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 • 08 Aug 2022
Sick with worry: Could you have cyberchondria?
Do you Google your symptoms? Do you convince yourself that you have a condition based on what you’ve read? And does this whole process make you extremely anxious?
News • 28 Jul 2022
Central Coast to host University of Newcastle’s first in-person Open Day since 2019
Around 1,500 prospective students and members of the public are expected to stream through the University of Newcastle’s Ourimbah Campus this Saturday as the University throws open its doors for the first in-person Open Day since 2019.
News • 28 Jul 2022
Six University of Newcastle Singapore Alumni honoured with key to the City of Newcastle
Six University of Newcastle Alumni who completed the Colombo Plan Scholarship Program have received keys to the city in recognition of their work to promote Newcastle internationally.
News • 25 Jul 2022
Research builds asthma shared decision-making toolkit
University of Newcastle early career researcher and Accredited Practising Dietitian Dr Rebecca McLoughlin has been awarded an Asthma Australia fellowship to develop a shared decision-making toolkit to support the delivery of a personalised medicine strategy for people with chronic airway diseases -
News • 25 Jul 2022
Psychological toll of fertility issues lasts for years
Researchers are calling for the inclusion of regular mental health assessments in fertility treatment guidelines and ongoing support after research shows that fertility problems contribute to women’s psychological distress, even if the fertility issues are resolved.
News • 22 Jul 2022
Start-ups to surge with new Uni accelerator
As the Newcastle region continues to flourish as a talent hotspot for entrepreneurs and start-ups, the University of Newcastle has levelled up its contribution to the ecosystem with a new innovation platform – I2N Accelerator.
News • 21 Jul 2022
NSW EPA partnership to curb single use plastics
Positioned to help champion the ban on single use plastics, the University of Newcastle has been selected as a partner in sustainability with the NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA).
News • 18 Jul 2022
New tobacco use research shows community is key to enhance smoking cessation targets
An Indigenous-led research project from the University of Newcastle and Hunter Medical Research Institute (HMRI) has found that resources and …
News • 08 Jul 2022
A flying affair: students touchdown for graduation
Students from the University of Newcastle will travel to Callaghan from destinations as far as Indonesia and Sri Lanka as the University’s latest cohort of graduates receive their degrees.
News • 07 Jul 2022
University global experience pivots for home truths
A renowned scholarship program at the University of Newcastle will look very different this year, with students heading across New South Wales for a transformative cultural experience.
News • 06 Jul 2022
Pneumonia risk signals potential for precision medicine
The largest ever genomic study of pneumonia has identified the genetic risk signals of the disease, paving the way for potential new treatments and the use of precision medicine.
News • 05 Jul 2022
New partnership addressing children’s trauma
Mothers and children escaping domestic and family violence are being supported by a new partnership between Jenny’s Place and the University of Newcastle’s School of Psychology.
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.