2022 has been a year of great change for UNE Discovery. After a tumultuous couple of pandemic years, 2022 was when we finally started to feel like we were getting back to normal and down to business. At the start of the year, the Discovery Voyager team was quite small and a somewhat restricted in what we could offer. However, as the year went on we were privileged to be able to grow the team with new and vibrant facilitators....
The residents of the New England region share their homes with many wonderful species of plants and animals. One that is unique to the Tablelands is the Bell's turtle (Myuchelys bellii), which may also be unique among all turtles for its unusual diet....
The residents of the New England region share their homes with many wonderful species of plants and animals. One that is unique to the Tablelands is the Bell's turtle (Myuchelys bellii), which may also be unique among all turtles for its unusual diet....
The Aussie Bird Count is an activity for all ages that involves observing and counting the birds that live near you – whether that’s in your garden, the local park, a beach, your school or even your own town centre. By taking note of the birds you’ve seen in a 20 minute period, you will help BirdLife Australia develop an understanding of local birds whilst getting to know the wildlife on your doorstep....
UNE Associate Professor Oliver Knox is the man of the hour, having received his second major award in just two weeks! ...
Help scientists to understand how birds have adapted to urban environments by getting involved in the Big City Birds citizen science project. You don’t have to live in a big city to get involved – observations can be submitted from all over Australia! ...
Armidale is in lockdown but we’re soiling our undies anyway! As we prepare for National Science Week we’re cleaning off our shovels and getting ready to dig because the time has come to Soil Your Undies! Follow along with Kieran and Oliver as they take us through how to correctly bury your undies and some of the details of this years challenge. ...
The 2021 Soil Your Undies (SYU) Challenge is off and running. UNE Discovery Voyager, in collaboration with UNE Soil Scientist Dr Oliver Knox, the UNE SMART Farms and CottonInfo, are hosting the 2021 Citizen Science project once again this year and last month we invited you to SOIL YOUR UNDIES! ...
The Soil Your Undies Challenge is back again in 2021 and bigger than ever! This year we want to send out 300 undies to be soiled all across Australia. Register your class now to be a part of this Australia wide citizen science project and test your soil health. Registrations close July 23rd unless we run out of undies first....
Back in March this year, the team from Thalgarrah Environmental Education Centre visited Martins Gully Public School in Armidale to check out the school’s use of a bushy strip of land area within the school grounds that had previously been out-of-bounds for the students. After staff attended a Nature Play Conference at Thalgarrah in 2018, they were eager to make use of the area and let the students PLAY! ...
The 2020 Soil Your Undies challenge was a huge success, with over 200 pairs of undies being buried around Australia. In case you missed the excitement last year, the Soil Your Undies Challenge is a collaboration between Dr Oliver Knox, CottonInfo, UNE SMART Farms and UNE Discovery with the goal to increase awareness and understanding of soil health. To do this, participants of the challenge buried a pair of cotton undies for 8 weeks to see how much they broke down. Cotton is made of type of sugar called cellulose which the decomposers living in soil love to eat, so by analysing how much the undies broke down soil scientists like Oliver are able to see how healthy the soil is! Undies were excavated in December and sent back to UNE for analysis, but what exactly do we do with all these soiled undies?...
Do you want to do more for our Great Barrier Reef but need a way to contribute from home? Check out this amazing citizen science project and be involved for the chance to win a GoPro!...
If you are situated anywhere in NSW right now, or perhaps any place where Summer has arrived, you would be familiar with the magnificent chorus of cicadas that are filling the summer airwaves. Some days, I can’t stand in my backyard for too long as the sound can be quite deafening. I have found at least four species of cicadas at our place, and have been keeping my eyes peeled for more....
What a bumper cicada season we've had! The loud calls of the males fill the air with the distinctive sounds of summer. But despite their unmistakable and familiar calling, not a lot is known about the ecological preferences and requirements that cicadas need to survive....
Are you a keen orchid enthusiast or bush-walker? Then Wild Orchid Watch (WOW) is the citizen science project for you! WOW is a project designed to collect, record and share scientific information about Australian native orchids....
Do you love Galaxies that are far, far away? If your answer is a big YES, then the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research needs your help!...
Wherever you are in Australia, if you have found some poor creatures caught up, reporting the instance can be helpful in minimising the suffering of the creature, maximising the chance of a successful rescue and minimising the risk to other creatures....
Have you had a chance to slow down, sit quietly and observe the living things around you - from the weeds growing through the concrete, to the ants working busily beneath you? If so, the Urban Field Naturalist Project would love to hear about your discoveries....
Join Australia's original pollinator citizen science project from 8-15 of November and help scientists from UNE count wild pollinators in your local environment and build a database on wild pollinator activity....
The Great Inland Glossy Count is calling for citizen scientists and bird enthusiasts to become cockatoo counters! Volunteers are needed to survey glossy black cockatoo populations at three key sites around inland NSW....
You may have seen a creatively named challenge making its way through the ether lately. So, what’s it all about? The 2020 Soil Your Undies Challenge is a collaboration between Dr Oliver Knox, CottonInfo, UNE SMART Farms and UNE Discovery. The original concept of ‘Soil Your Undies’ is a fun and engaging citizen science project, conceived and established by the University of New England (UNE)’s Dr Oliver Knox and CottonInfo. It aims to increase awareness and understanding of soil health, exploring soil health concepts in a novel and fun way, and encouraging participants to share their experiences....
Do you want to learn more about Citizen Science and looking for even more ways to get involved?...
If the answer is yes, you can help contribute valuable data to the Butterflies Australia citizen science project!...
Why not join in on the Aussie Backyard Bird Count!...
Want to learn more, and help scientists investigate mimicry in this fascinating group of insects? This citizen science project is for you!...
There’s all this talk about our Soil Your Undies Challenge being a citizen science project, but how on earth can soiling undies be contributing valuable data to research? ...
How are we going to be able to predict the effect of Climate Change on Australia? When making any reliable predictions you need as much information as possible. Here's a chance for you to be involved in making those predictions possible....
They can talk about and explore a special type of poop all day long with this fantastic citizen science project!...
To better manage our nocturnal neighbours, we first need to better understand what they’re feeding on, where and when....
If you get excited by spotting different birds in your garden, here’s a great program to get involved in....
Echidna CSI is a citizen science project that is looking for Echidnas all across Australia but they need your help! ...
The Brush-turkeys: Birds in Suburbia project aims to survey the distribution and abundance of Brush-turkeys, understand how they behave in different environments, and educate the community on the natural history and biology of this unique native species....
Your observations can help in monitoring the health of trees and ecosystems. Knowing where and when trees have died can help scientists to work out causes of death, those trees which are particularly vulnerable, and ways to protect them. ...
Become a ‘Wildlife Spotter’ citizen scientist and assist researchers by looking for animals in wilderness photos taken by automated cameras around Australia. Anyone can join and you can do it all online!!...
Want to discover more about clouds and contribute valuable data to scientific research? Check this out!...
Butterflies Australia is a citizen science project that launched in October 2019 to ask people to submit photos of butterflies from all over Australia....
The Fairywren Project is looking for citizen scientist partners across Australia to help collect observations of fairywrens and their various plumages (feathers)....
Have you spotted koalas or emus in the Clarence Valley? This citizen science project is for you!...
Our friends over Bush Blitz have an awesome citizen science project you can be involved in!...
Our friends over at the National Optical Astronomy Observatory have an awesome citizen science project you can be involved in!...
Over 46,000,000 acres burnt in the 2019-2020 bushfire season in eastern Australia, including South Australia, New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland. Understanding how the environment recovers from this unprecedented fire season is an important scientific goal....
Want to help accelerate Alzheimer’s Research by playing an online game? Check this out!...
We’re voyaging over to our friends at the Australian Citizen Science Association (ACSA) to explore April as Global CitSciMonth!...
Follow along with Andréa as she undertakes the Wild Pollinator Count in her backyard, and shows just how easy it is for you to do the same!...
You can join Australia's original pollinator citizen science project between 12-19 of April to help count wild pollinators in your local environment and help build the database on wild pollinator activity....
JOIN Australia's original pollinator citizen science project between 12-19 of April to help Dr Manu Saunders from UNE count wild pollinators in your local environment and help build a database on wild pollinator activity....
Today we’re voyaging over to our friends at the University of South Australia with another very cool national citizen science project – Mozzie Monitors!...
Have you heard some interesting sounds coming from your backyard that you think might be a frog? Today we’re voyaging over to our friends at the Australian Museum with a very cool national citizen science project - FrogID. Citizen science projects are activities through which volunteers and scientists work together to answer real-world questions and gather data. Using nothing but a smartphone, you can record frog calls around you that help scientists track Cane Toads and identify where frogs are thriving and where they aren’t!...
