Meet the team

Associate Professor Alice Motion

Project Leader

Physical Science Lead

Associate Professor Alice Motion leads the Learning By Doing Project. She is a Westpac Research Fellow at the School of Chemistry at the University of Sydney leading an interdisciplinary team of researchers in the Science Communication, Outreach, Participation and Education (SCOPE) Group. Connecting people to science in the overarching theme of Alice’s research which spans open source drug discovery, science communication and science education. Alice is the Deputy Director of the Sydney Nano Institute, the Co-Chair of the Charles Perkins Citizen Science Node and a member of the Australian Citizen Science Association’s Management Committee as the Host Representative for the University of Sydney.

Principal Researcher

Social Science Lead

Dr. Yaela Golumbic is a research fellow at the University of Sydney and leads the Learning by Doing research and management. 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

Dr John Martin

Ecological Lead

Dr John Martin is a Research Scientist at the Taronga Institute of Science and Learning. John’s research program is directed towards understanding the ecology of wildlife in human-dominated landscapes and understanding how humans value nature. Recent research has involved investigating school kids’ connection to nature and adults’ motivations for participating in ecological citizen science projects.

Pedagogical Lead

Dr Christine Preston is senior lecturer in primary science education in 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.

Dr Christine Preston

Ciara Kenneally

Honours Researcher

Ciara Kenneally is an honours student with the SCOPE group at the University of Sydney. As part of the Learning By Doing team, her research is all about 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 is an honours student in the SCOPE (Science Communication, Outreach, Participation and Education) Group at the University of Sydney. In the Learning By Doing team, she is looking 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