St Peter’s Girls is proud to host the School’s first Scientist in Residence to help ignite and nurture the STEM spark in our girls. Dr Nicole Foster is assisting in Science lessons as well as running vibrant lunchtime activities.

Nicole holds a Bachelor of Science (Advanced) from the University of Adelaide. During her third year, she worked at the university as a research assistant, conducting field and laboratory work on the Coorong to quantify decline in seagrass communities and develop recommendations to prevent further losses. She later completed her Honours degree, which took her to White Island, New Zealand where she spent time scuba diving and conducting underwater experiments. Nicole then pursued a PhD with an entirely different focus: she developed a new method to assess how coastal plant habitats have changed over time using DNA buried in sediments.

Nicole is an exemplary role model and mentor for our students who is passionate about instilling scientific curiosity in girls and young women.