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Summing up
Dr Jim Peacock
President, Australian Academy of Science

I hope you all feel the way I do, that this has been a really excellent day and very productive. I know that some of you have commented about the interactions that you have made – in addition to the extremely important subject matter you have been thinking about.

I can assure you that you have brought up some new ideas and new emphases today, and they are going to be looked at and listened to. I anticipate that they will make their mark, one way or another, in the developing policies and practices in this area.

The other thing that I think is very important – and I hope you feel this – is that the 350-odd Fellows of the Academy will have this report available, and we will also make a comment about the really excellent way in which you all contributed today. I think it is very important for that group of people, many of whom, unfortunately, are about as old as I am, to realise (if they needed to be reminded) that there is an enormous wealth of talent in the younger scientists in Australia.

We will be emphasising that point to the Minister for Science and to the Prime Minister, I hope, and to the other learned academies of Australia, because the multidisciplinary aspects, particularly, that we have talked about today will be something that we will emphasise when we have a meeting, quite soon, of the four academies – this Academy of Science, the Academy of Technological Science and Engineering, the Academy of the Humanities and the Academy of the Social Sciences. All of those embrace some of the ideas that you have put forward today, and we will bring that up at our next National Academies Forum meeting.

I just want you to know that we are very grateful for your giving up the time today and sharing your ideas and thoughts, and we will try and do our best to do justice to what you have given us.

Thank you very much for today. It has been a really important day, I think. Sue Serjeantson has given me a quote from Joshua Lederberg, who is quite a famous microbiological geneticist:

The future of microbes and mankind will probably unfold as episodes of a suspense thriller that could be entitled Our Wits versus Their Genes. The global scientific and public health communities must confront this reality, not only with wit –

and by that I think he means wisdom –

but also with vision and sustained commitment to meet a perpetual challenge.

I think that is something you have all realised today, in all of the fields – not only human disease as Lederberg was talking about.

I thank our principal sponsor, the Queensland Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries.

Once again, thank you very much for participating in a great day. We are really pleased, from the Academy, to be able to reach out and embrace you in the work of the Academy.

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