Quantum & dark matter road trip to finish lap of Australia in Sydney
The National Quantum & Dark Matter Road Trip will complete its lap of Australia with an event in Sydney on Saturday.
The annual road trip began Karratha on Monday, 4 August and has been visiting remote and regional schools and communities across the country, before finishing with free public talks and demo day on Saturday, 16 August.
The 2025 event will complete a lap of the country that it began three years ago and has continued each year during National Science Week, including crossing the Nullarbor and vising remote communities in the Northern Territory.
The road trip is organised by Australian Research Council Centres of Excellence for Engineered Quantum Systems (EQUS) and for Dark Matter Particle Physics (CDM).
It aims to ignite an interest in STEM among regional and rural students, inspire a future generation of scientists and engineers, and highlight the potential of quantum technologies and dark matter discovery for the benefit of our society.
Road trip organiser and physicist Dr Ben McAllister, from CDM, EQUS and Swinburne University of Technology says the road trip is an opportunity for students to meet scientists who are working at the cutting edge of scientific discovery.
“The National Quantum & Dark Matter Road Trip visits schools and communities that might not usually have access to world-leading scientists.
“This is particularly important given that students who live in rural, regional or remote areas of Australia are less likely to consider STEM careers, and the recent NAPLAN results that showed country students are falling behind their counterparts in the city.
Dr McAllister says students are often just as interested in the scientists as the science, asking questions about their backgrounds, their academic pathways into their careers, and their day-to-day work.
“Students are curious about what a scientist actually does, and they are often surprised by the breadth of careers in science. Dark matter scientists, for example, might spend some time in front of a computer, some time in a lab overseas or 1km underground in the Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory. We enjoy talking to students about how they can get involved in the exciting and globally-significant research happening in Australia.”
During the road trip, 16 scientists from the University of Melbourne, Swinburne University of Technology, Macquarie University, the University of Sydney and the University of Newcastle have been presenting talks and demonstrations at schools across Australia.
University of Sydney physicist Theresa Fruth will present a talk on dark matter at the University of Sydney on Saturday to mark the end of the road trip component of the event, with some pop-up events in capital cities happening over the coming week.
“Scientists are often tucked away, deep in their research, but it is important that we share what we are doing with the wider community,” Dr Fruth says.
“Australian scientists are playing a significant role in helping solve one of the great mysteries of the universe, and the Quantum & Dark Matter Road Trip is an opportunity to share the excitement of scientific exploration and discovery.
“Many people don’t realise that dark matter is all around us and is passing through our bodies, and that quantum technologies are already having an impact on the way we all live. These kinds of facts can bring science to life and ignite an interest in fundamental research that will hopefully lead to a new generation of scientific leaders in Australia.”
The event will also include a talk on quantum technology by University of Sydney physicist John Bartholomew.
More information about the road trip is available at www.qdmroadtrip.org. Photographs of road trippers are available on request.