In the ‘Within and beyond the lab’ stage of the ‘Kids, Bugs and Drugs’ study, we’re interested in exploring how young people in Australia understand their own relationship to the microbial world, and how this shapes their practices of self-care around health and illness. To do so, undergraduate and honours students who are studying microbiology and microbiology HDRs and ECRs will be invited to take part in and interview and/or focus-group discussion, as well as an optional photography activity.

A standard component of 2nd and 3rd year microbiology courses is a lab-based module in which students culture microbes that have been sourced from student’s daily lives outside of the lab. For example, students might swab their keyboard, their breakfast dishes, their dog, their siblings (!), to see what microbes grow from these samples when cultured in a petri dish in the lab.

Human-microbial relations within and beyond the lab

In tandem with this coursework, students will be invited to participate in an interview or focus group discussion, as well as an optional photographic activity, that will encourage students to reflect on what they ‘see’ of themselves and their lives in the microcosm of the petri dish. We’re interested to learn how students experience culturing their lives in the lab and how they take the microbial knowledge they are developing in the lab back into their daily lives. How do these students’ emerging microbiological understandings influence their daily practices of health and hygiene? How do these emerging practices align or diverge from what these young people were taught as children within their families? Does new microbiological knowledge change how students’ care for their own and their loved ones’ health and, if so, how?  

Recruitment for this study is now closed

Participant FAQs

  • The ‘Kids, Bugs and Drugs’ study involves interviews and focus groups with carers of young children, university students, early childhood educators, physicians and pharmacists to better understand how illness, infection and immunity are understood and managed, day-to-day by families and communities.

    In this section of the study, we’re interested in speaking with university students studying microbiology at 2nd year level and above. We want to learn about their evolving understandings of the microbial world and how this informs and influences how they care for their own health and wellbeing day-to-day.

    For more information and to register your interest, see here.

  • Yes, your participation is completely voluntary.

  • This study is being carried out by researchers from the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) at the University of Sydney as a part of an Australian Research Council (ARC) funded Discovery Early Career Research Award (DECRA).

    For more information about the research team, visit ‘Our Team’.

  • In this part of the study, we are seeking University students studying microbiology at second year level or above microbiology (with a lab component) to participate in an interview and/or focus group discussion of ~6-8 participants.

    If you know someone who might be suitable for this study you are welcome to pass this information on.

  • If you decide to take part in this study, you will be asked to participate in an interview and/or focus group discussion led by an experienced member of the research team.

    Individual interviews will last 45-60 minutes and can be carried out at a time and place that is convenient for you, or remotely via zoom. All the information you provide in the interview will be treated confidentially. We will audio-record your interview, and then transcribe it (type it up). Your name and any identifying characteristics will be removed from transcribed data and will be replaced with a participant ID number.

    Focus groups of 45-60 minutes will be scheduled at various times maximise potential participation. Virtual opportunities will be made available, if necessary. Focus group sessions will be digitally video-recorded to enable accurate attributions of transcribed audio data. Your name and identifying characteristics will be removed from the transcripts and replaced with a participant ID number.

    Interviews and focus groups will cover your education and lab experience, your motivations and interests in microbiology, and how you relate to and manage the microbes in your life (e.g. how you manage illness, infection and immunity day-to-day; build immunity and fight infection or recover after an illness etc).

  • Written consent will be gained prior to participation. All data generated by the project will be protected: recordings and transcripts will be kept on a password-protected secure server at The University of Sydney and will only be made available to project investigators. You will not be able to be identified in any publications or presentations that result from the study.

  • Yes, you may withdraw at any point of time up until results from the study have been published. Your decision will not affect your current or future relationship with the researchers, or anyone else at the University of Sydney or beyond.

  • If you decide to participate, you do not have to answer particular questions or participate in any part of the conversation if you do not want to. You can stop the interview or withdraw your contributions to the focus group discussion at any point up until the results of the study are published.

  • Participation in the study itself presents no additional risk to participants beyond those of their everyday lives.

    Aside from the time-commitment of participation, we do not expect that there will be any risks or costs associated with taking part in this study.

  • Although there is no intended direct benefit for participants, we believe that the results could help enhance education and heath and care service provision in the future.

    Participants will each receive an AUD$30 gift card as thanks for participating in the study.

  • By providing your consent, you are agreeing to us collecting the information you share in the focus group discussion for the purposes of this study. We are planning for the study findings to be published and thus made public, but you will not be individually identifiable in these outputs.

    Focus groups will be audio and video recorded. All audio will be transcribed and then kept on a password protected, secure server, in a de-identified form. Video recordings will be used for the sole purpose of ensuring attribution of focus group contributions to the correct speaker. Once transcribed, video recording will be permanently deleted.

    Transcripts will be used so that the researchers have access to a detailed record of the conversations, and closely analysed for emerging themes and ideas. Transcripts will only be accessible to the core members of the research team and will not be released except with your permission, unless this is required by law.

  • Findings from the study will be published in scholarly and general-readership destinations, They will be made accessible insofar as copyright permits through the project website- kidsbugsanddrugs.org

  • The ethical aspects of this study have been approved by the Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC) of the University of Sydney [2023/390] according to the National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research (2007).

    If you are concerned about the way this study is being conducted or you wish to make a complaint to someone independent from the study, please contact the university’s Human Ethics Manager- human.ethics@sydney.edu.au | +61 2 8627 8176

  • Yes! Please feel free to download the ‘Participant Information and Consent Form’ here, or email kidsbugsanddrugs@gmail.com to request one.