Treating sewage is energy-intensive, and accounts for 20–30 per cent of a council’s energy costs. And despite sewage being an energy-rich resource, the energy currently recovered from sewage is low. Qilin Wang (Griffith University) has developed a technology, using a chemical already found in sewage treatment, to increase the energy recovered by four to six…
Sam Skinner and his team at the University of Melbourne are working to reduce the size of sludge mountains at waste water treatment plants—cutting the cost and making it more affordable to communities who don’t have big, modern sewage treatment facilities. They are the first in the world to show the link between ease of…
Four thousand families around Sydney may be placing their young children at risk by spraying partially treated sewage from their onsite aerated sewage systems on lawns where children play. The sewage may contain disease causing microorganisms such as viruses and Cryptosporidium which can cause gastroenteritis in children who play in areas sprayed with sewage. Katrina…
Fresh Science is on hold for 2022. We will be back in 2023.
Let us know if you want to receive updates about the program.
Fresh Science is a national competition and training program helping early-career researchers find and share their stories of discovery.
We take young researchers with no media experience and help them become media spokespeople for their science, and reach stakeholders in government and industry.
Fresh Science gives finalists a taste of life in the limelight, with a day of media training, a day of training in stakeholder engagement, and a public event in their home state.
Alumni of the program include Professor Allan Duffy and Dr Niraj Lal.
Read some of the fresh science we discovered in 2021 here.
