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 • 04 Jun 2024
Local playwright awarded University of Newcastle’s Creative in Residence
The University of Newcastle’s Creative in Residence has been awarded to local playwright, actor and director, Dr Carl Caulfield.
News • 27 May 2024
Walk-and-Talk: University of Newcastle team taking men’s therapy outdoors
Depression is a leading mental health concern in men. Yet, less than half of affected men seek professional help, and when they do, services are often not responsive to their needs.
News • 22 May 2024
Hydro Harvester scales up to quench market thirst
The University of Newcastle has officially unveiled technology capable of harvesting up to 1000 litres of drinkable water per day – from air.
News • 21 May 2024
Beyond the needle: what drives athletes to dope?
Coaches, government agencies, sponsors – even family and friends – are having an influence whether an athlete chooses to dope according to new research from the University of the Sunshine Coast.
News • 21 May 2024
University of Newcastle research aims to address global water security
The development of a low-cost portable water filtration bag will be the focus of new research supported by a $489,537 Clean Water Drinking Solutions Pty Ltd Grant.
News • 21 May 2024
New use for a lung scanning test to benefit severe asthma patients
Hunter respiratory researchers have found a new application for a lung scanning test that was first trialled at John Hunter Hospital in 2017.
News • 21 May 2024
Accelerating Startups with the Trailblazer for Recycling and Clean Energy Program
Housed at the University’s Newcastle Institute for Energy and Resources (NIER), the Trailblazer for Recycling and Clean Energy (TRaCE) program is moving innovative technologies out of the lab and into global manufacturing.
News • 20 May 2024
Achievements and sound financial result captured in 2023 Annual Report
The University of Newcastle delivered strong results in 2023, as outline in its 2023 Annual Report that was tabled in NSW Parliament today.
News • 17 May 2024
Professor Dun recognised with Australian Society for Medical Research award
The Australian Society for Medical Research (ASMR) has announced Professor Matt Dun from the University of Newcastle and Hunter Medical Research Institute as the recipient of the esteemed 2024 ASMR Medallist award.
News • 16 May 2024
Scientists unlock key to breeding ‘carbon gobbling’ plants with a major appetite
The discovery of how a critical enzyme ‘hidden in nature’s blueprint’ works sheds new light on how cells control key processes in carbon fixation, a process fundamental for life on Earth.
News • 06 May 2024
Sector-first approach to Indigenous health research
Community members and top medical bodies across the Hunter and New England regions have joined forces in a powerful bid …
News • 06 May 2024
Scientists uncover the climate of a planet 280 light-years away
An international team of researchers has mapped the weather – including temperature, cloud cover and winds – on an exoplanet that is roughly 280 light-years from Earth.
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.