Science opening doors and taking to the streets

Science will be opening doors for refugees and taking to the streets via 'Sciencycle', in two new projects funded by Inspiring Australia grants. The Opening Doors and Sciencycle projects are both from The Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science (CPAS) at ANU. The Opening Doors project, led by Sean Perera of CPAS, in conjunction with Caitlin Winter from the ANU Student Equity team, will see a diverse group of young migrant refugees from the Canberra and Goulburn areas participating in activities at popular science engagement venues in Canberra. "The project aims to do exactly as its name suggests - to open doors to young refugee migrants who have otherwise had limited access to science," Perera said. The Opening Doors project aims to address issues potentially facing migrants such as social participation, personal wellbeing and community connectedness. "Science and technology are important elements of Australian culture. However, settlement efforts for new migrants do not showcase Australian science, while science engagement in Australia lacks a multicultural focus," Perera said.