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 • 23 May 2018
Increased support for refugee students to transition to higher education
Educators and providers will have access to a new set of tools and resources to better support students from refugee backgrounds pursue higher education, following a national research project that examined students’ transition experiences.
News • 23 May 2018
EducationInvestor Asia Awards 2018 – Winner for ‘Higher Education Institution of the Year’
UON Singapore is proud to be the winner for the category of ‘Higher Education Institution of the Year’ in the Education Investor Awards 2018.
News • 22 May 2018
Crocheting maths and music into fibre art
Suspended six metres in the air and intertwining more than three kilometres of rope, University of Newcastle’s Fine Art student Louisa Magrics’ crochet-based installation, Hyperweb, will take a starring role at Vivid this week.
News • 22 May 2018
Scholarship award for Kenya’s Young Entrepreneur Challenge winner
A mobile app to enable farmers in rural Kenya to advertise and sell any daily surplus crops has won the 2018 Nairobi Young Entrepreneur Challenge, hosted by the Newcastle Business School.
News • 21 May 2018
Innovation in health research awarded
HMRI Researcher of the Year, Professor Clare Collins, has been awarded the President’s Award for Innovation at the Dietitians Association of Australia’s National conference for her work developing the Healthy Eating Quiz™.
News • 21 May 2018
How creativity plays role in early childhood education
The Hunter’s early childhood community will have the opportunity to hear from two visiting Italian researchers on the role of creativity in early childhood education when they present at a public symposium at the University of Newcastle this week.
News • 18 May 2018
Associate Professor Tracy Burrows awarded the title of Fellow
Associate Professor Tracy Burrows has been awarded the prestigious title of Fellow by the Dietitian’s Association of Australia (DAA).
News • 18 May 2018
Newcastle’s pioneering medical program celebrates milestone
Four decades ago the University of Newcastle’s Foundation Dean of Medicine, Professor David Maddison, was promised a free hand to create an innovative medical program.
News • 18 May 2018
University of Newcastle researcher crowned SciFinder Future Leader
University of Newcastle’s Dr Siddulu Naidu Talapaneni has been awarded the title of 2018 CAS SciFinder Future Leader, recognising him as an up-and-coming leader in shaping the future of scientific information and innovation.
News • 17 May 2018
Professor Moghtaderi wins an Australian Good Design Award for the world’s first VAM abatement testing facility
Professor Behdad Moghtaderi has been awarded a prestigious Good Design Award in the Engineering Design category for the world’s first …
News • 16 May 2018
New study: childhood asthma rates reduced with tailored intervention
Researchers have confirmed that when a woman’s asthma medication is optimally during pregnancy, the rate of asthma in her offspring is nearly halved.
News • 15 May 2018
Putting justice into practice for National Law Week
To mark National Law Week, the University of Newcastle in partnership with The Lock Up will bring together artists, writers, lawyers, academics, students, families of victims, and those interested in areas of social justice for an Art & Law Symposium.
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.