The Rio Tinto Big Science competition

Rio Tinto is in partnership with Australian Science Innovations to foster science education in Australia.

The Big Science competition is one initiative under the partnership to deliver innovative science education programmes to Australian students.

The annual competition, created to challenge students' scientific thinking, is available to all Australian high school students. Over 38,000 students participated in the 2008 competition.

Eighty of the top scoring students were in Sydney for an awards ceremony and science workshop to recognise and celebrate their achievements.

Employees who joined Rio Tinto as a result of the graduate recruitment programme attended the awards to demonstrate to the students what can be achieved by pursuing a science education and career.

Matthew Pankhurst, a geologist with Rio Tinto Exploration, and Ben Cordier, a metallurgist with Energy Resources of Australia worked with the students on the workshop activities and were on a judging panel to provide feedback to the students on their presentations.

For more information please visit the Rio Tinto Big Science competition website.