Kyla Adams is a physicist and science communicator who gained her Bachelor of Science (Physics) at QUT. She then moved to Melbourne to do graduate research in gravitational waves and quantum liquids. Throughout her studies she has been involved with various science and math outreach and mentoring activities with groups such as In2Science, the Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute and Science Gallery Melbourne. She is currently completing her PhD in physics and education at The University of Western Australia with the Einstein-First project. Her research focus is on creating ways to put our best understanding of the universe in classrooms by developing activities, learning sequences, and working directly with teachers and students.

Catherine Bellair has taught secondary Science, Mathematics and VCE Physics for over 15 years at a range of schools across Melbourne. She is interested in developing STEM and literacy courses for secondary school students to help students improve their science inquiry skills. Currently, she is also a member of the STAV Science Talent Search (STS) community as part of the games team.

Dino Cevolatti and Stuart Bird have known each other since 1993 during their undergraduate years in on-campus accommodation in Farrer Hall Monash University and later in share-house accommodation in Malvern and Richmond. They undertook their Post-Graduate Diploma of Education in the same year in 2004 at Melbourne University and have been teaching Physics on-and-off ever since. Dino has been a Leading Teacher at Castlemaine Secondary since 2009 and in 2018 took on the role of Learning Specialist. Dino and Stuart have also both written and collaborated on commercially available resources for “Quality Assessment Tasks (QATs)”.

Jackie Bondell is Education and Outreach Coordinator for both the ARC Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery (OzGrav) and for the ARC Centre of Excellence for Dark Matter Particle Physics and is based in Melbourne, Australia. She develops educational content for public outreach events and curriculum for school programs, focusing on incorporating innovative technology and science content into in-depth and curriculum-aligned education opportunities for students and teachers. Prior to 2018, Jackie spent 15 years as a Physics instructor in the US. She holds a Masters Degree in Astrophysics and is a National Board Certified Teacher of Secondary Physical Science. During her teaching career, she was the recipient of multiple teaching awards, including the National Science Teachers Association Technology Award for Innovative Use of Technology in Science Teaching. She has led multiple workshops related to incorporating visualisation technology and current Physics research into the science classroom and has recently authored a chapter in a textbook on teaching contemporary Physics to secondary students. Jackie is the Chair of the Education and Outreach Chapter Steering Committee for the Astronomical Society of Australia and a National Astronomy Education Coordinator representing Australia to the Office of Astronomy for Education with the International Astronomy Union.

Keith has taught senior physics in Victorian schools since the 60's. He is an author of the Pearson series of senior physics text books used around the country. Since retiring from full time teaching he has been active in presenting on climate science to schools, teachers and various other organisations. He has a website called “Climate Science for Sceptics” aimed at those who genuinely want to understand the science behind the issue. It is at www.cs4s.net

Paul Butler has been teaching VCE and IB Physics for many years. He has introduced many students to astronomy and astrophysics through a range of practical activities which include observing eclipses and transits and receiving data and images from satellites. He is actively involved in radio astronomy using his own radio telescope at home and through online radio telescopes around the world. Paul was recently elected as a Society of Amateur Radio Astonomers Director and Board member.

Dino Cevolatti and Stuart Bird have known each other since 1993 during their undergraduate years in on-campus accommodation in Farrer Hall Monash University and later in share-house accommodation in Malvern and Richmond. They undertook their Post-Graduate Diploma of Education in the same year in 2004 at Melbourne University and have been teaching Physics on-and-off ever since. Dino has been a Leading Teacher at Castlemaine Secondary since 2009 and in 2018 took on the role of Learning Specialist. Dino and Stuart have also both written and collaborated on commercially available resources for “Quality Assessment Tasks (QATs)”.

The Physics Teacher Education Coalition (PhysTEC) has named Joe Cossette (MEd '16) its 2023 Teacher of the Year. This award recognizes outstanding high school physics educators who demonstrate the impact and value of physics teacher preparation programs. Joe has taught high school physics and physical science for 8 years. Before becoming a teacher, he worked as a mechanical engineer and is passionate about helping students make real world connections with the science content in the classroom. He spends a lot of time brainstorming creative ways to make learning fun and interesting and shares many of his lesson ideas for free on his website "Passionately Curious" (passionatelycurioussci.weebly.com)

Caroline is an experienced and passionate educator who has taught Biology, Chemistry and Science for many years. She regularly delivers professional learning to teachers and revision lectures to students before the end of year examinations. Caroline is also the founder of BioBrain. She has developed curriculum for the past 20 years in various formats and created BioBrain to help students learn and revise key concepts in a format that they are used to interacting with all the time, their desktop and mobile devices! BioBrain is an interactive STEM learning platform for Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Science students and their teachers.

Merryn is a senior lecturer at the University of Melbourne. She teaches in the Master of Teaching (Secondary) course in the Faculty of Education and is active in developing initial teacher education in Victoria, as coordinator of the Master of Teaching (Secondary) Internship course, a position which supports change of career teachers as interns in schools and in her position as Physics Learning Area Coordinator. Merryn’s research interests focus on transition and retention of early career teachers, developing scientific reasoning competencies of pre-service science teachers, investigating the support required by change of career teachers, and supporting Vocational Education and Training Teachers and out of field Physics teachers in Australian schools. Prior to her current position, Merryn taught Mathematics, Physics and Science in government, independent, Catholic and faith schools in Victoria, NSW and the USA, including teaching in the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program. She has a strong interest in sharing her passion for using rubrics to assess student work.

An astronomer at Swinburne University of Technology, Professor Alan Duffy is the inaugural Director of the Space Technology and Industry Institute at Swinburne, finding ways to use space to help companies and communities on Earth. His research background in computational astrophysics sees Alan model universes on supercomputers to understand how galaxies like our Milky Way form within vast clouds of dark matter. He is trying to find this dark matter as the Swinburne Node Leader in the $35M ARC CoE for Dark Matter Particle Physics and a Chief Investigator of SABRE, the world’s first dark matter detector in the Southern Hemisphere, at the Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory at the bottom on an active gold mine in Victoria.

Rachael is an experienced Physics and Mathematics Teacher with expertise in both VCE and IB curriculums. She is passionate about developing teacher excellence, data informed practice, technology rich classrooms, and researched backed pedagogy. Rachael is a recipient of the Outstanding Secondary Teacher Award from the Department of Education Excellence Awards.

Liam is a Principal Research Scientist and Science Leader in Quantum Biotechnology at CSIRO, whose research is focused on the development on precision diamond-based quantum technology for biomedical applications. He is an internationally recognised pioneer in the development and use of quantum systems to interrogate biological phenomena at the nanoscale, having authored over 40 peer-reviewed papers spanning the theoretical/experimental spectrum. Liam has been a Chief Investigator on grants totalling more than $40M in research funding, and leads a team of researchers across CSIRO and the University of Melbourne. He is deeply passionate about quantum physics education, having lectured numerous quantum courses at the University of Melbourne; and enjoys communicating quantum concepts to non-specialist audiences by appealing to familiar and related ideas in music. Outside of quantum physics, he likes to enjoy other wave-related phenomena with his family; typically in the form of music and surfing.

Andrew came to teaching after a career in health care. He has been assessing for over ten years and Chief Assessor for the last eight years. Andrew believes that Physics is a discursive art and enjoys watching as students develop their conceptual knowledge through experience and discussion.

Retired from HOS Bialik College 2016. Awarded OAM for services to Physics Education 2021. Since retiring Colin has worked supporting teachers across the state. Published author, VCE Exam questions, Creelman.

Adele Hudson is Head of Science at Aitken College and teaches middle school science, and senior chemistry, physics and mathematics. Coming from a background in research, Adele is passionate about providing students with opportunities to engage in real-world investigations; finding that when students understand the relevance of their learning, they are more likely to value the subject and invest time and energy. Using this approach has resulted in an average 30% increase in student participation in VCE sciences.

Theo has been a high school teacher, a university lecturer (and Education Manager) as well as having worked in senior roles in publishing and IT. Now he wants to help change education for the better, particularly physics, through his company Level 98.

Maria James is the Curriculum Manager for Science for Years Foundation-12 with the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority, overseeing curriculum for Chemistry, Environmental Science and Physics. She holds a Masters degree in Education (Curriculum) and has written a number of textbooks for Junior Science and Senior Chemistry courses. Maria has held a variety of positions in several independent schools, including Head of Science, Dean of Students and Head of Senior College. She is passionate about motivating and engaging students with science, and in encouraging them to take action in local and global contexts.

Sandor has been a teacher at Melbourne Girls' College for over 15 years, who has regularly given VCE lectures and been involved in exam marking. With a background in particle physics, he has worked at CERN during the construction of the LHC. In 2014 he was awarded the Hugh Rogers Fellowship which allowed him to visit renowned educator in physics Professor Eric Mazur at Harvard University.

Man, the laboratory technician at Mt. Alexander College, is not your average test tube enthusiast. He's the life of the lab coat party! When he's not concocting wild experiments, he's a card-carrying member of the Victoria Laboratory Technicians Association (LTAV), and rumour has it, he occasionally moonlights as the lab's stand-up comedian in a few physics workshops. But beneath the laughter lies a true passion for whipping up mind-blowing science experiments and dazzling demonstrations that make complicated concepts as clear as a freshly washed beaker.

Barbara is currently the president of Vicphysics. She has taught Physics and science in secondary and tertiary settings and is most interested in effective pedagogies to achieve conceptual understanding. She reads and plays music to relax.

Dr Claire Rollinson started teaching VCE Physics and Mathematics at The Mac.Robertson Girls' High School in 2010 after working in research for 6+ years in the fields of photonics and fibre optics. As a researcher, she used spreadsheet software extensively to visualise and analyse data in order to draw conclusions and inform development. As a teacher, she is passionate about sharing the wonder of Physics and Mathematics while encouraging students to focus on the process of improving skills and knowledge rather than striving for perfect marks.

Dr. Webb is an astronomer who is passionate about applying novel machine learning techniques to large astronomical datasets, and exploring how it can be transferred to different disciplines. When Dr. Webb isn't researching she is actively communicating science to the wider public via traditional and social media, and leading as mission director the Swinburne Space Challenge School programs. She'll cover all the resources available to begin teaching astronomy in the classroom, and the speciality programs Swinburne runs to give high school students even greater insight into the future of space applications and experimentation.

David grew up on a dairy farm in regional WA and studied physics and education at UWA. For the first 20 years of his working life he taught science, physics and chemistry in several regional and metropolitan secondary public schools and was science head of department for 10 of those years. During this time he was involved in several curriculum reform initiatives. For the next two decades he worked in education administration in a range of senior curriculum and leadership roles including foundation principal of Sevenoaks Senior College; CEO of the WA Curriculum Council; and Chief Learning, Teaching and Innovation Officer with Catholic Education WA. Throughout his working years he maintained a close connection with the Science Teachers Association of Western Australia (STAWA). Since retiring he is volunteering on behalf of STAWA with the UWA-based Einstein-First initiative where he is one of the Chief Investigators. His focus is on strategies related to the development and implementation of programs that will ultimately see the Einstein-First initiative influence the teaching of the physical and earth and space sciences in schools nation-wide.

Rick Zhang is currently the network connection manager working for Tilt Renewables which is the biggest Renewable generation and development company in Australia. He began his electrical engineering work after graduation from Xi’an Jiaotong University in 2000s. Since migrating to Australia in 2008, Rick has worked on power system analysis and renewables generation design as a senior power system engineer in Senvion and Principal Engineer in Siemens. His work focuses on the renewable generation connection to the power network and bringing positive impact to the network operation. Through more than 14 years working experience, he has designed over 15 renewable power plants including wind farms, solar farms and Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) in Australia, New Zealand and Southeast Asia. As a pioneer of BESS in Transmission network, he designed the first control system for Hornsdale BESS which is the first BESS in Australia on 2016. Rick is an active member of Connections Reform Initiative (CRI) a body leading Australia’s power system reform to meet renewable targets. He is also involved in several ARENA’s (Australia Renewable Energy Agency) funded projects to research future grid stability.