Dr Abigail Allwood is an earth science alumnus from the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) who took her research to NASA – where she now works in planetary chemistry and astrobiology as the first woman and the first Australian to lead a project team for life on Mars.

This inspiring video explores Allwood’s return home, and her six-day tour travelling around Queensland sharing her Mars research to students and the public.

During her tour, Allwood participated in ten educational events, mostly based at QUT, including a panel discussion with esteemed journalist Robyn Williams from Radio National in Sydney.

“Space exploration is one of the greatest sources of inspiration for young minds.” 

The themes of Allwood’s presentations cover how space can be a gateway fascination for young people, encouraging them into scientific enquiry. Her presentations also describe how doing an earth science degree led to her becoming an astrobiologist at NASA. And of course, her talks cover the possibility of finding life on Mars…

Allwood gave presentations to high school and research students, describing her atypical journey from studying geology in Australia to working on the Mars mission with NASA.

– Jesse Hawley