SciX@UNSW

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Students learning in the Science facilities at the UNSW Kensington campus

Don’t just learn science. Do science. Access world-leading researchers and facilities at UNSW Science.

The SciX@UNSW program is designed to support passionate high school students who are eager to delve into scientific research. Join one of our research groups and conduct an independent research project, ideal for HSC Extension Science, IB independent projects, or as a taste of a career in research science. The projects are overseen by our academic research staff and are delivered primarily by our graduate research students. They will introduce you to cutting-edge research tools and methodologies and guide you as you extend your scientific skills. 

The centrepiece of the SciX experience is a one-week intensive summer school, held in January. During this week on campus at UNSW Sydney, you’ll be supported in developing your individual hypothesis, collecting your data, and getting started on your analysis, all before the summer holidays are over! 

Since great research takes longer than one week, we’ve designed SciX to support you both before and after summer school:

  • October: SciX applications will open on our registration page. Remember, projects are allocated on a first-come, first-served basis so get in quick!

  • November: Join your research group via Microsoft Teams. Meet your mentors and get started on the background learning and skills training with project-specific pre-work.

  • Early December: Join a virtual group session via Zoom with a one-hour project Q&A opportunity

  • Mid-January: SciX Summer School. Dates will be released in September for the following January.

  • Late February: Check in with your mentors to get advice on analysis or troubleshooting via another virtual session  

  • Early May: Final Q&A session with mentors - by this stage, you’ll be an expert too! You’ll be amazed how far you’ve come with the SciX@UNSW program.

Students learning in the Science facilities at the UNSW Kensington campus

Our information pages include everything you need to know before you register.

Released in September each year and updated regularly, these pages contain information about projects, program costs and eligibility criteria for fee waivers. Registration links are also available via these pages. 

Students learning in the Science facilities at the UNSW Kensington campus

SciX mentors

The SciX mentors are practicing researchers at UNSW, mostly PhD candidates, chosen specifically for their enthusiasm towards sharing their love of science with others. Previous SciX students have expressed that research time with their mentor was the most valued component of their SciX experience. 

During ten research lab sessions during the summer school, your SciX mentor(s) will: 

  • provide you with access to and training in a specific research technique to use for your scientific research project. 

  • support you in accessing, understanding and citing relevant peer-reviewed scientific literature

  • help you to develop a research question and hypothesis that can be explored based on the project’s research technique

  • answer your questions about the research methodology and the rationale for the approach

  • support you in developing your research plan

  • provide suggestions and some training in how to analyse, present and discuss the data you obtain with your research technique

  • support you in considering future improvements in your methodology

  • support you in understanding the sources of systematic and random errors in your experiment, and understanding the reliability, accuracy, validity and limitations of your methodology

     

You may also ask your mentor for guidance and advice on: 

  • general research skills such as conducting a good literature review and producing high quality figures

  • publicly available data sources relevant to your project

  • preparing a Science Research Portfolio

  • preparing a Science Research Report

Examples of past projects

Learn more about previous SciX students’ projects - many of these will be available again. Project availability for each year will be listed in student and teacher packs available from September.