Affordable and Clean Energy
Local Community Outreach for Energy Efficiency
The University of Newcastle delivers community and school outreach that helps people explore energy efficiency, clean energy technologies and the role of engineering in a lower-emissions future.
Clean energy innovation in the Hunter
On 2 April 2025, the University's I2N Startup Stories program at the Honeysuckle Innovation Hub featured University alumnus Peter Richardson, founder and CEO of Facet Amtech. The public event explored how a Newcastle cleantech startup is making ammonia production cleaner and more energy efficient, using less energy while reducing emissions and manufacturing costs.
The session connected clean-energy research and entrepreneurship with the Hunter's startup community, showing how energy-efficiency innovation can move from the laboratory into practical industrial applications.
Peter Richardson, founder and CEO of Facet Amtech.
Energy learning through the Science and Engineering Challenge
The University's Science and Engineering Challenge is a nationwide STEM outreach program delivered in partnership with communities, Rotary clubs, universities and sponsors. In 2025, more than 26,800 students from over 873 schools took part, including Challenge and Discovery Days in Newcastle, the Central Coast and other regional communities.
Energy and sustainability are built into the program's hands-on activities. In ElectraCITY, students design an electricity network for a model city and must find the most efficient, lowest-cost way to supply buildings while accounting for cable resistance and infrastructure costs. Other activities include wind-turbine design and environmentally responsive housing.
The 2025 event calendar included Newcastle Challenge Days from 4-10 April and Newcastle Discovery Days from 8-12 September, alongside events throughout New South Wales and every Australian state and territory.
The National Science and Engineering Challenge
Building energy literacy through practical outreach
These programs give school students, community members, innovators and local industry practical ways to engage with energy efficiency and clean-energy solutions. They connect technical concepts with real-world decisions about electricity use, industrial processes, renewable technologies and sustainable design.
2024 Annual Spring School
The University of Newcastle's centre for organic electronics (COE) successfully hosted its 14th annual spring school. In 2024, this three-day event provided undergraduate students from various disciplines, including Science, Math, IT, Engineering, and Medical Sciences, with an opportunity to explore cutting-edge research in organic electronics. The program featured lectures from local and international experts, hands-on experiences in COE labs, and interactive think tank sessions aimed at inspiring students to pursue research careers. Highlights included fabricating organic solar cells, operating advanced microscopes, racing simulated EV cars, and learning about Printed Solar and its recycling. Accredited by CIFAL Newcastle and the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), students received formal recognition for their participation. The event, sponsored by Spruson & Ferguson Intellectual Property and the Australian National Fabrication Facility, saw students awarded for solar cell efficiency and EV racing. Following the event’s success, many students expressed interest in continuing their research journey with the COE.
COE, the University of Newcastle Australia 5:43
Learn more
News • 24 Sep 2024
Calling all Newcastle and Hunter innovators to submit their solutions for a sustainable future
The Net Zero Grand Challenge is calling for innovators from Newcastle, the Hunter, and beyond to get involved and submit applications for their big ideas that will empower organisations to be accountable for their environmental performance.
News • 23 Sep 2024
Shifting demands of the sector on agenda at global higher education conference
Hundreds of higher education professionals, academics, industry and policy leaders are set to arrive in Newcastle this week as the University of Newcastle prepares to host the Times High Education (THE) Campus LIVE ANZ Conference 2024.
News • 23 Sep 2024
Researchers secure grant to transform contaminated biosolids into sustainable nutrient-rich fertiliser
Almost 350,000 tonnes of dry biosolids, or treated sludge from wastewater, are generated annually in Australia. This is a significant potential new nutrient source for the agriculture industry. However, heavy metals and emerging contaminants, particularly PFAS, found in biosolids is putting a considerable constraint on its use.
News • 13 Sep 2024
Media Statement: Vice-Chancellor, Professor Alex Zelinsky’s contract extended
University of Newcastle Chancellor, Patricia Forsythe, AM has announced the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Alex Zelinsky’s contract has been extended until the end of 2028.
News • 12 Sep 2024
Outstanding individuals recognised at annual Alumni awards
An internationally renowned soprano, Indigenous health pioneer, and an award-winning screenwriter were among those recognised at last night’s annual celebration of the University of Newcastle Alumni Excellence Awards.
News • 10 Sep 2024
$1.3m funding to better prepare for heatwaves
A project which aims to improve preparedness for the escalating threat of heatwaves in regional NSW, has been awarded more than $1.3m funding through the Disaster Ready Fund – an Australian Government initiative that supports projects which address the physical and social impacts of disasters on communities.
News • 10 Sep 2024
Community health, sporting excellence and education at the centre of new partnership
The people of Lake Macquarie and current and future students are at the centre of a new partnership between the University of Newcastle and the Hunter Sports Centre at Glendale.
News • 06 Sep 2024
Plans lodged for University of Newcastle City Campus Student Accommodation
The University of Newcastle is one step closer to delivering its brand new, state-of-the-art City Campus Student Accommodation building in Newcastle after submitting the project's State Significant Development Application (SSDA) for approval.
News • 05 Sep 2024
I2N wins Innovation and Entrepreneurship Activators of the Year
The University of Newcastle’s Integrated Innovation Network (I2N) has won the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Activators of the Year at the 2024 Asia Pacific Triple E Awards, which recognises excellence in entrepreneurship and engagement in the higher education sector.
News • 05 Sep 2024
New fitness app makes strength training fast, fun and free for Hunter locals
From outdoor gyms to the loungeroom, a new fitness app, designed by University of Newcastle researchers, makes strength-based workouts accessible to Hunter residents aged 18 to 80 and beyond.
News • 03 Sep 2024
New sports collaboration to tackle gendered violence on the Central Coast
The University of Newcastle has teamed up with the NSW Department of Education, Enrichd Group and the Central Coast Mariners football club to deliver an innovative community program that aims to address gendered violence and promote respectful relationships among secondary school students in the Central Coast region.
News • 02 Sep 2024
University of Newcastle recognised as national leader in equity
The University of Newcastle has today been recognised as a leader in addressing inequality, becoming one of the first two universities in Australia to receive a Science in Australia Gender Equity (SAGE) Athena Swan Silver Award.
The University of Newcastle acknowledges the traditional custodians of the lands within our footprint areas: Awabakal, Darkinjung, Biripai, Worimi, Wonnarua, and Eora Nations. We also pay respect to the wisdom of our Elders past and present.