Associate Professor Alice Motion
Project Leader
Physical Science Lead
Professor Alice Motion leads the Learning By Doing Project. Alice founded and leads the interdisciplinary Science Communication, Outreach, Participation and Education (SCOPE) Research Group at the School of Chemistry, University of Sydney. Connecting people to science is the overarching theme of Alice’s research which spans open source drug discovery, science communication and science education. Alice is particularly interested in increasing public participation in science through citizen science and in arts-science collaborations.
Principal Researcher
Citizen Science Lead
Dr Larissa Braz Sousa is a Research Associate in School Science Education using Citizen Science, at the University of Sydney. She leads the Learning by Doing research project, exploring citizen science as an approach to making scientific research more accessible and understandable. Her recent research focused on citizen science mosquito surveillance to enhance public health literacy and education outcomes, leading the Mozzie Monitors project.
Dr Larissa Braz Sousa
Associate Professor Christine Preston
Pedagogical Lead
Associate Professor Christine Preston is a senior lecturer in primary science education at the Sydney School of Education and Social Work at the University of Sydney. Her research relates to teaching and learning in science including using toys and representations. She is co-editor and author of Teaching Primary Science Constructively.
Social Science Lead
Dr Yaela Golumbic is the Head of Citizen Science Research at The Steinhardt Museum of Natural History, Tel Aviv, Israel. She is an external collaborator in the Learning By Doing team. Her research emphasizes on citizen science as a way for enhancing public engagement with science, making science accessible and relevant to peoples’ day-to-day lives, and creating a dialogue between scientists and publics.
Dr Yaela Golumbic
Professor Peter Rutledge
Chemistry Education Lead
Professor Peter Rutledge is a researcher and educator in the School of Chemistry at the University of Sydney. His research focuses on the chemistry of antibiotics and antifungal agents, chemical sensing, chemistry education, and science communication. Peter is passionate about the potential of science as a force for good in our world and exploring this potential with collaborators around the globe.
Environmental Lead Researcher
Victoria Zhang is a PhD student at the School of Chemistry, University of Sydney. She holds a master’s degree in Science and Technology Education and a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Science. Victoria is actively involved with the Science Communication, Outreach, Participation, and Education (SCOPE) group at the University of Sydney. Her research focuses on how citizen science in schools can foster environmental education.
Victoria Zhang
Former Researchers
Dr John Martin
Ecological Lead
Dr John Martin is an experienced ecologist conducting research and implementing management programs. He has experience exploring the ecology of wildlife in human-dominated landscapes and understanding how humans value nature. Recent research has investigated school kids’ connection to nature and adults’ motivations for participating in ecological citizen science projects.
Honours Researcher
Pinyo Getmanee is a Master’s Chemistry student from The University of Edinburgh doing his research project at the University of Sydney as part of his Student Exchange Program. His project is about chemistry citizen science projects in New South Wales schools and curriculum mapping.
Pinyo Getmanee
Ciara Kenneally
Honours Researcher
Ciara Kenneally completed her honours degree with the SCOPE group at the University of Sydney. As part of the Learning By Doing team, her research focused on understanding the current use of citizen science in schools. She also loves social media and combines that interest with citizen science.
Honours Researcher
Thant Sin Phway completed her honours degree with the SCOPE (Science Communication, Outreach, Participation and Education) group at the University of Sydney. In the Learning By Doing team, she looked into the learning goals, outcomes and impacts from using citizen science in schools and how the outcomes and impacts can be systematically evaluated.
Thant Sin Phway
Learning By Doing 