About Us
How STEMeez began
In 2020 The Invergowrie Foundation published a STEM Report, “Girl’s Future – Our Future”, which made a number of recommendations for interventions and initiative that had the potential to improve girls’ participation in STEM.
Based on these recommendations, The Invergowrie Foundation awarded funding to The University of Melbourne, Deakin University and Swinburne University to collaborate on a project to create a STEM Hub to provide girls, families and educators with engaging educational opportunities to participate in STEM.
The STEMeez project engages children right from birth by offering fun activities that show how STEM exists in our every day lives in places that are commonplace such as the Garden, Kitchen, Supermarket, Sky, Playground and even the Roads and Transport we use to travel there. As well as fostering their natural curiosity, STEMeez also asks families and educators to challenge traditional gender roles and encourage both themselves and the children in their lives to move towards more equitable representation of STEM futures.
The Invergowrie Foundation is a public charitable trust. The primary focus of the Foundation is to promote and advance the education of girls and women within Victoria. The Foundation is administered by twelve Trustees. They are responsible for maintaining the assets and distributing annually the surplus funds to promote and advance education in Victoria.
The Invergowrie Foundation is a public charitable trust. The primary focus of the Foundation is to promote and advance the education of girls and women within Victoria. The Foundation is administered by twelve Trustees. They are responsible for maintaining the assets and distributing annually the surplus funds to promote and advance education in Victoria
Our Researchers
Meet the researchers who are working to find even more ways to make STEM fun.
Sarika Kewalramani
Associate Professor in STEM Education
A/Prof Sarika Kewalramani is a researcher and teacher educator in STEM Education at Swinburne University of Technology and the School Partnership Lead. She has been a primary/secondary science and mathematics teacher for 10+ years in Australia, including being a secondary school’s Head of Science Department (2010-2014). Through a strategic program of research, Sarika advocates for technology-integrated science education opportunities and STEM-related career pathways for under-represented students and communities from early childhood years onwards. Sarika is the founder of the evidence-based program All Inclusive Robotics Play&nbs;recurrently funded by the Victorian Government Department of Education and accessible to Victorian early childhood professionals, families and allied health professionals from regional/remote communities for building children’s literacy and numeracy skills through STEM-based play.
George Aranda
Senior Lecturer in Education
Dr George Aranda is a Senior Lecturer at the School of Education, Deakin University, Australia. His research interests revolve around how science, technology, digital technologies and STEM are taught in primary and early childhood contexts. He is interested in how digital technologies concepts and skills can be taught effectively with and without computers, games and how AI will affect future teaching and learning.
Lihua Xu
Associate Professor in Science Education
Dr Lihua Xu is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Education at Deakin University. She has extensive experience working with teachers and schools in professional learning and curriculum development in the areas of science, mathematics, and integrated STEM. Over the last 15 years, she has been involved in and led a number of large-scale projects that investigated curriculum and instructional practices in science and mathematics classrooms from East Asian and Western countries. Her current research explores innovative ways to improve student interdisciplinary learning, address gender equity, and facilitate school change in the area of STEM education.
Gerarda Richards
Senior Lecturer in Education
Dr Gerarda Richards, is a dedicated Senior Lecturer in Education at Swinburne University. Gerarda holds the role of the Professional Experience Academic Lead, in which she supports mentors and preservice teachers during placements. Gerarda’s research interests include Initial Teacher Education, Early Childhood Education, STEM, Teacher Professional Development, Family/Community Partnerships, Indigenous Perspectives, and Trauma-Aware Pedagogy.
Linda Hobbs
Professor of Education
Professor Linda Hobbs is a researcher and science teacher educator at Deakin University, specialising in science and STEM education, contributing to several primary science education texts over the years. Her research interests include teaching out-of-field, STEM education, gender and STEM, teacher learning and school change, partnerships in education, as well as evaluation of education-based initiatives. She has designed, implemented and evaluated professional learning for primary and secondary teachers of science and STEM for over 15 years. She currently leads the Girls As Leaders in STEM (GALS) program, which provides girls in years 5-8 with an experience of solving authentic STEM-related problems while being mentored by university and industry mentors.
Sivanes Phillipson
Professor of Education
Sivanes Phillipson is Professor of Education at Swinburne University of Technology. She is also the Routledge Editor for Evolving Families Series, a series that focuses on issues, challenges and empirical best practices surrounding evolving families that impact upon their survival, development and outcomes. She has worked across multiple jurisdictions across the world with extensive experience in evaluation and applied studies in child development and teacher education research. With over 160 publications, Sivanes’ research and experience centres around families’ and communities’ contribution to learning and care as the basis of young people’s learning and whole wellbeing.
Dr. Melinda Kirk
Lecturer in Education
Dr Melinda Kirk is a lecturer at the School of Education, Deakin University, Australia. Her special interests include Primary Science, STEAM, teacher professional development and co-design research. Melinda has experience teaching in the younger years, primary school and Initial Teacher Education programs; undergraduate and postgraduate. She is particularly committed to enabling transformative curriculum and pedagogical approaches that empower student voice and agency for impactful inquiry experiences.
Dr. Andrea Ng
Lecturer in Early Childhood Education
Dr Andrea Ng, is a Lecturer in Early Childhood Education at Swinburne University. Andrea's research primarily explores STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) education in early childhood and primary school settings. She is particularly interested in how teachers and educators integrate STEAM into teaching practices and curricula across Australian and Southeast Asian contexts. Andrea’s current work investigates how pre-service and in-service early childhood teachers navigate the challenges to integrate STEAM. Andrea is also committed to continue to empower educators through the use of generative artificial intelligence, such as chatbots to support the development of pre-service teachers' self-efficacy and pedagogical capacity in initial teacher education courses. Andrea also explores innovative research methodologies, with a special interest in the use of the World Café method to conduct participatory and contextually relevant STEAM education research.
Jigme Zangmo
Solutions and Engagement Coordinator
Jigme Zangmo is a communications and social impact professional working to make STEM education more inclusive and engaging for young people. As the Solutions and Engagement Coordinator for STEMeez at Swinburne University, she helps design research-backed STEM learning experiences that inspire curiosity and confidence, especially in girls. With a background in public relations and strategic communications, Jigme has worked across social impact, government, and international organisations including Think HQ’s CultureVerse, Arthur St. Digital, UNDP, and UN Women. She holds a Master of Communications (PR) from Deakin University as a Vice Chancellor’s Excellence Scholar and is passionate about breaking barriers in STEM through meaningful, accessible learning.
Chris Speldewinde
Research Fellow
Chris Speldewinde is a Research Fellow at the School of Education and the Centre for Research for Educational Impact (REDI). He conducts research on bush kinders and nature-based education in early childhood, early childhood STEM education and works on a number of projects focusing on primary and secondary school education. Chris has experience in teaching and coordinating undergraduate and postgraduate education programs at Deakin University and the University of Melbourne. His research has appeared in high quality education journals including Educational Researcher, Australian Journal of Environmental Education, and Journal of Outdoor and Environmental Education. Chris has won numerous awards including the 2022 Vice Chancellor’s Award: Industry Engagement in Research, the Dean’s Award for Teaching Excellence and Innovation, University of Melbourne, 2023 and Early Childhood Australia’s (Victoria) Doctoral Thesis Award, 2023.
Jan van Driel
Professor of Science Education
Jan van Driel started his career as a chemistry teacher. In 1990 he completed a PhD in chemistry education; in 2006 he became a professor of science education at Leiden University, the Netherlands. His research interests include science teacher knowledge, teacher education and professional learning, science and gender, and interdisciplinary science and STEM education.
Victoria Millar
Associate Professor in Science Education
Victoria started her career as a secondary physics, mathematics and science teacher. Now working at the University of Melbourne, her research interests are in physics and science education, particularly science participation, curriculum and interdisciplinarity.
Victoria's research contributes to both the research literature as well as commissioned research and teacher focussed reports. She has been involved in a number of national projects including a number of projects over the last two decades that have looked and gender and STEM and improving participation in physics and science. She has also been involved in a number of projects and reports on science education for the Victorian Department of Education and Training.
Bridgette Van Leuven
Head of Learning Experiences | STEM Centre of Excellence
Bridgette Van Leuven has been drawn to roles that celebrate creativity, education and culture. She has a diverse range of experiences working in arts-education, policy and funding portfolios at organizations such as Arts NSW, Australian Theatre for Yong People, Sydney Theatre Company and Sydney Festival. Bridgette has been in leadership roles as the Head of Children, Families & Creative Learning at Sydney Opera House and the Associate Director at the Asia Education Foundation delivering intercultural and STEM learning programs across the Asia-Pacific. She is now the Head of Learning Experiences based at the University of Melbourne's Museums & Collections with a key role in establishing Science Gallery Melbourne’s STEM Centre of Excellence, an initiative in partnership with the Victorian State Government. Bridgette is a Director of Toy Diplomacy and has also been the Chair of the Robert Helpmann Children’s Theatre Committee, a Board Member of the Illawarra Performing Arts Centre, Critical Stages and an Advisory Member of the Blue Mountains City of the Arts Trust and the Consumer & Carer Council for the Nepean Mental Health District.
Kylie Smith
Professor of Early Childhood Studies
Dr Kylie Smith is a Professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Melbourne. Her research interests include gender equity. She brings over 25 years teaching experiences in early childhood classrooms with children aged birth to 6 to her research. She is particularly interested in investigating ways to work with educators, children and families to develop curriculum, teaching strategies, policies and play environments that support gender equity and challenge gender norms and behaviours.