On Wednesday 21st Jan 2026, Jairan Giri gave members a terrific presentation of his NYSF Experience.
The National Youth Science Forum (NYSF) is a not-for-profit organisation that runs several programs to encourage young people in their passion for science. It is a12 day premier residential program for enthusiastic Year 11 or 12 students interested in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics).
Thank you to our club, Colleen and Jeff Stewart & Jairam received sponsorship to assist him attend the 2026 conference. Colleen and Jeff have had a 40+ year association with NYSF. Their daughter was sponsored by WBRC 35 years ago to attend NYSF and more recently their grandson attended NYSF. He was sponsored by another Rotary Club on the Mornington Peninsula.
Participants engage in lectures workshops, site tours and are exposed to real world live applications speaking with scientists working on groundbreaking research. The program has been running since 1984 and has supported over 11,000 aspiring students.
Jai spoke about his biggest hypothesis being that you could have 100 Year 12 students awake, dressed, and ready to start their day at 7.00am for 12 days straight. On a more serious note, however, Jai said this had been the best experience of his life thus far. Jai’s eyes were opened to further opportunities in this space including food science, forensics, oceanography, space, just to name a few areas that he had not considered or explored.
The students connected on LinkedIn and Jai believes they will follow each other’s pathways and careers moving forward. Visits were made to several institutions including Canberra Innovation Network, School of Nursing, and National Oceanography Centre.
Jai attended many lectures with the highlight being the History of the Milky way and had the opportunity to speak with scientists across the world working on the most complex experiments. Jai’s biggest takeaway was that you can communicate science through ongoing research and developed an understanding of the highs and lows of the industry.
Jai closed by saying that the biggest challenge for NYSF is that students are not aware of this fabulous opportunity and he encouraged us all to spread the word as it was an “experience of a lifetime”.
