• A Charles Sturt University exercise science-biomechanics academic is supporting female high school students to pursue careers in STEMM disciplines

Charles Sturt University in Bathurst recently hosted the Biomechanics Research and Innovation Challenge (BRInC), which is designed to encourage girls interested in STEMM education and careers.

STEMM disciplines are science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine.

Dr Kerry Mann (pictured above with the students), Lecturer in Exercise Science-Biomechanics in the Charles Sturt School of Allied Health, Exercise and Sports Sciences in Bathurst, has been a mentor in the BRInC program since 2022 and is supporting the current cohort of BRInC students’ participation.

She said as part of this challenge, three female Year 9 students from Orange High School - Emily Charnock, Marley Aplin and Malia Nicol (pictured left to right, with Dr Mann) - spent a day undertaking data collection in the Biomechanics Lab at the University in Bathurst.

“There are a number of schools from across Australia that were involved in the inaugural BRInC program last year and having continued their involvement this year working with other mentors located at universities across Australia and New Zealand,” Dr Mann said.

“This is not a competition, but rather an initiative to increase awareness and participation of girls in biomechanics-based STEMM and provide them with access to real-world women role models working in the field to highlight what some of the career possibilities are.”

Dr Mann said biomechanics is the application of mechanics principles to the study of living or biological systems.

“We study how humans move, function and recover from injury using physics, maths and science applications all applied to the human body,” she said.

“Biomechanics applies to many disciplines beyond sport and exercise. For example, the biomechanics of how a tendon reacts to forces applied on it is important for both physiotherapy and medicine. There are several other applications in engineering and design. Biomechanics is everywhere!”

Some examples of careers in biomechanics include sports biomechanist (testing and analysing elite athletes), biomedical engineering and product design (developing medical devices), rehabilitation (correct movement patterns), and research (scientific discoveries).

Dr Mann said Charles Sturt is also part of a research initiative evaluating the impact of this program on girls and women’s participation in STEMM initiated by other Australian universities, and she is a project mentor working with Orange High School specifically.

“Last year we wrote up an abstract based on the project the girls designed and this was collated with all the other projects conducted and submitted to a journal for consideration for publication” she said.