Before the year gets hectic and free time becomes a rarity, let's all get together and have fun under the artificial and natural lights of the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre pools!   We'll be meeting under the clocks at Flinders St Station, before heading off to Melbourne Central for lunch. After lunch we'llt ake the tram down to MSAC to teach our Magikarp splash attack! The Details: You'll need to pay the entrance fee for MSAC (below). You'll also need some extra money for lunch, and a topped up Myki. Concession Entry - $5.70     Adult Entry - $8.40 Note: Concession entry includes those who are 15 and under, as well as student card holders. You will need to bring your concession card to get the discounted entry price. Things to bring:  Towel Bathers Spare Clothes Thongs/Sandals/Goggles/Floaties The Fun Pokemon Make sure you RSVP below before the 1st of March to secure your place Splash you later!

It's that time of year again - YSA's February Ice Skating Social! Whether you are new to YSA, or an old hand, we'd like to invite you to join us for a day of trips, spills, competitiveness, and showing off. Grab your friends and prepare to slip, slide, and skate your way around the O'Brien Icehouse! (Of course, if you're not a skater, you're more than welcome to come along and chill on the sidelines). The social will begin at 11:00am at Flinders Street Station. From there, we will travel as a group (lead by over 18 members, for any worried parents!) to Docklands, via Melbourne Central for lunch. The social will officially end at 4:00pm at the O'Brien Group Arena. You are more than welcome to find your own way home, or you can follow a group lead by over 18 YSA members back to Southern Cross Station. The group will arrive at Southern Cross Station around 4:20 pm. The Details Who: You! Led by YSA volunteers over the age of 18 What: Ice skating and Lunch When: February 4th, 11am to 4pm Where: Meeting at Flinders Street Station Why: To have fun! RSVP Date We've arranged a special group discount, in order to be able to claim the discounted price, you must purchase your ticket below by 11pm on the 28th of January!

Upon noticing the current lack of fear among the Earth's populace the super villain council of the underworld have demanded their members up the ante. With this new threat it is your duty as the heroes and protectors of this city to stop such a crisis and once again foil these dastardly plots in an effort to keep this city safe. In the YSA Melbourne Super ScAvenger Race, you will journey to selected locations and lairs across Melbourne, in groups of 4 or 5 where you will complete a series of challenges to maintain peace and defeat the villains who oppose you. This social will have you pitting your wits against devious puzzles, solving codes, and searching for clues scattered across Melbourne's CBD, and while the protection of civilians is paramount, the First team to the finish will be rewarded with some glorious YSA prizes and bragging rights for years to come.  

We've rescheduled this event and you can buy tickets again!  Born from the chaos of ‘fake news,' 4 Mad Scientists have decreed to destroy all true scientists to confirm their rule! With yourself and the other science fans being trapped together and with teamwork being the key, you must work together to escape by completing each of the Mad Scientist challenges. Join the Young Scientists of Australia for Mad Science, a rotation-based escape challenge. Meeting at Flinders Street at 11am, all participants will move from location to location, solving riddles and performing feats in an effort to escape the fastest to be crowned the saviours of science and win fabulous prizes. Make sure to RSVP before Thursday the 30th of November!

You are cordially invited to the ANZAAS Victorian Division & YSA Melbourne Joint Annual Dinner 2017!  Every year, YSA and the Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science (ANZAAS) partner to bring you the latest in scientific breakthroughs, straight to your plate. This year our distinguished speaker will be Dr Danielle Kennedy, the leader of the Active Integrated Matter (AIM) Future Science Platform in CSIRO Manufacturing.  Dr Kennedy’s individual research interest is in coupling automated robotic techniques, rapid screening methods and Synchrotron characterisation to fast track materials discovery in porous and catalytic nanomaterials. More broadly, AIM has a focus on identifying advances at the intersection of six scientific disciplines; materials, physical processing, sensors, robotics, informatics and autonomous systems. Dr Kennedy was recently awarded the Women’s Agenda Emerging Leader in the Public sector, 2017. The dinner includes buffet-style catering, with a selection of juice and soft drinks. As with all YSA events, alcohol will not be served to YSA members. Tickets are only $20 for Young Scientists of Australia members (please login to purchase your ticket). If you're not a YSA member, you've got 2 options: Purchase a regular, full-price ticket, either though us or directly from ANZAAS, for $45 Become a member for only $20, and then purchase a member's ticket for $20, which still saves you $5! Tickets are limited, and MUST BE BOOKED by 5PM, Sunday November 12th! Due to catering requirements, no tickets can be reserved after this time. Please indicate any dietary requirements when you purchase your ticket.

If you have exams coming up, you should probably take a break from studying for a bit. We're heading to Fonda (Flinders Lane) for a burrito-filled evening! De-stress before exams hit with your YSA pals and some guacamole at 6pm on Sunday, 29th October. 

This September, we're going to get out and look at the night sky during Scienceworks' Astrolight Festival! We'll be meeting up at Flinders Street Station at 5pm and having dinner together before heading over to Scienceworks. This year special guest Dominic ‘Tony’ Antonelli, former NASA astronaut and pilot of two Space Shuttle missions, joins us for an evening of astronaut stories in partnership with The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Tony will speak on his experiences in space from 6:45-7:15 on the main stage. Bar, café and food trucks serve up intergalactic treats all night. Free parking available for anybody who wants to meet us at Spotswood. We'll be officially finishing up at 9pm and heading back to Flinders Street Station. The Astrolight Festival runs til 11pm though, so if you have your parents' permission feel free to stick around.  --- Tickets First, you'll need to RSVP by clicking on that giant GET TICKETS button. If you don't do this, YSA won't know you're coming, and we will totally have dinner without you. Sorry. Next, head to the Scienceworks website. Remember to select the 6:00pm option! If you're a YSA Melbourne member, you can enter this promo code to get a special YSA discount. If you're not a member, you'll pay full price (but you can still have dinner with us!). Would you like to become a member?

We are proud to announce that our annual trivia night will this year be held in conjunction with the Youth ANZAAS program, to be hosted in Melbourne this year. On the 10th of July you are invited to join the participants of Youth ANZAAS, drawn from across Australia, along with your friends from YSA Melbourne, and compete in a scientific (and not) extravaganza.The trivia night will start at 6:30pm, at International House. Dinner is included with the ticket price. A YSA group will be meeting at Flinders Street Station at 6pm. The event will conclude by 9:15pm, with a YSA group returning to the nearest train station. An adult member of YSA will also remain at the venue until all attendees have been collected or have departed.You’ll be competing in teams of up to 5 people, organised on the night – so there’s no need to worry about pre-registering. Please note that numbers are strictly limited, and that we are expecting to sell out, so make sure you get in fast!~~~~Payment and RSVPs~~~~You can use our online payment system even without a PayPal account so long as you have access to a debit or a credit card! If, however, you are still unable to pay online, please email events@melbourne.ysa.org.au so we can manually handle payments. You must have purchased a ticket to attend this social. Ticket sales end on the 1st of July.Non-members are welcome as always, and can set up a TidyHQ account to buy a ticket (they don’t need to get a membership to do this). You can also purchase non-member tickets for your friends if you already have an account. If you are no longer able to make it, please let us know so we can pass your ticket onto someone else! Tickets will be non-refundable after the 1st of July, but can still be on-sold to friends or people on the waiting list.~~~~Youth ANZAAS Staffies~~~~Full time staffies do not need to buy tickets for this event, as they are attending as part of the Youth ANZAAS cohort. Part time staffies will need to buy a ticket in order to attend.

TICKET SALES EXTENDEDDue to popular demand, we've reopened ticket sales for this event until 7am on Saturday, the 24th of June - the same day as the social. As before, if you can't secure a ticket on this system, please email events@melbourne.ysa.org.au to organise alternative payment methods.Scavenger HuntThis Saturday, 24th of June we'll be exploring our beautiful, historic, and exciting city of Melbourne with a scavenger hunt! It may be tricky. It may be slightly silly. But it definitely will be a lot of fun! So strap on some walking shoes and hop on down.We'll be working in groups to see who can explore the furthest and tick off the most items! --Youth Anzaas 2017As part of our training for Youth Anzaas 2017, staffies will be going through some games and basic training immediately after the social. Non-staffies, however, are more than welcome to come join us!If you are a Youth Anzaas staffie, you will be able to attend this social at a discounted rate. If you are no longer able to attend this social please let us know ASAP as we may have to make other arrangements.--Payment and RSVPsYou can use our online payment system even without a PayPal account so long as you have access to a debit or a credit card! If, however, you still can't pay online, please email events@melbourne.ysa.org.au so we can manually handle payments. You must have purchased a ticket to attend this social. Ticket sales end on the 19th of June.You can also purchase non-member tickets for your friends if you already have an account! 

Welcome to the May social! On May 21st, the Young Scientists of Australia will be heading over to HardRock for some rock climbing awesomeness, while looking over the city streets.Due to booking requirements, no tickets can be bought after the 14th of May, which means that you must pay before the event. If you would like to organise alternative payment (not through PayPal) or are unable to pay before the event, please send an email to events@melbourne.ysa.org.au.There will be a safety briefing for first time and experienced climbers for the HardRock facility upon entry.We'll be meeting at Flinders Street Station at 10:45, to leave at 11am sharp! Looking forward to seeing you there!Important InformationWhere?HardRock4/8 Franklin St, Melbourne VIC 3004What? Lunch, Rock Climbing and fun with friends!Price:Members Price - $20Non-Members Price - $25Non-Member Belay Only- $5Member Belay Only - FreeHardRocks Recommendations for climber are listed belowWhat to wearLoose / comfortable clothing e.g. shorts/leggings & t-shirt. Be warned that clothes may be damaged or stained in the process of climbing.Denim CANNOT be wornHardRock has available changing facilities for those who need to change clothes to climbWhat to bringSocks - to wear with our climbing shoes.Drink bottle (our venue has a selection of cold drinks and snacks available).

Do you love the Melbourne Museum? Have you ever wondered about what happens behind the scenes? Well, we have just the thing for you! The Royal Society of Victoria has arranged a backstage tour of the Museum's collections, as an exclusive event just for us and their own members. This is a fantastic and rare opportunity to see objects from the history of science held by the museum, with an in depth view into both archives and the active collection laboratories are created for the viewing pleasure of all who visit. This event will take place on Thursday, the 18th of May and run from 2pm to 3:30pm, and is free!   To RSVP, please go to the RSV's ticket page, linked below. Note that spaces are strictly limited, so get in fast while tickets are still available! https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/explore-the-collections-of-the-melbourne-museum-tickets-32394313263  

On April 8th, in partnership with the Royal Society of Victoria and the Growing Tall Poppies program, YSA is hosting a Science Symposium, followed by an afternoon at Melbourne Museum! We'll be meeting at the Royal Society of Victoria (8 La Trobe St, Melbourne) at 12pm! The schedule for the day: 12pm: Student Science Symposium, where you'll get to hear winners of the Junior Tall Poppies award present the science initiatives they've been working on, as well as a special guest speaker! 1.30pm: FREE LUNCH and mingle with representatives from Growing Tall Poppies and RSV 2pm: we head over to Melbourne Museum! If you are ARRIVING LATE, please contact Tim on 0458263396