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Faculty of Sciences

Location: The Sciences Hub will be located just off of the Hughes plaza and the “Sciences Bizarre” Street Market will run along the Physics building. Detailed course information and counselling available in Bonython Hall.

Visit the Sciences Hub to collect your science passport and book into activities, building and research laboratory tours. Then visit interactive displays along our brand new “Sciences Bizarre” Street Market and follow a trail around the campus to explore the various sciences on offer at the University of Adelaide. The trail, tours and activities demonstrate how different disciplines and schools interact to provide excellent research and teaching outcomes.

Sciences Hub

The one-stop-shop for finding out about our displays on open day and booking into tours and activities. Here you can collect a passport for the science trail and get free giveaways as you visit our areas. Make sure you book in early at the Science Hub for building and lab tours & activities as numbers are limited. Likewise closed shoes are necessary for those wanting the hands-on lab experience!

Tours & Activities available in laboratories around the campus (available by booking only):

• Molecular Life Sciences Building
  • Adelaide Proteomics Centre
  • Adelaide Zebrafish Facility
  • Undergraduate Teaching Labs
  • Cutting edge research
• Physics Building
  • Virtual Reality
  • Fibre Optics
  • Lasers and Holograms
• Johnson Laboratories
  • Making Biodiesel
  • Undergraduate Teaching Labs

We'll also have various other tours and demonstrations of our research activities running throughout the day. The entire range will be displayed at the Sciences Hub!

“Sciences Bizarre” Street Market

After visiting the Sciences Hub, head along the brand new “Sciences Bizarre” street market where you commence your sciences trail - see awesome exhibits, take part in a range of activities and meet researchers from:

MOLECULAR & BIOMEDICAL SCIENCE

Interactive biomedical displays and activities

Find out about our research that helps to understand and develop cures for major diseases such as cancer, neurological disorders and viruses.

 

AGRICULTURE, FOOD & WINE

Wine, juice and olive oil tasting

Forget a weekend in one of SA’s wine areas, just come along to Open Day where you will sample all these great products and find out about the agriculture, food and wine science that goes into making them.

Tempting Tastebuds
Ah, things are not always as they seem. Why do our senses tell us we want to eat one thing and not another? Is it the smell, the look or the taste? Come and give it a try and learn all about an important area of nutrition research.

DNA Extraction
See what DNA looks like… find out about the tools plant molecular biologists use to develop improved crop varieties and learn about gene technology…. Discover this and more at our “Get into Genes” - the interactive plant biotechnology workshop.

Campus Connection
Visit the friendly staff and students from the Waite and Roseworthy Campuses of the University at their Campus Connection display. Here you can find out all about the facilities and research that goes on at these campuses and why they offer unique experiences to our students.

 

EARTH & ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES

Critters & Creatures
We will have a range of displays. Come along and see how many critters and creatures you can identify.

Juggling with space
Where would you place a windfarm or a mine? How will your decision affect the landscape and wildlife habitats? Using interactive computer-based Geographic Information Systems (GIS) explore a 3D landscape and pick your perfect spot. 

Making Waves
Come and look at our research boat and speak to our Marine Biologists about the exciting work that they do and the great equipment that they use.

Ancient DNA Detectives
Come and see how cutting edge DNA technology is providing new clues to answer questions on the extinction of mega fauna, climate change and human origins.

How to be a Rock Legend!
The University’s geologists (our very own “Rock Legends”) will show you some of the Earth’s rocks, minerals and fossils, and how these can be used to find gold and other ore deposits. See how you can travel the world as a Rock Legend and work towards supporting Australia’s economy in an environmentally sustainable way.

 

CHEMISTRY & PHYSICS

Slime - create and play with your own slime ball
Slime is fun to play with, have you ever wondered what it is made of and how it is made? Come along and make your own slime and find out.

Unbreakable Eggs
What have a sheet and a car airbag got in common? And why would one of our physicists be throwing eggs at a sheet on Open Day? Curious, well come along for a not to be missed experiment!

Amorphous Metals - 'The Atomic Trampoline'
See how the structure of a metal at the atomic level can alter rebound energy transfer! (Also Solid-State Packing - see how atoms and molecules pack when crystalline).

Virtual Reality
Experience the South Australian Virtual Reality Centre and Discover the Origin of Mass in Our Universe - book in at the Sciences Hub.

LEDs - 'Nanotechnology Today'
See how semiconductors represent a modern application of nanotechnology!

Dye Solar Cells - ‘Artificial Photosynthesis’
See how light striking the cells produces an electric current many times stronger than that found in natural photosynthesis in plants and the amazing new applications these cells can be used for.

Computer Simulations - ‘Bend it like Beckham’
In this sports ball aerodynamics computer simulation, see how slight changes in wind and ball speed affect whether a soccer goal is scored or if a golf putt is sunk.

Lasers and Holograms
See how holograms are made using lasers with this holography display. Students make similar holograms in our laboratories as part of a degree in Physics.

Making Biodiesel
Sign up at the Science Hub to take part in this lab activity where you get the chance to make bio-diesel and compare different sources for efficiency.

Fibre Optics
See our displays of new types of micro-structured optical fibres under a microscope then go along to one of our Photonics laboratory tours to see how they are made. Find out why something so small is made using such huge laboratory equipment!

…plus other displays in the areas of Chemistry, Astronomy, Atmospheric Physics and Medical Physics.