Posted 16 Apr
MOD. 
During the Fringe Festival season in March 2026, MOD. visited Whyalla and Mount Gambier to run public shows that bring together researchers from diverse fields alongside comedian and host Jason Chong. These annual events are an ongoing part of the museum programming, this year being an extension of the current in-gallery exhibition at MOD. called BEGINNINGS, which explores how individuals and communities can initiate positive change.
Dr Maria Vieira is a Lecturer in the School of Education with a PhD in STEM, and specialises in empowering learners through strengthening their creative confidence. Associate Professor Cris Birzer works in Sustainable Engineering and Humanitarian Engineering to develop technologies to help increase quality of life. Professor Rachel Burton is a plant scientist and molecular biologist working on finding alternative uses for plants like hemp and agave.
Due to aeroplane mechanical failure, their flight to Mt Gambier was cancelled last minute and so they had to hire a car and drive to Mount Gambier straight away to srrive only an hour before the event. On the five hour drive, when they weren’t sleeping, they had plenty of time to chat. Below are reflections from Jason, Maria and Cris about their trip to the regional area.
“It began with a cancelled flight and a mercy dash to the car hire desk. But after that, our first question of beginnings was where was the best place to get coffee and breakfast. We skirted around Macca’s, but ended up stopping at Café de Vili’s.
On the trip we discussed music obsessions, places to farm agave, pressures on the wine industry, how Covid affected young people’s concept of entertainment and drinking, living overseas and more. I’d be interested to hear what has stuck in everyone else’s head from the trip.”
“I remember being asked by Cris if I wanted to continue in academia, and we discussed how much we loved the freedom to pursue our interests and passions as academics – although at that staged I was dealing with my anxieties on having to cancel a class and spending 5 hours in a car while I could be marking assignments!Overall, it was really good fun and I enjoyed a lot the interactions with the audience, particularly in the regions.”
“Jason and I were talking about lots of things including the radio and music world, including quality musical mashups (I’m a big fan of Pomplamoose who did a Jamiroquai/Bee Gees mash-up https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooZR4LSuppk , but this one is great too https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmLBSCiEoas – enjoy that rabbit hole). These conversations occurred while Rachel and Maria were sleeping in the back of the car. Jason then fell asleep too, so maybe I’m not a good conversationalist!
We all discussed aspects of AI and the water/power consumption issues – this question was also raised by the audience in Mt Gambier. The ability to use the waste heat for something useful, such as heating buildings in Norway, rather than just needing water and power to cool was also brought up at Mt Gambier (I was surprised at how most of the Mt Gambier questions were pre-discussed in the car there).
I vaguely remember talking about ocean-based energy (tidal and wave). There is a lot of it, but geographically linked (only works in certain places). It is possible, but currently expensive. Rachel logically pointed out that these things are always expensive to start.
We had some good chats about agave (let’s admit it, it is a cool topic and Rachel’s passion for it makes it even better!) Things covered include: supply/demand and industry support, the need for processing facilities. With the current war/not-war in Iran and the oil shortage, it seems very topical for Australia to have biofuel alternatives.
University employment was discussed. (Hence me asking Maria if she was going to stay in academia for life). Putting the positive spin on it… academic freedom to research what we think is important is great. There is so much potential within the University, especially now with doubling in size, but realising it is the frustration. This is a new “beginning” and now it is a case of engaging with the right people. Five hours in a car is one way to do that, but maybe not the most anxiety-free way for all involved.
Amazingly, I don’t think we discussed the election result or religion that much.
After the event, I was curious about Maria’s point of view about education and “growing up” do not stifle creativity (a question raised by the audience). My creative-in-the-shower thought was that we are taught to follow rules. The rule is that shoes are wedge-shaped and feet go in them, so being creative about what shoes can be used for is limited to those rules: stuff goes into shoes (plants, alcohol, bird seed) and they are similar shapes to door stops. When those rules are broken, the creativity increases. However, that is just my opinion, but I would be curious to learn more about it.
Anyway, I’m sure there were other things discussed (why would anyone think gum trees, which drop lots of branches, would be good to line the road?). Overall, I really enjoyed the time and events.”