Our team
Dr Larissa Braz Sousa is a Postdoctoral Research Associate in School Science Education using Citizen Science, at the University of Sydney. She leads the Learning by Doing project, exploring citizen science as an approach to science democratisation, making scientific research more accessible and understandable. Her recent research focused on citizen science mosquito surveillance to enhance public health literacy and education outcomes. Larissa is also a science teacher from Brazil and a passionate science communicator and citizen science facilitator. She co-founded the not-for-profit Ferox australis and the global citizen science initiative Great Southern Bioblitz. Larissa loves spending time outdoors with her friends and going for nature walks.
Hung is a PhD student in organic chemistry and chemistry education research. His organic chemistry research focuses on open source drug discovery of the neglected tropical disease Mycetoma where he spends time in the lab synthesising novel molecules for biological evaluation. As part of the Open Source Mycetoma group, he also gets to openly collaborate with other researchers around the globe. He is particularly interested in ways to communicate his drug discovery research to raise awareness and garner public support for neglected tropical diseases like Mycetoma. His chemistry education research as part of Breaking Good project looks at effective student engagement through outreach Chemistry activities, via in-person and online delivery modes.
Before joining the SCOPE team, Genevieve worked as a science teacher (specialising in senior chemistry and biology) and senior curriculum coordinator in the Northern Territory. Her research involves examining how policy, curriculum and research influence teaching in Australia, with a particular focus on senior chemistry - you can read more about it on her GitHub page. Genevieve is passionate about making learning fun and relevant to students through meaningful hands-on activities, student-directed project-based learning and giving students opportunities to engage with genuine scientific inquiry. Hence, she is involved in our E$$ENTIAL MEDICINE$ in Schools work and the Nanosonic Stories Project, and works as a Program Manager and Science/STEM Specialist for Future Anything. She wants to learn more about creating positive learning environment for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students in particular, and find ways to meaningfully bring Aboriginal and Torres Strait histories and cultures into the science curriculum. Outside of her professional life, you can usually find Genevieve four-wheel driving, camping, hiking, climbing - or just reading at home all day.
Klementine completed her Honours (Class I) in the SCOPE and Rutledge groups in 2021 and is now pursuing a PhD in open source drug discovery across both groups. Her project is two-pronged, with one focus being the synthesis of novel anti-tubercular agents as part of the Open Source TB project and the other being the development of the educational, participatory science program Breaking Good in which secondary school and undergraduate students can participate in the drug discovery process. These programs are currently run in collaboration with MycetOS, an initiative for finding treatments for fungal mycetoma. All of Klementine’s research is open access and can be found here. Klementine enjoys baking delicious gluten free goodies, staying up late reading and trying to make friends with every cat she meets. Follow her on Twitter to find out more about her work.
Kymberley is primarily involved in the Breaking Good Project. As a coordinator she helps in the organisation of the program. Currently, she is conducting a literature review on overprices medicines which will be used to identify possible medicines that can be the basis of new Breaking Good projects and is finalising the GitHub for Breaking Good. An organic chemist Kymberley is also working on the synthesis of anti-malarial compounds and is involved in Open Source Malaria. Outside of the University, Kymberley is an avid hiker having spent 5 months last year living out of a backpack and hiking over 3000 kms of the Pacific Crest Trail! She loves animals, in particular ducks, and plants and lives to eat.
Dr. Yaela Golumbic wass a research fellow at the University of Sydney and lead 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. Yaela is now the Head of Citizen Science Research at The Steinhardt Museum of Natural History in Tel Aviv. You can find Yaela on LinkedIn, Twitter and ResearchGate.
Thant Sin Phway completed her Honours in the SCOPE Group with Alice in June 2022. Her research is part of the bigger project ‘Learning By Doing’, which aims to design, implement, and assess citizen science learning programs and frameworks for primary and secondary school students. Her project has two parts, and the first is to identify learning outcomes and impacts for students in engaging them with citizen science. Secondly, it is to find out how citizen science programs in schools can be evaluated and assess students’ learning.
Sebastian completed his Honour’s project (Hons. class I) in 2020 with Alice. His project (linked here) involved two parts. For the first part, he surveyed high school science teachers on their available classroom resources, and the strategies they employed and analysed these findings under the lens of equity. For the second part, he reviewed specific methods for chemistry education at a distance. He completed his Masters of Teaching (Secondary) in 2022 and is now a fully fledged biology and chemistry teacher.
Ellie is a science communicator and museum educator, with a research focus on experiences and expectations of science within the museum context. Her research aims to demonstrate the capacity of science communication to achieve non-science related goals, and finding innovative ways to make science meaningful and accessible for non-scientifically inclined audiences. Her PhD is exploring how to communicate ‘bad science news’, such as climate change, in a way that builds communities.