SCOPE Group Research

The Science Communication, Outreach, Participation and Education (SCOPE) research group is headed by Alice and based in the School of Chemistry at the University of Sydney. Our interdisciplinary research and practice spans a very broad range of areas.

We’re always delighted to welcome new members from diverse disciplinary backgrounds to our growing team. We welcome researchers who want to work in the lab as well as researchers who can work from an office or out in the community.

Find out a little more about the SCOPE research group and our collaborators below and some of the projects that we’re currently exploring. We’d love to hear from you if you might like to join our team or find a way to collaborate.

OPEN SOURCE DRUG DISCOVERY

The Breaking Goo

Breaking Good - Bench CHemistry and CHEMISTRY EDUCATION

The Breaking Good Project works with junior students on the synthesis of medicines that aren’t accessible to patients; either because the market incentive is insufficient to motivate their discovery or because existing medicines are unaffordable. This project involves expanding Breaking Good to more schools. You will develop process-style chemical synthesis that is suitable and safe for high school laboratories and research the best way to teach synthetic organic chemistry to citizen scientists.

BREAKING GOOD - Chemistry Communication and CITIZEN SCIENCE

Nulla eu pretium massa.

Building a modern chemistry set

Chemistry is a practical subject and hence experiments and demonstrations form an essential part of chemical education. Outside of specialised institutions - such as university chemistry departments - some chemicals or equipment are not available and limitations surrounding health and safety can restrict the use of certain reagents. Additionally, classroom teachers may lack preparation time or appropriate training to conduct demonstrations. This project will seek to build a ‘Hello Fresh’ for chemistry experiments, where schoolteachers, lecturers or science outreach teams can order bespoke chemical demonstrations suitable for specific audiences or syllabus requirements. In this project, you will investigate the pedagogical importance of practical demonstrations in science education and use contemporary chemical educational literature to inform your research into safe, suitable and effective demonstrations for diverse audiences.

Does chemistry have an image problem?

Chemistry is the central science and a core subject for numerous degree programs including medicine, agriculture, veterinary science and branches of engineering. Despite its central and pivotal role in society, representations of chemistry in the media are often linked to negative news stories such as explosions, chemical spills or pollution. The Royal Society of Chemistry have probed public attitudes to chemistry in the UK through a national in-depth study.1 While some findings from the report were positive – people are positive about chemistry’s contribution to society and indeed, public perception of chemistry is more positive than expected by chemists – the report found that people generally lack an emotional connection to chemistry and that most people can’t think of chemistry beyond their school memories. In this honours project, you will explore whether public attitudes to chemistry in Australia mirror those found in the UK and investigate representations of chemistry in the media to examine any connection between perception and representation. The project will use databases such as Factiva to collate articles, TV programmes and radio segments that have included chemistry stories and analyse whether they have been correctly categorised and assess content sentiment. For pieces with the greatest audience reach, you will examine whether the content is accurate and effectively communicated for a general audience.