Alice Springs’ Dr Luke Steller on Churchill Fellowship
A Centralian-based man has landed a prestigious fellowship thanks to his passion for bringing science to classrooms across the region. Read how he hopes to use the big opportunity.
A Centralian-based science guru has landed a prestigious fellowship thanks to his passion for bringing science to classrooms across the region.
Based in Alice Springs, Dr Luke Steller serves as Questacon’s NT regional leader, tasked with bringing the beauty of science to under-represented classrooms and communities across the Red Centre.
Dr Steller, 29, told the NT News his passion to promote science came from his own natural curiosity.
“As a kid I always loved getting outside and going into nature – I think I was really inspired by the natural world,” he said.
“And I had a teacher who recognised that I was pretty distracted unless I was looking at rocks or leaves and stuff like that.
“From that they gave me a bit of ownership of the little science table at the back of the classroom, and so I used it a lot to show-and-tell from.”
Having worked in the Red Centre for several years, Dr Steller’s contribution to bringing science to life has now earned him a Churchill Fellowship – a golden opportunity for Dr Steller to travel, learn and bring valuable knowledge back to his community.
“I’m really interested in learning how community-led education can empower people to engage in science,” he said.
“So seeing how science education can be done with a deficit model.”
As part of his studies, Dr Steller will travel overseas to examine how education can be delivered beyond traditional, up-funded means.
Dr Steller is not the first local to be given a Churchill Fellowship, with a dozen Territorians receiving the golden opportunity in just the past two years.
The Churchill Fellowship has grown in popularity in recent years, with recipients supported by an average $30,000, as well as having the costs of four to eight weeks’ worth of international travel covered.
Additionally, applicants are not required to have any academic qualification to their name.
Dr Steller said working in Central Australia put applicants in a particularly good stead.
“Working in Alice Springs gives you such a unique insight – there’s so much potential for something like a Churchill Fellowship,” he said.
“(We) probably don’t think about it everyday but we’ve got a really good understanding of how our community works and how best to serve it.”
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Originally published as Alice Springs’ Dr Luke Steller on Churchill Fellowship
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