The It Takes a Spark! STEM Conference inspires and engages forward thinking students, teachers and leaders in STEAM.

Founded by engineer, education consultant and author, Dr Adrian Bertolini and event specialist, Rachel Manneke-Jones in 2017, the Conference has directly and positively impacted over 8220 educators and students through their attendance.

The event format provides a unique opportunity for Teachers to engage in hands-on professional learning with the option of attending with Students.

In 2025 Conferences will take place in Queensland, Western Australia, and Victoria.

WE CREATE SPARKS IN LEARNING FOR TEACHERS, STUDENTS AND EDUCATORS!

2025 KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

BRETT SALAKAS

Hewlett Packard Education

Brett Salakas, the HP Education Ambassador, is an international keynote speaker, an author, the founder of #aussieED (the largest online network of teachers in Australia) and the co-founder of both the ED Poets Society and #TheWalkingED. Brett is a Primary School teacher and experienced leader who, over the past 20 years, has taught in South East Asia and Australia. He is passionately committed to turning educational theory into real classroom practice. Brett is all about connection, collaboration and inspiration.

DR TATHEER ZAHRA

Composite Materials Engineer, Queensland University of Technology
Superstar of STEM

Dr Tatheer Zahra is an engineer and academic focusing on creating high performance materials for disaster resilience of buildings to protect them from earthquakes, storms, explosions and collisions. Her research is inspired from various concepts ranging from Lego to memory foams used in shoes which have been redesigned for building damage protection applications.

She works with some major industry partners including Concrete Masonry Association Australia, Adbri Masonry and Brickworks to innovate masonry with mortarless interlocking blocks based on Lego design. She also works with recycled materials industries to develop concrete from recycled materials such as rubber tyre chips and demolished concrete aggregates. The most satisfying part of her work is when young engineers are inspired by her work and offer to help in her research.

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR ANITA PARBHAKAR-FOX

Mine Waste Geoscientist, University of Queensland
Superstar of STEM

Waste from mining isn’t just the mining sector’s problem. It is our problem too. We need a new generation of sustainability experts, geoscientists and engineers to combat Australia’s mining waste.

Associate Professor Anita Parbhakar-Fox has an Environmental Geosciences PhD and has spent several years at the Centre for Ore Deposit and Exploration Studies (CODES) at the University of Tasmania. Working with industry she has examined how tools used to find new ore deposits could be used to characterise mining waste. This helps with site rehabilitation after mining and the use of greener technologies when mining.

Anita leads the Mine Waste Transformation through Characterisation (MIWATCH) Group at the University of Queensland. Working with many industry and government partners they have already identified rare and critical minerals. We need to find these if we want to make the technologies needed to sustain humankind. Leading the MIWATCH team has enabled Anita to mentor and train a new generation of environmentally-focused geoscientists and STEM researchers.

DR TIM KITCHEN

Senior Education Specialist
Adobe

Following 23 years teaching Primary, Secondary & Higher Education, Tim has been Adobe’s Senior Education Specialist for Asia Pacific since 2013.

A passionate advocate for creativity in education, and a well-recognised education thought leader in Australia, Tim is a regular presenter for a wide range of national and international education events. Tim has also recently released his new book The Best Way to Learn is to Make – Creativity in a Gen AI World

He regularly liaises with schools & universities focusing on enhancing creativity in education. He also manages the Adobe Education leadership and active use programs throughout Australasia and helps lead the Adobe Education Exchange which now has over 900,000 members.

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR PHOEBE TOUPS DUGAS

Exertion Games Lab, Creative Technologies Discipline Group
Monash University

Video games offer opportunities for play, learning, and work, but they can also propagate harms to marginalised communities. Information systems, including video games, are embedded in our lives. How can we design for joy, rather than harm?

A/Prof. Phoebe Toups Dugas “a queer, trans woman gamer” pulls apart games to understand how to make them better and how to use games to make the world a better place. This work supports underserved groups, most recently queer gamers, but previously disaster responders.

Phoebe earned her Ph.D. in Computer Science from Texas A&M University in 2010. She went on to work at the Disaster City responder training facility, then joined New Mexico State University for ten years. She co-founded the Transgender Name Change Policy Working Group, which transformed inclusive publishing practices. During her tenure, she attracted over $3 million in research funding from the National Science Foundation to support her work on disaster response. She recently relocated to Australia to join Monash University in the Faculty of Information Technology, where she is focused on transgender inclusivity in information system design.

Educators have told us...

“This was my first experience in attending a STEM conference and it was fantastic. I am very keen to be involved in events such as these in the future. Not only was this a great event to get students excited for all science has to offer; meeting likeminded professionals interested in making a difference within the STEM community was exceptional.”  Jessica Bugeja, CSIRO

“It has literally created a ‘spark’ back into my teaching. I feel so inspired and so happy to bring the knowledge back to my school!” Ashlee Kujawski, Greenfields PS, WA

“I was provided with some actionable information – a few strategic steps to take back in my own school. I have also reflected on my own classroom practice and want to try a few new things / different ways of doing things.” Veronica Farina, HOD William Ross SHS, QLD

“I was able to make professional connections that will support my school’s STEAM programme and students attending the conference saw themselves as STEAM learners and were highly motivated to continue their extracurricular activities and expand school activities.”  Mara Rosenkrantz, Thomastown Secondary College, VIC

“… we wanted to express our sincere gratitude for the incredible opportunity you provided through the “It Takes a Spark” school sponsorship/scholarship. Our students come from low socio and often disadvantaged backgrounds and your scholarships made a world of difference in their lives. Attending the conference was a transformative experience for them. It not only expanded their horizons but also opened doors to a multitude of exciting career pathways they might not have considered otherwise. The impact of this conference on our students’ confidence & aspirations has been truly remarkable. It was heart-warming to witness their enthusiasm as they explored the various possibilities presented at the event.” Kylie Lyon, Gwynne Park PS, WA

Students have shared....

“I understand that Science is so much more than just about scientists and I can enter a path or career that involves Science and I can solve world problems”

“I became more interested about STEAM and what its results are on the world”

“I used to think STEAM was the absolute worst and the most useless thing because my STEM teacher sucked but now I want to be an engineer”

“I used to think that I didn’t have any potential in this area of learning but now I think everyone has potential if they set a goal and work for it”

“Practise doesn’t make perfect it makes confidence”

“I used to be intimidated by STEM and thought it was going to be hard and now I think I am excited to get involved in STEM programs and subjects at school”

“It has given me inspiration and more confidence in my ability and made me feel it’s really good to dream big”

I didn’t know about the sheer amount of jobs and opportunities within STEAM”

“It has become clear that STEAM is much more integrated in our lives than I thought”

“I’ve got more ideas and understanding on how people came up with their inventions”

“It has changed the way I think about STEAM by not just focusing on the robotics aspect”

“I’m starting to wonder about more stuff and if I can do anything to help the world”

GET IN TOUCH WITH US

Rachel Manneke-Jones

Registration & Bookings
Ph: 0411 270 277
E: rachel@spark-educonferences.com.au

Dr Adrian Bertolini

Conference Co-Ordinator
Ph: 0413 036 382
E: adrian@spark-educonferences.com.au

Stay Connected

Facebook: @SparkSTEMConference
Instagram: Spark.in.STEAM
LinkedIn: spark-educonferences

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