Who says you have to pick a side? Emily Wright is a Curious Minds alum from 2018-2019 who has found a way to combine her multiple passions and interests into a unique set of expertise. Her Curious Minds story blends together sisterhood, science, and sport.

As a young girl, Emily was a self-described “shy kid” who “wasn’t very good at making friends with people.” But when she attended the Curious Minds program, things started to change. She says the program helped to bring out that friend-making ability within her. “Meeting people from all across the country, from Kunanara NT to Melbourne VIC, there were so many stories to tell people and so many experiences to compare.”

Emily has always been a “science girl at heart”, and indeed her Curious Minds journey began long before she applied. Growing up, Emily’s older sister Molly was her biggest role model “in almost every aspect of life”. This was especially true for STEM. From childhood these sisters from regional NSW were “attached at the hip” and went on lots of adventures “just seeing how the world worked or finding cool stuff.” Two curious minds exploring and making sense of the planet together.

Molly actually participated in the program a year before Emily in the 2017-2018 program, and this meant Emily got to see the tremendous positive impact Curious Minds had on someone close to her. Emily says Molly “came home more inspired and wouldn’t stop talking about it. Not long after the program ended we travelled as a family to Wollongong for her to see her coach where she was able to experience firsthand what it would be like to work in STEM.”

Their Wollongong trip was a pivotal moment for both girls. While Molly went on to complete degrees in Cell and Molecular Biology and Genetic Engineering, the trip sparked a desire in Emily to follow in her sister’s footsteps and sign up for Curious Minds herself.

“Her dedication to pursue her passion pushed me to do the same [and] is why I am where I am today. She showed me that if you put your head down and work hard you can achieve the career that you dream of, while also having a lot of fun.”

Emily’s project undertaken as part of the 2018-19 Curious Minds program was in the field of neuroscience. “I was interested in the brain […] and decided that I would research more about the hippocampus and memory.” Importantly, the combination of Emily’s project and her incredible STEM coach helped Emily boost her confidence and created an environment where she “showed myself that I can achieve more and I may not be the smartest in the room […] but I’m curious and that’s all that matters, wanting to know more, learn more and be more.”

Left: Emily (far right) with fellow students at a Curious Minds camp watching a State of Origin rugby league game in a lecture theatre. Right: Emily (second from right) running experiments in the lab at Curious Minds Summer Camp at the Australian National University in Canberra.

Confidence, friendship, and STEM skills all blossomed for Emily as part of the Curious Minds program. A lifelong sports fan, she bonded with other students at Curious Minds over their shared interests, including watching State of Origin together. Rugby holds a special place in Emily’s heart, and as you will see, has been a guiding passion for her as she’s grown.

Like her sister, Emily also got to visit her STEM coach’s workplace. “My coach organised after the program for me to travel to Sydney and meet her team and present my powerpoint to them. I was SO nervous but they were all so lovely and it was nice to see how casual they all were even in a big STEM area.”

This workplace visit inspired her to pursue a degree where science and health play a major role, and where she could “apply [STEM] to a real person and the real world to make a difference.”

It should come as no shock to you that Emily has found a way for her study and career path to combine her curiosity for science, health, sport, and supporting people. Currently three years in to her Bachelor of Physiotherapy at the University of Canberra, Emily is absolutely loving it. “Science underpins my degree, without an understanding of biology of the body I would not be able to be a physiotherapist.” As part of her studies, she’s also continued exploring different aspects of neuroscience, building on her Curious Minds project. “I have been taking a class about neurological physiotherapy and it ignited my passion again about the brain, especially around the concept of pain and how our brain uses many factors such as culture, past experiences, feelings, emotions, etc to determine how much pain we feel. Our brains are a fascinating place and we still don’t know a lot about it.”

Emily in action on the rugby pitch

Fast forward to the present day and we see now that for Emily, being ‘out in the field’ has more than one meaning. She is equally talented in STEM fields as she is on the playing field. Emily has played for many rugby teams including the Western District Lions Rugby Union team in Canberra, the ACT & SNSW Kestrels team at the Australian Rugby Shield competition, and in 2025 took part in the Brumbies Development Academy for young and exceptional rugby players. She’s also a Sports Trainer for the Kestrels rugby club, where she assists on game days with injury prevention and management and gets to put her physio and STEM skills into practice.

Beyond STEM and sport, Emily has several interests. She enjoys sewing, visiting local markets, and travelling. Most recently she explored Iceland, Ireland and Scotland, and Japan – a particular highlight of hers. “I loved the innovation of the public transport system and everything seemed to have a purpose, there was no clutter! The shrines were calming and a good break from the business of Kyoto and Tokyo. We were also able to spend a few days at Hakuba tearing up the slopes.”

Emily’s story shows us that multiple interests add to a well-rounded and enjoyable life, and that these passions can combine in wonderful and exciting ways.

Left and Right: Emily in Iceland

Eight years after participating in the program, Emily is now giving back to the Curious Minds community. Today, she works as a Program Officer helping run the initiative and camps.

“When offered the opportunity to work with the program that first involved me in the world of STEM I welcomed it with open arms, hoping to create an experience for each cohort that would inspire them as the program inspired me.”

And she’s already seeing the impact: “I accompanied a student to Canberra Hospital for her to watch a surgery that her coach had organised, [and] she came out of that experience beaming! That’s what Curious Minds is all about, they want to connect the next generation of STEM women with the current STEM leaders and SHOW them what it’s like. Those experiences of hands on in real life settings are what matter, more than what they can achieve in an ordinary school setting.”

As both an athlete and young woman in STEM, Emily is no stranger to big challenges. To those currently going through something hard – perhaps a project or experiment that didn’t go as planned – Emily shares this advice: “Take a break or a breath. Reassess what went wrong, or which part didn’t work and then figure out the why. Once you have the why you can figure out the what. […] Also don’t be so hard on yourself, mistakes are how you learn, you’ll be better next time!”

Emily firmly believes that, for Australian high school girls, the Curious Minds program is “one of the best experiences you can do at that time in your life.” So, if you’re eligible and thinking of applying to be a student with Curious Minds, Emily encourages you to just go for it.

“I don’t think there is another program that enables you to connect with that many women of the same age all interested in the same thing and I think that it is so empowering.”

Thank you Emily for sharing your story and inspiring future Curious Minds students!

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Thank you to Isabel and Ella from Sci_Burst for the collaboration that helped deliver this insightful article.