In late 2010, Julian O’Shea joined the Sprout community with a passion for the environment and a desire to help Australians understand their role in creating and using sustainable technologies. His original project developed through the Sprout E-course was a modest one to deliver environmental education programming. Fast forward 2 years and Julian found himself leading a multi-year, large budget project with a big mission under the umbrella of an international organization, Engineers Without Borders (EWB).

Regional and rural residents of the country remain under-represented in higher education particularly science and engineering programs. To address this challenge, Julian was tasked with the design, coordination and delivery of an innovative, hands-on science outreach program called the Regioneering Road Show. This program connects inspiring technical professionals to community, youth and school groups across the remote communities of Australia.

In its inaugural year, the Road Show travelled an impressive 3,000kms across Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland to deliver science education and activities in 35 rural locations. This program was designed to leverage a strong collaborative approach and draw on EWB’s existing partnerships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community organisations, educational institutions and industry organisations.

Julian’s project relied heavily on the coordination and training of volunteers supplied through EWB’s networks in Australia. He and his team successfully trained 77 Road Show Ambassadors to execute this important initiative. Over 70 science workshop sessions engaged over 2100 students, teachers and community members in Australia.

The impetus to target educational outreach to Aboriginal youth as part of this initiative came following a research study by Elizabeth Godfrey and Robin King in 2010. They discovered that of the total 53,000 university applicants across the country seeking admission in 2009 to Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) programs, self-identified Indigenous students accounted for less than 0.5%.

Through a partnership with the Aboriginal Corporation Gurawal which works with the people of La Perouse Land, the Regioneering Road Show was brought to Family Fun Day event attended by approximately 1000 indigenous children and their family members. Road Show Ambassadors undertook demonstrations of appropriate technology including a solar cooker, a rope pump and a pulley system that could be implemented at the community level.

Since Julian wrapped up the Pearson Fellowship, he was selected as the Pacific Region winner of the Commonwealth Youth Award for Excellence in International Development. He believes that the recognition that came from being selected as an international fellow as part of the program by Pearson Foundation and TakingITGlobal encouraged others to take notice of his team’s important work.

Reflecting on how he would describe his experience as a Pearson Fellow to other aspiring social innovators, Julian says: “The Pearson Fellowship for Social Innovation is an outstanding international professional development program and is the perfect way to take your initiative to the next level. If you are a change maker that cares about having a big impact – this is the program for you.”