Science of Life
Year 9 students participated in a full day of lectures at La Trobe University for the Inquiry Unit Science of Life. Five academics spoke to students about their areas of expertise.
Associate Professor Daswin De Silva is in the very topical field of Artificial Intelligence and how it can be applied to Healthcare, Dr Michael De Silva spoke on our ageing population and the issue of Dementia, Associate Professor Colleen Thomas’s topic was obesity in both the developed and developing world, Professor Warwick Grant spoke about his lifetime of studying the neglected tropical disease Onchocerciasis( River Blindness) and the moral obligation developing nations might owe to those living in countries that have these diseases of poverty and Associate Professor Monika Doblin outlined the UN Sustainable Goals, focussing on how are we going to feed the growing population of the very near future.
The academics give up two hours of their time, hoping to inspire young minds to not only want to learn more about these problems, but to be looking for solutions to solve issues that our students are going to face. Students really enjoyed the experience and learnt a lot.
We learnt how to take notes effectively by attending the lectures delivered by the Professors and Doctors here at La Trobe University. It was a captivating experience to be exposed to university life at 15. The range of lectures where extensive, sparking the interest of every individual in the theatre- each person took away something from these presentations.
Asher
The lectures for our Science Of Life unit were an amazing experience to work like a University student. The presentation that resonated with me the most was given by Monika Doblin, which taught us about how we can change the foods that we consume to be more sustainable.
Jahnavi
