National Science Week 2026: What’s In My Bag?

Rebecca

Well, hello, everyone, and welcome to our National Science Week event. Thank you very much for joining. My name is Rebecca Pirzl and I work at the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water. I lead the Science branch of Parks Australia, which means that I help to promote the role of science in helping to protect the environment, care for our communities, and to build a better future.

National Science Week is a time when we celebrate science and the people who make new discoveries. Science helps us to understand how things work, from the tiny creatures in our oceans to the ice and weather in Antarctica. Science is all about asking questions, exploring new ideas, and finding solutions to challenges. I’m really thrilled to be your host today. You’re going to hear from scientists that are working in places like Antarctica, Kakadu and Ningaloo Reef.

You’ll hear about their amazing work, from protecting Australia’s national parks and unique wildlife, to studying Antarctica and learning more about our changing climate. You’ll also be able to discover what’s in their bag. I hope you enjoy the event and are inspired by the incredible scientists that I’m about to introduce you to.

Let’s meet our first scientist, Dr Melanie Borup. The research that Melanie does, takes us somewhere many of us would love to visit, I’m sure, Antarctica. Let’s meet Mel.

Melanie

Hi, my name is Melanie Borup. I’m an Antarctic invertebrate ecologist with the University of Tasmania and the Australian Antarctic Division. I’m really interested in the broad scale biodiversity patterns of Antarctic invertebrates across a range of landscapes. Invertebrates are small, microscopic animals with no backbone that you need a microscope to see. So I’m interested in what lives there, why they live there, and what we can do to protect the animals and plants.

Rebecca

That sounds so interesting, Mel. I’m wondering, you’ve been to some incredible places with your work. Can you share with us the most interesting field location you think you’ve worked in?

Melanie

The most interesting field location that I’ve ever been to was a deep field camp in the Bunger Hills, where we stayed for a couple of months to do our research.

But most recently, we got the opportunity to work on some boats around the station, which you can see in the video playing now. Also in the video is our beautiful new icebreaker, the Nuyina, which was there resupplying our station, over summer. And sometimes while we do our field work, we get some visitors, which you can see in the next video.

Melanie

This flock of Adélie penguins, that came to check us out.

Rebecca

That’s really incredible. To be, in those environments, Melanie. To have the opportunity to be there. Can you tell us a little bit more about what it’s like being in such an isolated place for your work?

Melanie

Well, the journey to Antarctica starts long before you get down there. There’s many, many months of preparation to make sure we have everything that we need before we go down. I flew down both times. We landed at Wilkins Station, and then, my favourite part about the landscape was the beautiful environment, all the wildlife, but also the people that we get to work with. It’s a really special community and everyone gets to live and work together in, an amazing environment.

Rebecca

That’s an incredible experience. Melanie, before we go to our next scientist, could you show us what’s in your bag?

Melanie

We get to use a lot of niche tools, like ice axes to break into frozen things, ice core drills to take samples, underwater vehicles, or fly drones. But today, I have a very special tool for you. It may look like a golf ball with two sponges inside, but it’s actually a highly scientific tool called a meta probe. You can see me here in the picture deploying the meta probes from the Casey Wharf. They sit in the marine environment and soak up all of the DNA over 24 hours. We’re using this as a passive monitoring tool or a non-invasive way of sampling the environment to monitor for invasive species. So in case a dangerous hitchhiker wanted to come on Nuyina, you know, down to station, we can, be aware of what’s in the environment and, it’s important to monitor, our impacts on this fragile ecosystem.

Rebecca

What a powerful little gadget you have there. Thank you so much, Melanie. It’s now time to meet our next scientist, Dr Ceiwen Pease. We’re leaving Antarctica way down south, and we’re heading up to the far north where Ceiwen works, in Kakadu National Park. Welcome Ceiwen.

Ceiwen

Hi there everybody. My name is Ceiwen Pease, and I’m an environmental scientist with The Office of the Supervising Scientist up here in Darwin. And our main role up here is to protect the Alligator Rivers Region, which includes Kakadu National Park, which I’m sure a lot of you have heard of, which is a very special place in Australia, from the effects of uranium mining, because there’s actually a uranium mine that kind of abuts the side of Kakadu National Park.

Ceiwen

And we work with the mine by doing independent research to find out and ensure that the Kakadu and the surrounding environment is protected.

Rebecca

That’s a really important role Ceiwen. And I gather it gets you out and about in the field. Can you tell us what a typical day is like for you doing fieldwork?

Ceiwen

Absolutely. One of the things that we do every year to make sure that the environment is staying healthy and is well protected, is we do fish surveys of the billabongs in Kakadu and around the Alligator Rivers Region. Because Darwin is a very hot place, we have to start really early in the mornings. So we rise with the sun, jump into our trucks and head out to the billabong, and we launch boats into the billabongs and we deploy, underwater cameras. So we’ve got these cool tripod setups which have got a camera at the top, and we put them along a long transect.

Ceiwen

So we’ve got about a ten meter, measuring tape and intervals along that. We put the underwater cameras in and we leave them there for an hour. And that hour allows the dust to settle, the fish to become acquainted with having a camera in their environments. And then we watch and see what comes into our camera. And one of the wonderful things about doing this with the underwater cameras is that we can take them back to the lab, download all the data, and then we’re actually using artificial intelligence, AI, to help us to identify the different species that are in that billabong, and also how many of them are, because it can be quite tricky to figure out, if you counted fish before and things like that. So we have a great opportunity to use AI. And one of the other great things about not having to get in the water with it, with the fish is that we have some unexpected visitors sometimes, like this crocodile that you’ll be able to see in the video that’s running at the moment.

Ceiwen

And we definitely don’t want to be in the water with those guys. So, being able to do fish surveys safely and noninvasively is incredibly important.

Rebecca

That sounds very, very important. Can you tell us a bit about how do you keep yourself safe from those crocs?

Ceiwen

Well, we have a very sophisticated boat setups where we actually have croc cages on the outside of our boats. So, it’s about a meter high fence that sits around the outside of the tinny to protect us from the crocodiles. Because I’m sure all of you know that crocodiles can jump, and they have jumped into boats previously, so we definitely don’t want that to happen to us. We also make sure that everybody who’s going to be on the boat is on the boat when we launch the boats as well.

Ceiwen

And we always have people on the boats that are, their sole job is to be a croc spotter, so they do nothing else except keep their eyes on the water and make sure they’re not seeing any unexpected visitors.

Rebecca

I’m glad to hear you’ve got that covered Ceiwen. And, so we’d also love to see, what do you have in your bag?

Ceiwen

So when we… This is one of our cameras that we use for, this is connected on to the tripod that sits in the water. But while we’re waiting that hour for the fish to swim around and the data to be collected, we also collect some water chemistry as well. So this is called a sonde. And this wonderful piece of machinery tells us if the water is, salty, it lets us know if the water is, acid or alkaline, whether how hot the water is as well.

Ceiwen

would you imagine that the water up here gets like bathwater. It’s about 33 degrees at the peak of the day. And it also tells us, whether it’s easy to see through the water as well, because there’s lots of sediment sometimes in the water. And that takes this up as well. And all that data gets put with the fish data so that we can have a full picture of what’s going on in the billabongs and the environment.

Rebecca

Thanks so much, Ceiwen. It’s now time to meet our next scientist, Doctor Kate Grarock. Kate is an ecologist with BushBlitz. That’s a program that has led to the description of thousands of new species all around Australia. Over to you Kate.

Kate

Thanks, Rebecca. Yeah, I’m Kate Grarock. I am the Remote Operations Lead at BushBlitz, which is Australia’s largest species discovery program. Which means I get to go all over, different parts of Australia, meeting amazing land managers, First Nations People and working with scientists trying to discover new species.

Rebecca

Can you tell us a little bit about what a surprising aspect of conducting field work is for you?

Kate

Yeah, I think one of the most, surprising things for me is obviously, you know, we go out there, we see these beautiful parts of nature, and we’re doing this science, but it’s that human connection that we make with people when we’re out there, being able to be on Country with First Nations People and looking at how they see Country and sharing those relationships and then, you know, being a part of, building those networks and seeing our scientific teams go back out on the Country in these really remote places, and learn from First Nations People and visit different areas to discover new species.

Kate

It’s just so precious. And, yeah, I just think about, like, my phone contacts now, of all these random people that I have across Australia, wherever I go, you know, there’s always, probably a bed for me somewhere to, catch up with these people and, you know, rekindle that that network and that relationship that we built.

Rebecca

That’s such an interesting perspective, because of course, science is interesting in and of itself, but its relationship to community and society and what it can do for our communities and societies is really important as well. But do you have any reflections on the importance of describing biodiversity, in the way that the BushBlitz program does for people, what’s the benefit for people of that work?

Kate

Absolutely. I mean, first and foremost, we can’t look after what’s there if we don’t know what’s there. So if we only know a quarter of the species that we have here in Australia, how are we supposed to protect them? So by learning more about them, we’re able to look after them better and understand where they live, what habitats they need.

Kate

And then through that, also the human connection. There’s a whole range of crazy things that come from learning about our species. I know one in particular that I was excited about here, about sea sponges and the chemicals in some sea sponges have been used in cancer treatments. Or I was just chatting to my boss today and she was telling me about frogs.

Kate

There’s this sort of chemical on some frogs’ skin that can be used in medical, sort of enclosing, sealing up people internally. So there’s this whole flow on effects of cool, cool stuff that we can learn about nature when we’re out there working out what’s here in Australia.

Rebecca

That’s amazing Kate. Really great insights and a really great example of how science can help people. Before we meet our next, scientist, I think you know what’s coming up. Kate. Can you show us what’s in your bag?

Kate

Yeah. I’m going to flip the script on this a little bit because as sort of the team leader, I’m in charge of a whole, like 30 scientists going out in the field willy nilly, chasing bees, chasing spiders. And sometimes they can get pretty focused on the species. So one of the big things I love to do is chuck a, sort of like a tracking beacon on them, a Garmin or a ZOLEO. I love to be able to track my teams and know exactly where they are. But we also have, these trauma kits that we have on each scientist, that’s a big one for me, safety. Obviously, we want to do the science, but we want to do it safely.

Rebecca

Thanks so much, Kate. And, really great to hear those sorts of insights too, into the safety aspects, of field teams, working out there around Australia. It’s now time to meet our fourth and final scientist, Dr Holly Raudino.

Rebecca

From the far north to the far west. We’re moving over to where Holly works, and Holly studies marine mammals on the coast of Western Australia.

Rebecca

It’s really wonderful to meet you Holly.

Holly

Thanks, Rebecca. Hi, everyone. I’m, Holly Raudino. I’m a Senior Research Scientist in the Marine Science Program of the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions in Western Australia. And I study marine animals, specifically marine mammals. And that includes whales, dolphins, dugong, seals and sea lions. And most recently, I’ve been focusing on the Australian sea lion down on the south coast, in Wajarri Sea Country, working with the Dulerac Aboriginal Corporation.

Rebecca

Thanks so much, Holly. Can you tell us, why is fieldwork so important to your research? Holly Sure, Rebecca. Yeah. So I have to go out in the field to actually find the sea lions. The main aim of my project is actually to work out how many sea lions there are. So we measure the population in two ways, and that’s, by counting them. It sounds easy, but, can be tricky. And also, sometimes we catch them and take measurements of the sea lions themselves to see how healthy they are. And, unfortunately, sea lions are actually listed by law as endangered. So we think that they’re threatened with extinction and that there’s less than 12,000 remaining and that’s across the species range. So that’s in South Australia and in Western Australia. So, yeah, our job is really to see whether the populations are recovering, whether it’s increasing, decreasing or staying the same.

Rebecca

Yes, and looking after those species that are threatened is such an important part of what science can contribute to as well. Holly, you’ve talked a little bit about the sorts of things that you do in the field. Do you have some reflections on how technology has helped you in your job, and other changes that you’ve seen in the way that you go about your fieldwork over the years, as a result of technology?

Holly

Thanks, Rebecca. Yeah, that’s been a main focus of the program that we’re doing with the National Environmental Science Program. So, generally we just go out and do surveys with our boots on the ground, so walking around and counting the sea lions. Initially when I started the sea lion surveys, we used to go by boat, down to the colonies.

Holly

And it’s really tricky, to actually land on some of these island colonies. The weather is really wild and the seas are really rough. And you’ll see in some of the photos, that we’re actually now going by helicopter, which has been a game changer. We still do our boots on the ground surveys, but now we also use drones and, I’ve been working with some really skilled, pilots, in the Dulerac Aboriginal Corporation and my work mates that you’ll see in the photos. Jezza, Hayley and Lachie have been flying those drone surveys. So they fly the surveys ahead of us while we’re going around, counting.

Rebecca

That’s really fascinating. It must be fun being those drone pilots. So, Holly, we’re wrapping up now, but before we go, can you show us what’s in your bag?

Holly

Sure, Rebecca, so the most important item that I have in my bag is, this big camera here. It has a really big zoom lens and, I use that to take photographs of the sea lions, and that allows us to check when we get back from the field, the age class of the sea lions, whether they’re pups or juveniles, cows or bulls, and also the species, just to make sure that it is a sea lion and not a fur seal, because they can look similar, particularly when they’re young. This also has a what we call a geotag, which is a type of GPS or global positioning system.

Holly

And that gives us the location of where the photograph is taken and that’s stored, with the photos so that we know exactly where we’ve been and we can put that on a map, when we get back from the field. We also measure the sea lions. And if I can use my little friend here as a prop, we use a builders-type tape measure, which is a rigid one to get the total length, from the tip of the nose to the tail.

Holly

And that, allows us to know how old the sea lions are. And we also get, the measurement around them, which is their circumference, and how wide they are, what we call their body condition. And if they’re nice and round, that tends to indicate that they’re healthy. And lastly, it’s a bit of a wild card, it is a common household item, but this is also always in my pack, and this is hair dye, and it’s not for me, not for my hair, but this one is for the sea lions. So sometimes we like to give them a temporary mark, and that’s so that we can tell them apart. It also helps us count them, and to know whether we’ve caught them, before or not. And it only lasts for a few months before they moult that off.

Rebecca

Thanks so much, Holly. That’s a really interesting kitbag you have there.

Rebecca

So that was a fantastic run through, of the work of four brilliant scientists all doing amazing work in the field to protect Australia’s natural environment. I really hope you’ve enjoyed this event. Please share the video with your friends and if you’d like to learn more about the work that we do at the department, you can check out our website that’s dcceew.gov.au.

Rebecca

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