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We are ASTRAL

We are ASTRAL

Developing a cohort of inspirational STEM student leaders.

ASTRAL's student programs transform curiosity into capability through real research, leadership, and industry-connected opportunities, accelerating future STEM careers, and building a more innovative, STEM driven society.

Why?

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Students often think science and technology are restricted to old (often male) geniuses and not people like them.

ASTRAL is building a cohort of STEM student leaders of the future that can both act as role models and participate in cutting-edge astrophysics research. ASTRAL students are taught the rigour of the scientific process, and skills in astrophysics, supercomputing, technology, research analytics and leadership.

They are encouraged to use ASTRAL's unique presentation tools to teach their peers about their experiences on both social media and face-to-face activities. Yes, this website was developed by one of our students!

Image: Students constructing accurate 3D models of stellar clusters using data from the Gaia Telescope.

Who we are

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Each letter in our name “ASTRAL” stands for:

Astrophysics is the science that explores the cosmos through observation and theoretical models. ASTRAL students learn advanced spectroscopy, stellar evolution, and observational techniques using world-class telescopes.

Image: The movement of particles around a special type of neutron star called a pulsar.

Out Programs

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ASTRAL's programs give students hands-on experience in research, coding, and teamwork through structured projects and internships, building confidence and pathways into future STEM study and careers.

Work Experience

Week long work experience program at the Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing at the Swinburne University of Technology. Click below for the application form

Work Experience Application Form

Work Experience Application Form

The MilliPHeDe (milli-PhD) Summer Program

This 3-week summer internship allows students the paid opportunity to participate in active research in the ARC Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery (OzGrav), focusing on accomplishing a focused research task during those three weeks.

Students acquire skills in a multitude of areas, such as programming, supercomputers, documentation, data analysis, automation and much more. Students also get to learn about astronomy topics related to the research task. Some examples are pulsar astronomy, gravitational waves, black holes, fast radio bursts, etc. Additionally, they learn how to work in team environments, manage stress, and the environment of workplaces through this three-week internship, skills that can be applied in any career of choice.

This program runs during December and January (during summer in the southern hemisphere) and are run at Swinburne University of Technology's Hawthorn Campus in Melbourne.

Weekly Engagement During The School Term

In these weekly sessions, we continue to work on mini-projects throughout the term in a similar format to our MilliPHeDe (milli-PHD) program, with the aim of keeping students engaged and working on something new.

These sessions are typically run online for a maximum of 2 hours a week, and are hosted, organised and run by ASTRAL mentors, where students join virtually to update each other on their components of the project and to continue to work on research.

Public Lectures and Social Media Content Development

Throughout the year, students are taught how to use the exclusive content creation tool created by OzGrav (The ARC Centre of EXCELLENCE for Gravitational Wave Discovery), called OzVU, and get the opportunity to create outreach content to inspire other students about the potential for them to learn new skills through astronomy.

Projects

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A list of many projects ASTRAL students have done in the past with world renowned researchers.

Discovering Nanohertz Frequency Gravitational Waves Using Pulsar Timing Arrays

See Project

See Project

Some Statistics

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ASTRAL's programs give students hands-on experience in research, coding, and teamwork through structured projects and internships, building confidence and pathways into future STEM study and careers.

40+

Students

15+

Projects

Award winning mentors and staff

Meet the Team

Meet the Team

Student Reviews

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Across the program, students value ASTRAL for its engaging, hands-on projects, the practical skills they develop. See our student review below.

Student

Review

Rudra Sekhri

2024

Evie Spilias

2024

Daniel Rosina

2025

Nandini Vyas

2025

Fatimah Adnan

2026

ASTRAL is out of this world (literally)! The ASTRAL program allowed myself to learn what it really feels like to do research, especially in an amazing team environment. It was fun, engaging, and through this program, I was able to fully realise why I love astronomy. It's fun, challenging and very rewarding!

Apply

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Applications are now closed for the ASTRAL 2026 program. Click the link below to view our socials to keep up to date when applications reopen.

Image: Students collecting and analysing stellar data from the Gaia Telescope using Python.

HAVE A QUESTION?

Warp to us with all the questions using the link below.

OR SEE OUR FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS HERE

Image: Charged particles around a pulsar. ASTRAL students have conducted research using these objects. See the Projects page for more details.