The Circus Team

Meet the team!

Seventeen enthusiastic science graduates staff the Science Circus as it travels, bringing lively presentations of science to towns and schools. The group have a diverse range of science qualifications and a wealth of experience in the performance arts and travel.

Every year we recruit a new team of presenters for the Shell Questacon Science Circus. To join the Shell Questacon Science Circus next year, start by finding out more about the Graduate Diploma in Science Communication. Applications close August 31 each year. Contact the ANU by e-mail or telephone on + 61 2 6125 2809.

Linden Ashcroft

A poem by Linden

Well we begin in a tiny Victorian town,
Where there wasn't really all that much going down,
So moving to Melbourne was the way to go
To find out everything that there was to know!

I always loved maths and physics and weather,
I know it sounds nerdy but if you put them together,
You can understand things that you see all around,
From up in the sky to right down on the ground.

I also learnt things about words and stuff
An attempt to keep my brain looking busy and buff
I read poems and books from all different times
So that I could come up with these (kinda lame) rhymes.

When I learnt of the circus it was me to the letter,
Science, sharing and travel, what could be better?!
I packed all my bags and then whoosh, I was gone
To live as a clown here at Questacon!

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Matt Bird

Hi, I'm Matt. I’ve always enjoyed science, and was lucky enough to get some work placement in a laboratory in Year 11. This led to a science degree with Honours, and then work at the Ludwig Institute for two years studying the biology of colon cancers which have a familial link. This was slow progress so having found that I also enjoyed imparting my knowledge to the younger generation, I jumped into the Graduate Diploma of Science Communication.

I enjoy getting out and about, particularly hiking in Tasmania. I also like to try my hand at sport when I get the chance. Looking forward to the year ahead!

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Jillian Browning

Hi I’m Jillian and I’m thrilled to be a part of the Shell Questacon Science Circus. Why? Not just because I’m easily excited but because of the excellent opportunity to share my love for science and have a whole lotta fun while doing it. I have a particular passion for Marine Science and have recently completed a degree in Global and Ocean Sciences with the Australian National University in Canberra.

I am native to Canberra and was able to enjoy Questacon as a kid.... ok I admit I still enjoy it thoroughly now. I hope I will get the opportunity to give something back by sharing my passion for marine education with the Shell Questacon Science Circus and in my future career.

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Pahia Cooper

My name is Pahia Cooper. When I was little, a circus came to my town. It wasn’t a regular circus although people wore funny costumes and there was lots of smoke. It was a science circus. They blew things up and made bubbles that you could step inside. They told me about volcanoes under the sea and what it would feel like to fly in outer space. They showed me how to make slime in my kitchen and to grow a crystal tree. Now I get to be in the very same circus!

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Claire Farrugia

Dear Science,

Congratulations, you have been selected as the successful candidate in the pursuit to most ignite my curiosity.

It has been the science of animals- particularly animal genetics- that has held my interest and inspired me to get the most out of my full time tertiary education. However, it cannot be denied that there are other worthy candidates vying for my attention and passion, including a strong push from ‘Communications’.

I am writing to tell you I have stumbled across a marvelous way to marry these aspects of my somewhat split personality! How can this be done? Join the nomadic group of science graduates aptly named the Science Circus!

I look forward to seeing out this next year as a “circus animal” scientist! I know we will have a long and fruitful relationship together,

Yours sincerely,
Claire

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Mitsuru Kudo

"Communicating Science to the Public" - sounds fairly simple but this is the theme I've been really interested in for more than ten years and haven't yet found the way to do... Having completed Honour's and Master's research in science in Japan and another Master's research in communication studies in Australia, I still don't clearly see how far I've come and how much further I should go. But this year, as part of the Shell Questacon Science Circus, I'll be surrounded by the other 16 trainees who are talented, enthusiastic, devoted, friendly, talkative, easygoing (... and what else?) and great teaching staff at the Australian National University and Questacon. I'm sure I'll learn lots and lots in this incredibly fabulous environment, which I hope will enable me to grasp a clearer picture of this field.

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Steph Kuisma

My name is Steph and as a kid I was no good at school. I couldn't spell to save my life so I felt like a fool.

All I liked was counting, I'd count anything I found. I'd get caught when playing chasy when counting ants all on the ground. My teacher said "If you like maths, you should try science too!". So I stopped counting for just a second and said "That's exactly what i'll do!". And now today, many years have past and I can proudly say I'm a biologist, who still can't spell, but loves science in every way!

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Mei Liu

For as long as I can remember I have always had a burning curiosity for “What, Why and How”. As soon as I found these answers I would be so excited that I would run around telling anyone who would listen (usually a very patient parent).

Although I have often vigorously denied it, I have in reality, been a science geek all my life. As a toddler I burnt my finger on a candle flame working out what ‘hot’ really meant. In primary school I somehow managed to help win a Science Drama contest by playing Luigi Galvani and putting on a terrible Italian accent (“It was-ah animal eeelectreecity!”). Come high school I was beyond help. I took my date to Scienceworks and spent my summers at Solar Science camp. Naturally, I went on to study law...

Well I didn’t entirely betray scientific curiosity for the glamour of law. I tried the best of both worlds and enrolled in a double degree in Science/Law at Monash University in Melbourne. After three years, my love of squishy things and the human mind led to a major in Human Physiology with a minor in Psychology. Then, faced with the horrible choice between slaving away at straight law subjects for another two years, or being holed in a lab doing Honours, I ran away to join the Science Circus! Whether merely a segue between degrees or a passionate lifelong career, only time will tell.

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Sally Lowenstein

An excessive amount of energy, paired with a desire to touch and in most cases destroy anything that was unlucky enough to make it into my line of sight, had many of my family members predicting my future as that of a delinquent. Fortunately, my mother took a pro-active approach and chose to distract me with Gymnastics Classes and the Double Helix Club. Despite never being able to get all the cardboard pieces in the double helix model to stick together, or for that matter, successfully walk in a straight line, I became intensely involved in science and gymnastics until I finished University. Left then with a choice about my future that I was not willing to make, I enrolled in the "University of Life", travelling, working, eating lamingtons for almost 2 years, until a Google search led me to the Science Circus. I had this freaky "Eureka!" moment, and the rest, as they say, is history....or science.....or lamingtons?

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Broderick Matthews

Hi there- my name's Broderick! I'm 6'1" with a good sense of humour and enjoy long walks along the beach. Aside from that I am completely obsessed with science! Everywhere I look I see science surrounding me and I can't help but be excited and intrigued.

My science obsession started from a young age and with the help of a crazy chemistry teacher it blossomed. Out of high school I studied at Flinders Uni and completed a double degree in forensic chemistry and innovation & enterprise. I learned how to analyse everything forensically from DNA to drugs and I even completed research in pen inks for my honours year. After five years working and studying in the university labs I decided I needed some fresh air and joined the Shell Questacon Science Circus. This year I'm hoping for a lot of fun and to pass on my obsession to a whole lot of people!

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Scott Philip

After falling into Science Communications part way through my undergraduate degree, I’ve stuck with it ever since. I began to both study it and practice it at the University of NSW during my time as an undergraduate. Getting paid to inform and entertain visiting school students with science facts and demonstrations while studying was such a thrill. I finished off a Bachelor of Science Communications majoring in Marine Biology, however I wanted to get more involved in the fun niche career that is Science Communications. The Graduate Diploma in Science Communication with the Australian National University and Questacon was the perfect launch pad. Outside uni I enjoy cycling, the surf, the sun and good music all of which have very interesting scientific concepts and theories behind them that deserve to be communicated.

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Jay Ridgewell

Jay’s fascination and passion for science first manifested as a love of chemical changes (in particular those involving chocolate cakes, muffins, biscuits etc.). Her sense of wonder at the world continues to grow like a triple-choc nutty muffin at about the 10 minute mark.

Because triple degrees (choc or otherwise) weren’t available, Jay completed a double degree in science and education majoring in biochemistry, and has also graduated as a qualified primary teacher.

Jay loves sharing her wonderment at the world as much as she does sharing her baking efforts – that’s why she joined the Science Circus!

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Alice Ryder

When I was three years old, I desperately wanted to go to school so that I could learn to write. I wanted to spend my life writing stories. When I grew a little older, I learned to snorkel and fell in love with the outdoors. Now, as well as writing stories, I want to understand how the world around me works - what makes reefs full of colourful fish, and how mountains are formed. After dreaming of becoming an actor and a best-selling author while I was at high school, I ended up studying Environmental Science at university, and worked as a ‘real’ scientist in a water quality lab, where I had a white lab coat and everything! Although I loved science, lab work wasn’t really for me- there was still a three year old in my head who wanted to tell stories. So I swapped my white lab coat for a rainbow one and dived into the world of science interpretation and education. I decided to leave research to the boffins, and devote my time instead to picking out the cool, weird, gross bits of science, and turning them into stories I could share with the general public to help them get as excited about science as I am.

Along the way I have done some strange things- massaged sick turtles and dressed up as an angel fish, been an ecologically-aware pirate captain, and cooked scones on a BBQ (allegedly to teach kids about fire safety, but really because they tasted yummy). I have loved every minute of this, and want to get even better at it. So I decided to join the Shell Questacon Science Circus and learn how to communicate science in... well, a more scientific way. And I think a red nose will compliment my rainbow lab coat very nicely indeed!

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Priyanka Shewpersad

Before I introduce myself, I'd like to take you back to a confused 17 year old, about to finish school, enter the big bad world with no idea what she wanted to do with her life. She loved Maths and Science just as much as English and Drama thus it was absolutely impossible to decide what career path to take. Five years, 1 skydive, 2 bungees and much backpacking later, here I am... just having finished degrees in both science and journalism (clearly a decision could not be made) at the University of Queensland. The natural progression is of course to find pretty much the only career that combines both my degrees and my crazy, adventurous personality...THE CIRCUS.....clowns, elephants, acrobats...well…actually…not that kind of circus, one even better, the Shell Questacon Science Circus. And with all the enthusiasm and personality in the team this year, we're bound to have all that a regular circus has to offer and so much more.

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Richard Temperly

I was born in Sydney, I lived there for 12 years. I then moved to Coffs Harbour on the Mid North Coast of NSW. Although I have always being interested in Science and keen to go to Questacon whenever I visited Canberra, I did not study any science in the last two years of high school.

Despite this, I somehow came to the conclusion that studying Science at the Australian National University in Canberra would be a good idea. My major was in Psychology, but I quickly developed an interest for Science Communication through the Centre for the Public Awareness of Science.

I have always been a performer and been comfortable with public speaking/debating from a very early age. Therefore in some ways it is no surprise to me that I am a member of the Shell Questacon Science Circus. I am hoping for a career in communications at the completion of the course.

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Ben Villani

I was inspired to appreciate the marvelous nature of ‘how and why’ by both my family and the infamous Curiosity Show. Years later a natural progression for me was to study a Batchelor of Applied Science where I majored in Environmental Chemistry and Medicinal Chemistry. It was in this environment that I was told (more than once); “You ask our lecturers the strangest questions.”

More recently while sitting around the swimming pool I exclaimed to my fellow swimmers “Hey, a yellow spider was climbing the hairs on my arm, but then it flew over the fence!” The response I received… “Yeah right Ben… I think you’d better get out of the sun mate!”

We live in an amazing world that continues to inspire little curiosities. I love ‘the strange questions’ and am delighted to be sharing these whilst participating in the Shell Questacon Science Circus.

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Steve Yannoulatos

Steve loves science. Problem: Steve also loves performing. He even spent his entire undergraduate science degree trying to combine the two by singing show tunes in his research lab. Unsatisfied with this approach (and with all the complaints about his singing), he journeyed to Canberra to join the Science Circus to hopefully find a legitimate outlet for both of his passions.

Steve studied Nanotechnology at the University of NSW and completed his Honours year in Chemistry in 2008. He was also heavily involved in the campus theatre society (NUTS), and spent a year as part of Sydney Sizmos (a professional Greek dancing group). Sadly, despite all efforts to quench his thirst for performing, Steve still occasionally bursts into song. Consider yourself warned.

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