Congratulations to OzGrav Associate Investigator Matt Dodds, recipient of the 2025 Prime Minister’s Prize for Excellence in Science Teaching in Secondary Schools.

The ARC Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery (OzGrav) proudly celebrates Matt’s national recognition for his creative and hands-on approach to science teaching, bringing physics to life for students in regional and remote communities.

“I’m passionate about teaching in regional Australia,” Matt says. “Just because we’re in rural areas doesn’t mean students shouldn’t have access to high-quality STEM experiences.”

Since 2018, Matt has worked closely with OzGrav’s Education and Outreach team, helping translate complex astrophysical concepts into engaging, real-world classroom experiences. Collaborating with OzGrav’s Senior Education and Outreach Manager, Jackie Bondell, he has co-developed national teacher workshops, student outreach programs, and public events that have reached thousands of participants across Australia.

“Matt’s passion for physics and astronomy is infectious,” says Bondell. “He’s taken OzGrav’s outreach tools, from VR experiences to LEGO® interferometers, and shared them with students and teachers across Australia. He has an extraordinary gift for making science accessible and exciting.”

Among his many innovations, Matt created a LEGO® DUPLO® Interferometer, a hands-on model that demonstrates the principles behind gravitational-wave detection. Developed in collaboration with OzGrav, the design has been adopted across OzGrav’s eight nodes and even features in outreach programs at LIGO in the United States and KAGRA in Japan.

“It’s amazing to see a simple LEGO model spark such curiosity,” says Matt. “It helps students visualise how instruments like LIGO detect ripples in spacetime and shows that anyone can explore big scientific questions with the right mindset.”

Matt, a Physics and Biology teacher at Glen Innes High School (NSW), has made contributions that extend well beyond his classroom. He established the Astronomy and Astrophysics Depth Study Program at Siding Spring Observatory, now in its seventh year and attended by more than 280 students from regional NSW schools. His inventive lessons, such as using data from NASA’s Kepler Telescope to calculate the mass of stars or designing solid-fuel rockets using CAD simulations, have been adopted by physics teachers worldwide. He also mentors educators across Australia, sharing creative approaches such as smartphone spectroscopes and Hot Wheels-based demonstrations of projectile motion.

“Students are inspired when they see their teachers still learning,” Matt says. “Science is about curiosity that never ends.”

Read the media release here: https://www.industry.gov.au/publications/prime-ministers-prizes-science-2025/2025-prime-ministers-prize-excellence-science-teaching-secondary-schools

Video Credit: Department of Industry, Science and Resources