Story Behind the Mission

For more than a decade, Dr Eroia (Roy) Barone-Nugent has dedicated her career to one question:
 How do we help girls see themselves as scientists — not someday, but now?

Her award-recognised program, Growing Tall Poppies in Science, brought Year 10 girls into genuine scientific research alongside practising scientists. Across Australia, students designed experiments, analysed real data, solved real problems, and discovered that science is not a distant subject reserved for the “naturally gifted,” but a living, creative, collaborative way of understanding the world.

The impact was profound: girls who once doubted their ability found confidence, capability, and a sense of belonging in science. Schools embraced the program. Researchers valued its authenticity. Parents saw their daughters transformed. The program spread nationally and continues in various forms today — a testament to its power.

But one question kept returning:

“How do we inspire girls even earlier, before identity takes shape?”

Research tells us that children form beliefs about who they are — and what is “for them” — through the stories they encounter. If we want more girls to choose science later, we must start by shaping their stories now.

So Roy did what all great educators and innovators do: she changed the narrative.

The story of 'Stemmy the Witch and Her Broomstick' was created as a joyful, imaginative bridge between magic and scientific thinking. Stemmy is curious, brave, playful, and forever learning — a heroine who models what it means to explore, question, test, and discover. Through her adventures, young children (especially girls) see a character who thinks like a scientist long before she calls herself one.

This is more than a picture book. It is a carefully crafted early-years intervention — a way of nurturing identity, confidence, and scientific curiosity during the years when children are forming their most lasting ideas about themselves.

Roy's work reminds us that science is not something we “find” — it is something we do, and every child deserves to see themselves as capable of doing it.

The Growing Tall Poppies in Science Program changed the lives of older students.
Stemmy hopes to plant the seed even earlier.

And for many families and classrooms, that seed may grow into something extraordinary.