Techtrails is coming to the Balga Community! "Learning Together: STEM for Parents, Teachers, and Community"

Join us for an exciting evening where families, educators, students, parents, teachers, and industry leaders come together to explore the world of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths).

This is your chance to learn how STEM is shaping the future and why it matters for your children and communities. No matter your background or experience, this event is for everyone—let’s break down barriers and make STEM accessible to all!

Be inspired by our keynote speaker, Dr Catherine Ball a futurist who will share her powerful insights on the future of technology, education, space, and jobs. Then, hear from an expert panel featuring leaders in space and astronomy, psychology and technology, electric trains and automation, and research on scorpions and zoology. Together, we will explore emerging trends, jobs of the future, exciting career pathways, and the impact of STEM on our daily lives.

Why Attend?

• Watch a special preview of STEMpower - a FREE and innovative platform designed to inspire students, empower families, and strengthen communities.
• Hear about the careers of the future (Medical and Health, AI, Space, Science, Marine).
• Connect students with real life role models.
• Understand the opportunities available to your children and families.
• Ask your questions and share your concerns.
• Share stories.
• It is FREE to attend and includes food and water

Meet our Speaker Team: 

🧸📱Louise Mansell - Found and Clinical Psychologist @ Tedology Ltd

Dr Louise has worked as a child clinical psychologist for over 15 years, supporting children, families and schools. She has always found ways to combine science and creativity to make the psychology of emotions accessible and engaging. This has included creating a children’s book 'Brian the Brain' with her young son, YouTube shows explaining the Science of Emotions, and innovative tools to help children understand their feelings. More recently, she has been learning all AI and how technology can help Louise to help young people with emotions. With support from engineers Louise has developed an interactive App and teddy bear designed to teach children how to express and manage emotions better all based on scientific evidence of what works for our brains, by blending psychology with advances in technology. 

🚀⭐ Kat Ross - Support Scientist @ Curtin University & Founder and CEO @ IncludeHer

Kat is an astrophysicist studying distant baby black holes and twinkling galaxies. She is working with a team around the world working to develop the largest telescope in the world, half of which is being build in WA. Kat has used some of the biggest supercomputers in the world, studying dark matter, created simulations of dying stars and imaged millions of distant galaxies and black holes. She also works to change the perceptions of what a scientist is with her organisation IncludeHer, which encourages everyone to see the many different ways we can all be scientists.

🦂🐨 Grace Redfern - Research Officer @ Western Australian Museum

Grace is a Research Officer at the Western Australian Museum, operating out of the Harry Butler Research Institute. She is very interested in the smaller creatures who tend to not get as much love, specifically arachnids. Grace's work involves revising and completing the taxonomy and classification of pseudoscorpions in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. These creatures are very similar to scorpions but much smaller and lack the stinging apparatus on the tail. A typical workday for Grace involves observation of specimens under a microscope, photography of these specimens as well as drawing classifying features through a specialised microscope. Grace has a bachelors degree in zoology and she is currently in her final semester of her Masters of Zoology. Previously, Grace worked as a zookeeper for 6 years specialising in koalas, this took her to Queensland where she worked at Australia Zoo.

🚂💡 Kara Symes - Senior Signals Systems Engineer @ Public Transport Authority

Kara had a fascination with lightbulbs in high school physics, which lead her down the road of studying Electrical Power Engineering and wanting to work in power generation and transmission. However in an unexpected series of events, she found herself in the railway at the Public Transport Authority. Kara has embraced the unexpected and the challenges to work her way from Engineering Officer to Senior Signals Systems Engineer, to build a career she is proud and passionate about, in a place she never thought she'd find it. In Kara's current role, you will find her liaising with Metronet projects to determine how to best update their Train Control System, speaking with their network controllers to optimise their system and signalling, analysing faults for both high-tech and low-tech assets and testing and commission new and improved equipment. Kara's days are filled with passionate people, problem solving, purposeful public transport works and a healthy dose of "light goes on, light goes off'!

✨💻 Teagen McEwan - Techtrails Project Manager & Panel Host

Teagen’s journey began as a professional sports athlete and elite gymnastics coach, representing WA and Australia for over 14 years. She then transitioned into the realm of events management and digital marketing, and is now a seasoned professional with over a decade of expertise in this field. Teagen currently works as the WiTWA Techtrails Project Manager, and plays a pivotal role in inspiring and enabling women and young girls in the tech space. In her previous role as Partnerships and Communications Manager for WiTWA, Teagen strategically managed marketing and planning for key projects, emphasizing pushing boundaries and challenging biases. She was heavily involved in coordinating the renowned WiTWA Tech [+] Awards, elevating the profiles of incredible women in tech [+] industries across WA. Her proficiency extends to her mentoring role as a SheCodes Plus Alumni, where she mastered coding foundations such as HTML/CSS, Python, Django, and REACT. Her commitment to the STEM landscape is further demonstrated by her involvement with SheCodes Australia, where she won scholarships for intensive web development programs, showcasing her versatility in technology tools.

Agenda: 

5:00pm - 5:30pm: Registration Open & Networking
5:30pm - 5:45pm: Welcome and Introductions
5:45pm - 6:00pm: Keynote Speaker & Jobs of the Future - Dr Catherine Ball
6:00pm - 6:30pm: Panel Discussion with Dr Louise Mansell, Dr Kat Ross, Grace Redfern, Kara Symes & Teagen McEwan
6:30pm - 6:40pm: STEMpower - An innovative platform for school, families and communities
6:40pm - 7:00pm: Networking & Meet the Speakers
7:00pm Finish

Thank you to the Department of Industry, Science and Resources for making this event possible.