Students talking about research

Congratulations to the students and presenters who participated in the inaugural Pymble Student Research Conference on 17 May 2022. The event was a fantastic experience with so much enthusiasm, interest and discussion. This conference was unique in that it was student-designed and student-led, and it brought together students from a number of schools to learn about research from those immersed in their fields. With over 175 attendees (face to face and online), it looks like national and global research is in good hands with so many caring and committed researchers in our midst.

The conference also included its own research activity which was taking place before, during and after the conference itself. This was in the guise of an amazing foyer display which invited guests to scan QR codes and respond to quick surveys of skill and interest in research, and to physically post comments on display boards sharing why they had come to the conference, their confidence level with research and what they saw as the purpose of research. Student leaders, Charlotte Hartin and Lucy Clark, Year 11, will be researching the topic of student skill, interest and confidence in research using data from the conference, which will be a great paper!

Lucy and Charlotte have been co-planning the conference for the best part of the year and I am truly in awe of their vision and determination. This event showcased research through a student lens, bringing together children and young people from Year 5 to 12, teachers, Education undergraduates, parents, professors and school leaders; all enthused to learn more about research. One of the foyer displays highlighted the data collection and analysis work of a group of Year 5 students, many of whom attended on the night. The students are currently analysing visual data to explore how Junior School students rate themselves in relation to kindness to self, others and the environment. 

We were honoured to have a diverse and experienced range of speakers from different career stages and backgrounds. I’d like to acknowledge:

• Associate Professor Willa Huston, Associate Dean, Teaching and Learning, Faculty of Science, UTS whose research area is molecular microbiology. Willa spoke about the twists and turns of research journeys, and gave examples from her team’s work in chlamydia research and how one set of data is now being re-used to save NSW koala populations.
• Ms Thomasina Buchner, Honours student in the School of Education and Social Work, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, University of Sydney. A Pymble graduate and one of our beloved dance teachers, Tommy spoke about her Honours project where she is researching teaching mathematics to Year 1 students through dance.
• Ms Erica Bell, PhD Candidate, Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney, shared insights into her PhD work on the feeling of irritability in mental health for adolescents. Erica explained how she became interested in this area and what it’s like to plan and run a large research project.
• Professor Amanda Keddie, Chair in Education, Faculty of Arts and Education, and leader of the Children, Young People and their Communities team within the REDI (Research for Educational Impact) Centre, Deakin University, is a highly accomplished academic in her field of education and social justice. Amanda reflected on different ways to do research, including Youth Participatory Action Research methods.
• I also spoke about my PhD which examined how young adolescent girls navigate their subject selection (in the middle years of schooling) and how they plot pathways to their futures. My qualitative methods gave the audience ideas about ways to use non-traditional approaches and how valuable it has been for me to explore a question closely connected to my work in schools.

The 2023 Pymble Student Research conference will take place on the afternoon of Tuesday 16 May. Save the date for this event! All are warmly welcome to join us.