavers, which are Dead bodies donated to science Um And training surgeons at universities or just out of their university degree Will practice their training on these cadavers Um, the issue with this, however, is every cadaver is different So it's kind of hard to have a standardized approach for teaching And then, um, as everyone is well aware with COVID-19 recently Um, cadavers can actually be a carrier of diseases such as this. So I'm going forward post corona virus. It's going to be It's going to be very, um, difficult to try and train using cadavers because you can't catch these diseases from these And from these dead bodies. So I think in the future, this is going to be a very big and important part of medical training To get to where I am today. I studied a bachelor of engineering Um, university of adelaide. Uh, so that was mechanical engineering and I majored in sports Uh, engineering and then after I completed that I didn't really know what I wanted to do with my career So I decided to do a phd Um, because my phonia project, uh, really interests me in the research side of things Um, so I talk on a phd Um, I looked at creating a device for back pain sufferers and this device used artificial intelligence to um one, uh Determined what the activity of that. Sorry what the person was currently performing So whether a standing sitting running jumping etc Because it has been found that sedentary activity Can increase the likelihood of back pain um, the other thing that this device measured was The posture of the user. Um, so combining these two different measurements were able to find whether or not the person's a higher risk of obtaining back pain because back pain is one of the large issues in a modern society Um, and it costs countries lots and lots of money. So we're trying to reduce the incidence of that Um, I did want to after my phd commercialize this product. However Um, the CEO of fuzeturk, uh, got in touch with my supervisor who then put him in touch with me Um, and offered me a job and I took it and loved it. So here I am Yeah, that was my uh, that's my experience. So thank you Thanks so much Sam. Um, so now that you've had a chance to meet all of our panelists and get a bit of an overview of who they are What their background is I'll just invite you one last time to submit some more questions We already have plenty here and we actually had quite a few submitted before the event So we may not have time to go through them all But we'll absolutely do our best any questions that we can't answer tonight We will follow up with an email to you tomorrow So I'll ask all of our panel members to turn their cameras back on please and that can include Carlia because there are a few questions in here for you Before we do that I'll go through one of the pre-submitted questions, which I think is a really really good one. Um It's probably yeah. All right. Let's do this. Uh, so did you ever have any doubts about your career choice? Oh Taisha had a reaction there. I think I might throw that one to her if that's all right Um, yeah, so basically I moved to Melbourne to go do project engineering and within a year I moved back to Adelaide to do a completely different role. Um, so yes Um, even while at uni I changed kind of majors and streams a few times um But that's the great thing about a background in somewhere like stem Is it actually quite easily allows you to move kind of around in between different Different areas. Um, for example, my my housemate that's out there trying to be very quiet while cooking her dinner Um started in biomedical engineering working on lasers. So eye surgery and now does gas pipeline consulting Um, so with the background and stem it's more teaching you about those problem solvings and how to go about approaching those issues And so yeah moving around careers, even if you are having self-doubts is is very very easy Thank you for that. So the other question we had was around Um, which job areas do you feel are rapidly growing and why so could one of you Um, give us a little bit of an insight on why your particular industry is experiencing quite a bit of growth at the moment I'm happy for that to be open I can I can give a little shot. Um For specifically pharmaceuticals at the moment. Um, we obviously manufacture a lot of different medicines around the board And you can see that in bigger companies that do vaccines or some that like us do capsules and tablets and things like that However, um, something really interesting for science and for I guess any engineering that can go into it for sustainable I think what we're seeing uh now heading into the future and what I have noticed is that there are a lot of these things popping up called contract manufacturing Which are smaller Manufacturing sites instead of a really large one and there's a real need and a real push I think if you whether you take the beauty industry for example They're looking for people that can make sustainable packaging and products Um, and I mean we have packaging engineers and on our side and this is their goal You know, they need to make sure that the packaging works So there is a real need and a push for finding alternative and sustainable For our packaging of what we produce because it's what the consumer wants And it's also a better alternative for how the industry and hopefully the way that the industry can go So we're also seeing a lot of um niche pop-up small manufacturing sites Which are very particular whether it's one particular medicine that they focus on And I think this can cover the base for engineering science It we we hire all of them and I think all of these little manufacturing sites is do so It's yeah, that's one way that everything's moving instead of being a large farmer student company. They're going to these smaller Sites as well. So that's a little bit of input from me Thanks, revie. Um, so taisha. We've got a couple of questions for you here Um, so how was the balance of studying engineering and maths with computer science? um, and also Did you how did you choose which one you wanted to to focus your time in on the most with your specializations and majors? Yeah, all right. Um, so for context when I Enrolled in my degree I actually enrolled directly into a degree of mechatronic engineering At the time it wasn't just going into mechanical and then picking a major. So I picked that from the get go Um, and I mainly chose that because it seemed the most varied and I wasn't really sure what I wanted to do That's basically how I picked my degree. It just you had the most words in it So I figured it would have lots of stuff to explore Which it did. Um, the balance was that it worked out pretty well for me. Actually I had never Programmed before starting uni and I did an introduction to programming course in my first semester And decided that I really liked coding. Um, so I went down the computer science major route of my degree Um, which actually complements mechatronics quite well because mechatronics is looking at the um I guess the control system side So it's like the mechatronics if no one knows is the combination of mech mechanical electronic and computer systems So you're kind of looking at that like control system side and then a lot of that is programming So actually having my computer science quite nicely complemented it um But I also had friends in the same degree as me that actually studied maths instead And they also found that it was quite complimentary The the great thing about engineering is that I guess and maths and computer science is you do have kind of a lot of overlap in complementing subjects So it was never really conflicting conflicting at any point for me. I hope that answered the question That was great. Thank you. Um, I'll throw this next one over to Geordie so To what extent did you have flexibility in your uni timetable throughout the week? To fit in other activities to whether that be work or your social clubs and activities Uh, that's a good question. I So my third year my last year of uni I was the president of the ag students association and so we Like we turned over quite a bit of money for a students association um And so I spent a lot of my time walking out of lectures to answer phone calls to Like get sponsorship in for the club and different things like that And I found myself spending a lot more time working on the the club versus um time at uni and my lecturers were very forgiving in terms of commitments of having to be Being there for lectures or workshops and things like that because they knew I was working on the ag's association so I think as long as you like explain why you're not at uni and what you're working on I think The lecturers and different professors are pretty forgiving And and encourage you to do so to go and experience things outside of uni because All of my peers who have graduated have said that you learn the great thing about the uni experience that gives you time to go and dip your toes in other fields be that through work experience or Things like getting involved in clubs and things like that that you might not do if you just went straight from school out into the workforce you might not get that opportunity so Um, yeah, don't feel like that. That's not an option because it absolutely is and I would say that your lecturers should support that Brilliant. Thanks Jordy. So the next one is for sam. So could you tell us a little bit about why you chose to do sports? related studies and then how that Evolved into where you are now Yeah, um, so I chose to do the sports engineering degree Um, mainly because I knew I wanted to do engineering from about year 10 I was always enjoyed the the STEM sort of classes at school Um, and I mainly chose the sports engineering degree because of my interest in sports I've always loved sports. So I wanted to sort of work in an area that I was passionate about um After completing the degree Sports engineering wasn't a big thing in Australia yet Um, so I decided to continue my study by doing um, a PhD in biomechanical engineering Um, which again relates to the human body Um, and then really took the knowledge that I learned from that and the experience I am gained all my contacts and managed to get a job that really interested me in Yeah, recreating human body parts. So Yeah, it all sort of flowed on nicely without really knowing what my plan was Fully, but it all sort of worked together Yeah, and I think that's a really really good point is that in in your careers with the STEM skill because you have You have those core STEM skills in creative thinking Critical analysis and problem solving is you do have access to quite a diverse range of study areas and future careers So you can move around when you graduate. You're not just locked into one particular area Um, so we have another question here now This one will have to be an open one because I don't know the answer to this either Did any of you study overseas while you were doing your degree or undertake any study tours or overseas work experience opportunity? I will take that as a no But there are plenty of opportunities available to students. So we have a whole service dedicated to Setting up exchanges that can go for six or 12 months at a time And then there's also opportunities to do short study tours, which only can go from a handful of days to a few weeks They usually occur during your holidays. So there's plenty of opportunities available. Then we do encourage you to have a look into those So the next question is for Geordie So can you tell us a little bit more about your experiences leading up to coming to university and agriculture? So did you do ag in high school? What was your background? Yeah, so I didn't go to a specific ag school. Um, I think I tried to do The subjects this especially the science subjects that Would help when I was at school. I didn't know I was going to get into agriculture So I just I just did the subjects that I enjoyed doing So lots of chemistry and biology and maths Which were all useful in coming into ag but I think for a degree like agriculture where it's not where it's more of a A diverse skill set than a than a narrow one I'd encourage the students to study really hard in what they enjoy and try and have diversity coming into the degree because With a degree like agriculture, it's not just science Like you're growing a commodity that's sold in different supply chains in different markets. So you have to appreciate How it fits into global markets and the business side of it? The marketing side of it all of that so That answered the question. Yeah, absolutely So the next one's for remi So, how did you know what career pathway to take? How did you find the opportunity that you ended up undertaking which has led you to where you are now? Um, well, if you go back to right back to high school to be honest I actually did not enjoy science when I was in year nine and year 10 I was terrible at it and it was only because I really wanted to diversify My subject so that I could get into as many courses as I wanted I looked at doing biology and chemistry and I also did German and English And it was then in year 11 that I think we started looking at genetics when I was like, this is fantastic I love this that's so cool And from there I thought I want to get into medicine So actually I originally aimed to get into medicine, which I think a lot of science students Not a lot, but there are a range of science students are individuals that want to get into medicine Fortunately for me. Fortunately for me. I didn't get into medicine and it's actually I'm really happy that I didn't because I don't think I'm suited for it and now I can see that And from that I went into biomedical science because that was how I wanted to get through it But when I got into the degree that I was that I studied, um, I realized that yes I love the research. I love the challenging moments. I love being questioned I love the quick thinking and the How it makes you problem solve and I realized that I also was not suited for a laboratory. It's not not why it's not I'm not very good at it Um, and that's when I started looking at alternative kind of science careers Um, so I I applied for so many jobs in my final years all over So consulting there are a lot of big company consulting companies that want science students for the way that they think the way that they challenge things I went into manufacturing food companies such as craft hines I went for a job there. Um, and then I was lucky that this one uh, uh, main farmer popped up And I thought how caught like I always wanted to work with people and for people. I think that's always been my goal and it came up, um This job came up and um, luckily I just went for it with the help of the career staff at university of adelaide and I managed to get through so it was kind of Because I knew that I didn't want to go into a lab I just searched for as many a really broad range of careers Which they are actually out there So I think if you're doing a science degree and you get into a science degree and Realize that maybe there's a certain thing that's not for you Don't feel bad. Don't worry could because there are so many other career paths that you can take And the ways that you can challenge yourself in your degree to Find something that really does suit you if that makes it I hope that kind of answers it. So it was kind of a bit of a A bit of a yeah, a journey But um, managed to get a job. So very grateful and very happy with where I'm at Thanks for that. Um, so I've got a combined question for tisha and tom So first up is is computer science easy And what are the prerequisites subjects necessary to get into the degree? I will let tisha start that one just to give you a bit of an overview of What your experience was like while studying computer science Um, yeah, I really enjoyed it Um, I kind of got a small subset of the subjects because I was studying as part of a double degree Um, a lot of my engineering subjects kind of countered towards Um subjects that would have been part of the maths and computer science Um degree by itself So I pretty much didn't get a lot of electives through my my pathway. Um, but yeah, I really enjoyed it I didn't find it particularly Hard, but that's not to say other people didn't Um, but there is definitely Help available if you are are struggling Um, there's you know, there's computer science clubs that are more than willing to help you along the way um And there's there's always the opportunity to spend a lot of time on things to learn them if that is Um a struggle that you have because a lot of it is assignment based So, you know, you do have that time to figure out how something is working Um, but yes, it's more about how to solve the problems and less about Specifically your programming Like writing code skills is what you're going to be learning in computer science Yeah, and the cool thing is as well like you're not just going to be like you Obviously can get your support from your lecturers and your tutors But you can also get your support from your fellow students because they are passionate alongside with you and and they're very willing to help And you there is a lot of group projects involved as well In terms of answering the question about the prerequisite subject So to get into the bachelor's computer science, you would be needing to do Math methods at stage two and then you'd also need to be achieving a selection rank of 80 So that does factor in any adjustment factors and everything along those lines But yeah, it the main thing is just to make sure you're studying the maths But I think this might relate to a couple of questions. There are always pathways into university If you are missing the right subject So, you know, let's say you wanted to get engine Into engineering or computer science or any particular field that does have subjects as a prerequisite You can always have a look or have a chat to people like myself, Ari, Kalia And other people other universities to answer the question of you know, I'm missing this particular subject How can I get in there's always going to be a pathway if you're passionate about a particular field So don't feel discouraged if you're not meeting the prerequisites right this second So for example, if you're missing math methods, we have an online bridging course called maths track That would allow you to catch up on that and if you're missing like the ATAR, you know, there's other pathways that we can look at to help you get in the door Yeah, there's definitely ways around it if you are missing them Thanks, Tom and thanks, Tisha. So we've got quite a few questions in the backlog And we're probably not going to be able to get through them all tonight I am currently prioritizing questions for our graduates because they will be leaving us shortly All of your questions about degrees entry requirements and the STEM Academy will address after our panelists have left So I've got a question here that is directed to Sam I'm just wanting to know a bit more about what was involved in getting your PhD what your thesis was And just your overall experience Yeah, sorry to get into the PhD I had to Get at least a 75% average in all my courses throughout my undergraduate And and that allowed me to apply for and obtain an APA which is an Australian postgraduate award Which was was essentially my scholarship to do the PhD And so to apply for that, I just had to fill out Maybe a 10 page form describing what my My research topic would be They passed it and then I started studying 2016 About a month into my PhD. I completely changed my topic Which you can do And that was at the advice of my supervisors just it wasn't really interesting me to begin with so I changed to my Final topic which is on back pain and creating the device and in terms of doing the PhD is probably the most fun I had at university it was Because it's on a topic that I really wanted to do It was just full of interest. It was it was essentially nine to five, but Like I had fun doing it so I didn't feel like a nine to five I suppose and I got to travel while doing the PhD to numerous conferences. So I got to go to Europe twice. I went to brisbane A numerous other places to present my work, which was really cool because As a third fourth year PhD student I was up standing in front of hundreds of People that have been working in the area for 20 30 years And telling them how how did my research and they were coming up to me and asking how how to do something So I find that really rewarding I suppose Thanks, Sam. The next question is for Remy So what do you study in biomedical science and how is it different from studying a medicine degree? So medicine and surgery? So basically in a science like biomedical science like what I Studied there. It's the endpoint that's different. So I ended up with a biomedical science degree in the sense that I Went down the science pathway of the research in the sense of I was majoring in genetics and biochemistry I know that there are other I think you can look at microbiology and immunology So you're more whilst I know medicine students do more lab based things They do lab based things We are more laboratory based and looking at that really fine detail And going down that pathway a little bit more Whereas medicine you become a doctor that is your end goal Whereas for us it is becoming a scientist in that specific field and challenging those Doing more research and challenging some ideas in that field So the reason why I chose biomedical science was because I did not get into medicine like I had originally wanted to And for me and I decided that biomedical science was a great degree because of the career outcomes in genetics or biochemistry At the time was what I wanted Which is why I chose that degree because that's what I gravitated towards And I thought that if I was still to try and get into medicine, which a lot of people still do Degrees so they can start to understand and some basic basic knowledge Do your chemistry and then they might sit the game sat or the you Now I think it's a little bit different, but I'll sit that to then try and get into medicine That's why I chose bimed because that was where I wanted to go Thanks, Rami No, that covered it really well. So next up is for Geordie Um, so can you tell us a little bit more about your contact time At university we there every day and also just a little bit about studying at the white because you are the one person here Who studied at a different campus and not just the North Terrace one Yeah, so we were spread across the North Terrace campus the white campus and the roseworthy campus. So I think most people really liked being able to get out of just the city and get into some different labs Both at white and at roseworthy and to be able to get out in the field at roseworthy as well In terms of contact hours Often there are pretty long days So you might have a your first lecture at nine o'clock and you might walk out of a microbiology lab at five o'clock With you know an hour or two of lunch in there um, and then other days you might have Only a few hours of lectures and then you can go and work somewhere in the afternoon or study But again, um, often you can tailor your timetable Either by setting your subjects or tailor your timetable with your lecturers to make it work with Your life going on outside of uni Thanks Geordie. Okay everyone that is all of the questions we have time for with our panelists now tom Myself and kalia will remain on to answer some of your more degree specific Questions. Um, thank you so much to the four of you for joining us and giving us your time tonight It's been absolutely incredible hearing from you and hearing about your exciting careers You have almost maybe want to change careers, but I think especially in those biomedical ones. They might I might be a little bit too squeamish for those But honestly guys, thank you so much for your time. Um, it's been absolutely incredible We look forward to working with you in the future Okay So We have had quite a lot of questions for you miss kalia so The first one for you is how much time is required for the stem academy? My son is studying year 12 and he doesn't have a lot of free time That is such a good question and it's a question that we do get quite a lot about stem academy And obviously, you know, my background is working with schools and my entire team's background is working with school So we completely understand that year 12s are probably some of the most time poor people around So the the whole philosophy of stem academy is about giving students opportunities to connect with the university of adelaide and with our partners So what we do as part of the program is offer lots of opportunities. They can take advantage of we don't have any specific Requirement of time they need to spend doing these activities or You know things that they they have to take part of it's just about kind of offering that all up And they are able to select which bits and pieces they want to get involved in based on their own interest and Obviously based on their own commitments So I guess the short answer is none is technically the answer We hope that students will take advantage of as many of the opportunities we present as possible But there's certainly no expectation of time commitment Thanks, kalia. So the next question we have is about Finances So it's about whether or not you can still defer your payments for university and pay them Later on once you've started working and earning enough money kalia Would you mind just giving a quick overview of how hex works for domestic students? Yeah, absolutely. Um, a hex is a really great scheme that I know I personally took advantage of at university And most of the people that I know and have worked with have also taken advantage of this scheme over the time university So essentially what happens is that if you're a domestic student You can go to university for essentially a massively discounted rate. So that's applying to Permanent residents and Australian citizens. The government pays a large portion of what we need in order to run a university course The gap that's left over most students would choose to defer that cost to the government through the hex help loan So essentially what that means is that the government will pay for it up front All you need to do is have a tax file number in order to apply for that and our support teams Help students through that process when they start university if they don't have a tax file number yet They can help you apply for all those bits and pieces and then essentially the way it works Once you start working Mostly working full-time once you start earning over a certain amount of money And I won't guess what it is because it does change a little bit from the government side Essentially, then you start paying back that loan slowly over time through your tax that mostly automatically comes out of your paychecks That's a very very simplified version of of what the hex help loan is So for those of you out there who are interested in kind of understanding that in a lot more detail I'd really recommend jumping on to the government study assist website If you just google study assist, you should be able to find all that information And even for those of you who might be international students, I believe there's some information on there for you as well So definitely a really good resource Thanks, Carly. The next one's for Tom Are there any student work experience programs available in the architectural design degree? Yep, it is a really good question. So with the architecture design program so to become a qualified let's say architect or landscape architect or Um Basically, you need to do both the undergraduate studies and postgraduate studies So basically what that means is you do a three year bachelor of architectural design and then continue on to Do two year masters. So that's how you become a fully qualified architect in australia So it's in those master's programs that you get to do what's called studios and the studios are those Hands-on practical learning experiences. So that's not to say you won't have the practical knowledge in that undergraduate as well But there's some really awesome opportunities available in the master's program. So for example You can do both, you know state interstate or you can even do international studios. So we have some really strong industry partners locally Nationally but then also internationally so you can go over to some of the leading studios around the world learn how they design and build and Have that practical hands-on experience throughout your studies. So there are some really awesome Yeah, practical opportunities throughout the degrees for sure Thanks, tom. So I'll throw the next question to justine So justine is specialist maths a prerequisite for all engineering degrees Hi, everyone. Um, my name is justine. I haven't been properly On you yet, but yeah, thanks for throwing to me Ari. So I work with tom in ecms so yes, all of the bachelor of engineering programs have specialist maths as a prerequisite from 2021 so prior to 2021 We had some engineering programs that had more relaxed prerequisites So some that had combinations of math studies physics and chemistry for example But from 2021 onwards the prerequisites for engineering programs have been standardized So what you'll see now is that specialist maths is required across the board Um, and that is either combined with physics and maths methods or with chemistry and maths methods depending on what the program is um The good news is though There is an engineering pathway, which is very smooth and seamless to help out any students Who may not have the specialist maths requirement. So the specialist maths requirement Is recommended, but if you have not been able to you know, take specialist mass in year 12 for whatever reason um, the engineering pathway enables you to catch up on the specialist maths and then transition into engineering second year without losing any time from your degree You are required just to do a summer school catch up After first year. So yes, thank you No worries. So there's a couple of questions here that I might address. So these are About understanding how important ATAR is when you're getting into a degree And doesn't matter if you change degrees and also how do you change degrees? So the selection rank, which is your ATAR score plus any Relevant adjustment factors that you may be eligible for Is required for you to get into a degree So if a degree has a set score and your score is underneath that you won't be able to get direct entry into that degree You will need to consider coming through a different pathway. So that's something that we're really really happy to help you Work your way through. So if you notice this contact details on the screen, that's to our future students team They can really help you map out your individual pathway Your ATAR can be really important when you are changing degrees So essentially we have something called an internal transfer process where you apply To swap into another degree if you've been with us for six months or more We'll look at both your university grades and your year 12 results and work out which of the two is better And we'll use that score to help you try and transfer Once you've completed more than two years of full-time university study, we can no longer look at your ATAR anymore So I hope that answers that one for you So I've got a question for Carlia next on the STEM Academy. Can interstate students join the STEM Academy? Oh, that's such a good question. I've had that a couple of times. Um, STEM Academy is in its first year It's a pilot program this year. So unfortunately for this year We are just unfortunately making it available to students who are studying in South Australian high schools However in subsequent years, we would love to open it up to interstate students We're working at the moment on on how that might look for the students in your situation So apologies not for this year, but do know that we're working on it We have to start small so that we know that the program's going to be really good and solid So we can roll it out for more and more people Thanks, Carlia Um, so the next question is what degree should someone interested in mathematics and physics go into if they're unsure of the career They want to pursue That's a very open-ended question because there are as you probably notice quite a lot of opportunities The two degrees that we would generally encourage people to consider are either The bachelor of science or the bachelor of mathematical and computer sciences Just to help you find your feet They're two of the most flexible degrees that are available at the university You can really customize those study plans when you go into a flexible degree like the bachelor of science or maths and computer science It's really great because you can figure out what you like but equally as importantly you can figure out what you don't like So understanding what you don't enjoy doing can be just as valuable So you can go through that first year try a bunch of different things and then come and see Someone and get some study support of how you can build the rest of your studies around the bits that you did enjoy the most Tom is there anything you'd like to add to that one or are you all good? Yeah, there is only because there's a separate question that is similar So the question is would studying a maths only to be a degree be limiting So I guess this applies to both. Like obviously the question is about maths, but we can talk about both but The question about yeah, would studying maths alone be limiting? No So if you were to study, let's say a bachelor of mathematical sciences or a bachelor of maths and computer sciences for that real flexibility There are some awesome opportunities out there. So in terms of our maths graduates They're working in a variety of fields because just like we've said at the start like the the skills that you get those interdisciplinary And also interpersonal skills really Underpinned what you could do in the future. So um a maths A mathematician could work and they can specialize in the bachelor of maths mathematical sciences in applied mathematics pure mathematics or statistics So you if you were to say let's go through statistics, you could be working on the bureau of meteorology you could be working as an epidemiologist tracking the spread of You know like large viral outbreaks and we have researchers who were doing that for the state government quite recently Um, you could be working with banks. You could be working with large industries So basically a mathematician is a problem solver in the same way that many of our stem graduates are So yes, it is a really broad field and of the many that we've discussed It is one of the borders because maths is the language of science and it really underpins everything that was sort of discussed tonight So very very broad. I could talk on it for hours, but we've got many questions to go through. So Head on to the next one Thanks, tom. So a question for kalia So for students who are thinking about studying as adult entrance So they've been working for a couple of years. Can you just give us a bit of an insight into how Flexible that is in terms of lectures being online and so on Yeah, really really good question So essentially there are a number of different opportunities for people who are adult entrance So the first thing would be actually getting in and as arie mentioned our future students team are the best people to talk to Here and they can assess your individual circumstances We've got a number of other entry pathways into the university beyond just an atar entry So if you're someone who doesn't have an atar or you're not happy with your atar then don't worry There's plenty of other ways that we can bring you into to our degrees And then in terms of actually working with that program and making it work for you A lot of people study part time or sometimes people can do three subjects or two subjects and quite often We're able to run like intensive courses that can go over just a couple of days So really you'll find university in its structure is very flexible The other thing that as arie mentioned our lectures are all entirely online There are a few exceptions But there's not very many certainly within our STEM fields the majority of the lectures that you can access are available online So quite a lot of people do prefer to access those from home And then the components that often require on campus attendance will be things like tutorials And particularly if you've got practicals and workshops where you actually do need to Work with some things and learn a process using some hands-on materials. So The the team at the university does their very best to try and work with you To incorporate university into your schedule and certainly a lot of people do Things part time. So there's a lot of different options and it's all very tailorable to your individual circumstances So the best thing to do if that applies to you is just to get in touch with us and have a conversation about how that could work specifically Thank you Carlia, so that is a good follow-on question for tom then So we've got someone who's interested in studying mathematical sciences. They have a background in in music So what would they need to do to be able to get into that? And can they do it part time? Yeah, so you can definitely study the Bachelor of Mathematical Sciences part time in terms of your background I didn't actually see the question itself. Was it was a bachelor level? Was it? It was hurry. Yeah, cool. So, yeah, you can definitely look at How to map across with the Bachelor of Mathematical Sciences you would need to have the equivalent of both math methods and specialist mathematics being that it is a specialist maths degree essentially like you are specializing in that field another potential option could be looking at doing the Bachelor of Mathematical Computer Sciences Because that just requires that math methods and as I mentioned earlier, there are some really good pathways through the math track So it's a completely online bridging course where you can go through the equivalent of the year 12 mathematics And get yourself ready to prepare for that. So if you were looking to transition across Yeah, you could definitely look at that You just need to make sure you meet those minimum subject prerequisites And it does sound like a bit like a quite a large jump, but there are so many mathematicians that Are quite so passionate about Music because there are a lot of crossovers and we hear about it a lot through some of the researchers that we speak speak with Thanks, Tom I think that's a really key message to get across is that there's always a pathway to get into what you're interested in doing It's just that depending on what you you bring from your educational background It may take you slightly longer than you may have hoped But we're always happy to help you map out that pathway to make sure that it's best for you Um, and we're conscious that a lot of people are working and have family commitments So we we are really able to help you tailor that pathway around those as best we can So kahlia For the stem academy, is it recommended that people join up even if they're not 100 sure that they want to go As their first choice in a stem career Yeah, absolutely I would definitely encourage you if you're even slightly interested in studying a stem area to get involved in stem academy Because as I already alluded to earlier Sometimes the process of learning and particularly connected with university can be just as much about finding out what you don't like as what you do Like so honestly as the program coordinator if you signed up for stem academy and what you got out of it was hey This isn't for me. It's a different area that I'm interested in I've done my job because that means I've given you all of the information about stem that we've possibly Got as the university you've been able to weigh that up with your own interests and make a decision That's going to be best for you and for your future And maybe one that you wouldn't have been able to make if you'd waited until you got to university to kind of work that out so Certainly we welcome everybody as part of the stem academy Registration program a process we do ask you which stem degree you're most interested in studying and there is an option Therefore, I don't know or I'm interested in a different discipline So as I said earlier, it's all about giving you those opportunities So if there's anything there that you think can help you make your final decision, we'd love to have you on board Thanks, kalia. So we've got quite a few questions about prerequisites for specific degrees and prerequisites in general So as a bit of a blanket, we will actually get back to you If you've provided your email address when you registered we will get back to you tomorrow with the information about the specific degree That you've asked about if you've come in as an anonymous attendee Please keep in mind that you can visit our degree finder website and on there You will be able to check the individual prerequisites for specific degrees One thing just to clarify is the difference between prerequisites and assumed knowledge Prerequisites are subjects you must have completed in school in order to be able to gain entry into a degree Whereas assumed knowledge is subjects that would be very helpful for you in your first year to smooth over that transition But they're not formally required for admission. So just to keep that in mind that assumed knowledge is recommended But not required and prerequisites are required So that's when we're talking about mapping out these pathways. Um, if you haven't got a prerequisite There are ways to make them up. It just may take a little bit longer So um Thank you all so much for submitting your questions. They are coming in faster than we can answer them So we'll definitely be trying to get back to as many of you as possible tomorrow There's just one question towards the top that I would like to just quickly talk to because it is a really common one So the question itself is I'm really not sure which engineering course I'd like to go into is there a general one I can start with before going specific The short answer is yes, so You can do what's called flexible entry So it still requires that you meet all of the prerequisites subjects and then you can essentially have a pretty generalized first year But what we're finding now is a lot of the engineering programs actually do teach you A pretty standardized first year anyway. So if you're really keen on, you know, mechanical electrical As well as civil like you can just start with one and then you're able to swap across quite easily So I already mentioned earlier tonight about internal transfers. It's a really simple process So if you are interested in one above all else, or if you have a short list potentially start with one and then you can transfer across because there are some really Um, there is a lot of crossover in those first First a couple of years that agree. So my advice would be it's not one But if you really can't pick there is that option of flexible entry as well Thanks, Tom Um, so we have another question here Um, is it possible for someone that it's studying in an engineering discipline to get? So for example mechanical engineering to get a job in a scientific career So for example being a physicist. So yes, absolutely So in your in your engineering degrees You are either doing physics or chemistry based on your specialization Which gives you access to quite a lot of those opportunities because you have the subject matter background But as well it keeps coming back to those core skills that Tom and I have been bringing up this whole time about creative thinking Analytical skills and problem solving skills. So those are very transferable into different areas And it gives you quite a lot of access There are of course some disciplines that will be locked off to you just based on the fact that you need to have a specific degree In order to be able to access registration or work in that particular field So another question for Kalia Do you automatically get a conditional offer providing that you meet the criteria just for being part of the stem academy? Uh, pretty much. Yes. It's uh, um, you know, they're Like with any of these things there's a stack of terms and conditions And and the main one is actually mentioned in the question Which is about meeting the eligibility criteria And the way that we actually decide on your eligibility for an early conditional offer in the stem academy Is through your subject selection and the subjects that you're studying as part of your year 12 or the senior year of your ip All of that information is available really comprehensively on the stem academy website There's also a link there to a presentation that I did earlier in the year as part of the launch of stem academy Where I go through it in a powerpoint format with my voice over So I'd really encourage you to jump on and have a look at that and see where you fall within that If after that you've got additional questions more than happy for you to get in touch and chat to us about the early offers But essentially what happens is that we'll um issue you with that early conditional offer Somewhere around the end of july beginning of august and then as part of that It will have a number of instructions about how to redeem it. It is worth pointing out that it's a conditional offer So still obviously requires you to finish year 12 And also meet minimum eligibility in terms of both the minimum selection rank and prerequisite subject And there's also a couple of steps that you need to go through in order to properly redeem that such as you know Listing an eligible degree is your first preference. So all of that information is available on the website So definitely that's a really good place to start to in doing research Thanks, kalia. So we had a follow-up question about assume knowledge and I think this is a really good one to touch on This particular question is about ag sciences and the fact that biology isn't listed as assume knowledge However, would it be useful? The answer is yes. So quite often degrees will not list assumed knowledge So it's up to you and your school career counselor to work out which subjects are most related The best advice we can give you is don't be afraid to ask questions at the university But also don't be afraid to talk to people who are working in that industry now It's a great way for you to work out if that's something that would appeal to you in the long term And to get some advice because they're the people who are actually doing the jobs And they'll have a pretty good idea of how much they factor in something like biology in their day to day But in general, it's just really good to think about what else you could pad out your experience if you've got your prerequisites You've even potentially addressed the assume knowledge. What else could be useful? Would it be helpful to do english just to help your writing skills? Or would it be better to do another science to really help with your practical report writing and your lab skills? So there's quite a bit of flexibility there. So we definitely encourage you to go and seek advice One question that I would like to address and potentially just saying could help me in doing so Someone submitted a question regarding what are the opportunities for young women in stem? Like what what supports university offer and how how is that how is that facilitated? Hi, um, it's a great question. So there is a huge amount of opportunity and support for women in stem And the key thing that I wanted to talk about was Is a program that we offer to current female students in all programs across sciences and also engineering computer and mathematical sciences Which is called whisk, which is women in stem careers program So this program actually a couple of the panel speakers that you saw today were members of this program So I know remi was and I think taisha may have been They were members of this program when they were studying with us. So this program offers You know really specific support to female students who are navigating the Study in these areas and heading towards careers in these areas And connects them up with the industry but also does a lot of skills building so helps them with the skills to Know how to network Know how to have the confidence to sell themselves when they're seeking internship opportunities and job opportunities How to approach industry And also connects them with these industries. So there's a lot of support and opportunities And for prospective students So for yourselves when you're thinking about these areas, there's also some really specific opportunities that you could look into So there's some specific scholarships, for example But also programs like for example recently and I'm hoping some of you might have been there. We had a program for Young women in stem So there's there's heaps of opportunities and heaps to explore And what I would recommend doing is checking out Some of the different, you know information about this online But also getting in touch with us directly because we can let you know if you have specific queries about what that might look like and Short on might have more to add because I've probably missed a huge amount but I just mainly wanted to highlight that The supports there and also it's a great career choice because um You know, many of these areas may have had Like previous histories where there may be gender imbalance in industry and in the workforce for some of the different stem areas um, but Everybody is kind of on board with working to ensure that They can create the most balance possible So that means that you know that you're going into some really supportive industry environments who are nurturing um female graduates and helping them to achieve that balance as well as well as of course the study support Thanks, justine. We are coming up to the time I've got a couple more questions that I think we'll address and then everything else will have to send you in Follow up emails over the next couple of days based on the number of unanswered questions we have So the first question is where could a bachelor of science majoring in evolutionary biology or genetics take me? Um, so rather than directly answering this one I think I'd just like to direct you back to the degree finder page So on there there is actually a career specific section where you'll be able to go in and look at The different options available and of course you can still contact the university through the details there So this will be applicable to all the other career related questions. Is it's all in that one place Now we have another question, which is I'm going to throw to kalia So is Adelaide uni looking at making any special allowances for current year 12 students for next year because of the covid isolations Yeah, great awesome question for me because this is what I've spent the majority of my last couple of weeks working on So a couple of weeks ago now the university of adelaide announced a new alternative entry pathway Specifically for south australian and border victoria new south wales year 12 students who might have had their studies affected by The pandemic this year So essentially the the long and short of the program and there's a lot of information available online So please go and look at it after this because I'll only give a very short summary Is that we're allowing current year 12 students to apply to the university of adelaide based on their year 11 grades from 2019 So this is something that's happening as a partnership between the university and the schools So in terms of supplying that information The schools are the ones actually working with us to provide your 11 Grades for current year 12 students, but there's a stack of information online about what the eligibility is from those year 11 Subjects in order to meet certain degree requirements But do bear in mind obviously that these are going to be conditional offers as well made on those year 11 grades for those students So there is still some prerequisite subjects and things like that that need to be met It's really really worth jumping on and having a look at that information And if you are a current year 12 student, definitely make sure you speak to your career count Or your principal and make sure they're across the scheme and that they understand how they need to provide your information as well So that's what we're doing as a university to support this year's year 12 students Thanks, carlia. I really really encourage everyone to look into that scheme for this year. It's going to be Really really beneficial And we're all really excited about it actually The final question and I'm very very sorry to the nearly 50 of you whose questions we haven't been able to get to so far We will chase them up with you independently Is the university going to still have its open day this year and the answer is yes It will be on sunday the 16th of august We are currently ironing out some of the details, but stay tuned We will be hosting definitely a virtual component to this event. So please keep an eye out There'll be a lot of news coming up to schools in the near future and our website is due to be updated with information any day now But we are still absolutely doing open day And this is your time to really get into some of those much more detailed questions We'll have our academic staff available So you can ask them really really detailed questions about their specific industries and the degrees and we'll still have all of the normal information talks So thank you all so so much for coming along. It has been absolutely incredible We've really really just been impressed by the quality of your questions and and the engagement with tonight As I said, we we are going to have to spend the next day also Following up all of your questions If you're interested in keeping in touch with us You can do so through the contact information there The university has a STEM dedicated website Which has a bit of information about careers and degrees and study options that you can look at And of course degree finder is your degree specific one-stop shop We've also just launched a podcast called the universe from Carlia's team So this will go through all sorts of different matters around finances around the day-to-day experience of being a student Choosing the right degree for you. This is an ongoing podcast that it is going to keep coming out over the next few months So please keep an eye out for it. Definitely consider giving it a subscribe And of course you can reach out to our future students team there So on behalf of everyone from the faculty of science the faculty of engineering computer mathematical sciences and the university as a whole Thank you all so much for coming and we look forward to hearing from you soon