Richard Bader – Education Officer

"Everybody starts out as a scientist. Every child has the scientist's sense of wonder and awe."

Carl Sagan

I never grew out of being that child-scientist asking too many questions of my parents and this led me to embracing the scientific method as a means to finding out those answers to the world around me. 

My passion for science first led me to complete a Bachelor degree in Biotechnology and Cell Biology at La Trobe University, majoring in Biochemistry. I started working in the Biochemistry department of La Trobe University specializing in the purification of antibodies against specific peptides. It was during this time that I developed my early passion for education in the teaching laboratories of the Biochemistry department. It was after that experience that I went on to complete my Masters in Education specializing in both Biology and Gifted Education. 

Throughout my teaching career I have been an advocate for the Sciences, encouraging students and staff to engage in more hands-on and authentic experiences. I want students to feel that ‘sense of wonder and awe’ about the world around them, to ask why and to have the tools to discover it for themselves. These are skills much valued in the world and vital to not only the sciences but many other aspects of life.