Year 10 Work Experience

2026 VSSEC Radio Astronomy Work Experience 

For our work experience placement, we took part in an offer from VSSEC focused on Radio Astronomy. Our studies were made relying on radio wavelengths to detect celestial objects, instead of the visible light spectrum. We spent the week working on researching objects in space such as supernova remnants, galaxies, ionized regions and quasars that required us to learn to use a lot of new technology, specifically the radio telescope located in Tallarook State Forest. We used a software called Radio Universe Pro to control the telescope, and it allowed us to receive data mapping out the objects we chose (the map below is an annotated example of what we saw).

On Thursday, we also visited Swinburne University, to hear about the experiences of the students and professors there, and were given the opportunity to ask them questions about Astrophysics, their studies and potential career pathways. We ended our visit there with an engaging presentation by Olivia Vidal Velázquez, a PhD candidate for Astrophysics, on the enriching details of the 3D projection of the solar system.

To end our week, we all worked together to make a presentation and present it to the Geology students and other members of VSSEC. Our joint collaboration allowed us to not only understand the details of our own objects, but learn about what other people had also discovered from their objects. This week was extremely beneficial for us in understanding and experiencing what it’s like to be in a workplace scenario.

2026 VSSEC Geology Work Experience

Work Experience at VSSEC was amazing! Me and a few others were chosen for the Geology work experience, and my team was to investigate why and how no other sediments were layered between the 400 million year old turbidite (underwater landslide rock) and the 2 million year old lava. 

We went to two sites on two separate days to collect data for our investigation; Studley Park and Organ Pipes. On two other days we stayed in the lab to assess rocks, trilobites, and many other things! On the fifth and final day, my team used all the data we collected to create a presentation for VSSEC and the people who did the Astronomy work experience. 

If you like physical activity and rocks, I highly recommend doing this for work experience!