PRESIDENT'S NOTES
28 February 2001
Dear Colleague,
A highlight of my period as President of the Academy and the culmination of many months of advising, by the Academy and others, was the delivery of the Prime Minister’s Innovation Action Plan entitled Backing Australia's Ability on 29 January 2001. It was an honour to host the event, with the Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering. When it is implemented, the plan will be an important first step in reversing the rundown of Australia’s capacity in science and technology. We need to work hard to make sure this happens quickly, and that remaining deficiencies are remedied.
Best wishes
Brian D O Anderson
OPPOSITION TASKFORCE ON INNOVATION
One way to secure the step forward announced by the Government on 29 January is to gain bipartisan support for the elements of the plan. Encouragingly, both major parties are talking about the economic importance of knowledge creation. The Leader of the Opposition, Kim Beazley, has set up a taskforce on his knowledge nation idea, which will be chaired by a Fellow of the Academy and former science minister, Barry Jones. The Academy’s submission will stress the importance of building on the initiatives announced in the government’s innovation action plan.
IT RESEARCH
Shortly before the government’s innovation statement, a working group of the Prime Minister’s Science, Engineering and Innovation Council, which I chaired, recommended increased funding for IT research. The report - titled Australia’s Information and Communications Technology Research Base: Driving the new economy, is available from http://www.isr.gov.au/science/pmseic/publications.html.
AUSTRALIA DAY HONOURS
Congratulations to those Fellows named in the Australia Day honours list - Bob Porter (AC), Frank Larkins (AM) and Jim Pittard (AM). They have all given great service to Australian science and higher education.
HUMAN CLONING
Disturbing newspaper reports about cloned primates have prompted us to update the Academy’s statement on human cloning. The Secretary (Science Policy), John White, is preparing the updated statement. He is also serving on a Working Party of PMSEIC dealing with Molecular Biology.
OTHER POLICY INPUT
John White is working on Academy submissions to parliamentary inquiries into the public universities, bioprospecting, and trade and investment policy. He has also made a public comment on the new government funding of the Cooperative Research Centre scheme.
NEW SECRETARY FOR EDUCATION AND PUBLIC AWARENESS
Council will soon recommend to the Fellowship the creation of a new office of Secretary (Education and Public Awareness). The role of the new officer will be to oversee the Academy’s activities relating to science education and public awareness, publishing (including the World Wide Web), and to liaise with like-minded organisations.
INTERACADEMY PANEL ON INTERNATIONAL ISSUES
In January I attended the first formal meeting of the Council of the InterAcademy Panel in Trieste. The priorities of the panel are sustainability, and capacity building in developing countries.
NATIONAL COMMITTEE FOR SUSTAINABILITY
The Academy has decided to set up a National Committee for Sustainability. Graeme Pearman will represent the Academy on the Joint Academies Committee on Sustainability, set up by the four learned academies in Australia, and advise Council on establishing this Academy’s National Committee for Sustainability. The joint Academies committee will seek government support for a limited number of projects.
SCIENCE AT THE SHINE DOME (2-4 May)
The Academy’s annual general meeting program will this year be brought together under the title Science at the Shine Dome. The activities include the New Fellows Seminar and the Symposium on the human genome. These are public events to which all researchers are warmly invited. One of the highlights of the event will be the official opening of the refurbished dome on Thursday 3 May. For program and registration visit http://www.science.org.au/sats.
REGIONAL ACTIVITIES
Over the last few years the Council has invited suggestions from the Academy’s regional groups and supported local initiatives. The annual general meeting will discuss strategies for increasing the involvement of state divisions in advancing the objects of the Academy. One proposal to be discussed is to hold the annual meetings and symposia at locations other than Canberra in alternate years.
DOROTHY HILL AWARD
The Academy is three-quarters of the way towards establishing the $100,000 capital fund for the Dorothy Hill Award. This award, which honours the Academy's only female President, will provide financial support for women undertaking research in fields related to Professor Hill's research interests - Earth sciences, reef science, marine geology and hydrology. Researchers in physics and chemistry whose work bears on the above fields will also be considered. All donations for the Dorothy Hill Award are fully tax deductible. For more information or to make a donation see http://www.science.org.au/awards/hill.htm or contact the Academy's Development Officer, Nancy Lane, at mailto:do@science.org.au, phone (02) 6247 5777.
VIDEO BIOGRAPHIES
Through its very successful Video History Project, the Academy has conducted nearly 60 interviews with Fellows and other researchers about their life and work. The Council has now adopted the principle that all Fellows who wish to participate should be the subject of video biographies. We will discuss in March how that can be achieved. Transcripts of existing interviews are available at http://www.science.org.au/scientists.
WATER IN AUSTRALIA
Fellows are participating in two projects on water conservation. John Lovering represents the Academy on the Joint Academies Project on Water in Australia, and Barry Ninham is a leading member of the international water project RENEW.
STANDARDS FOR SCIENCE TEACHERS
With the Australian Science Teachers Association, the Academy will host a forum to discuss professional standards for science teachers. Draft standards have been prepared by ASTA. Neville Fletcher will participate on the Academy’s behalf.
FEDERATION LECTURES
The Academy will sponsor some of the series of Alfred Deakin Lectures to be presented as part of the Federation Festival in Melbourne in May 2001. You can find out more about the festival at http://www.melbournefestival.com.au.
CONFERENCE SPONSORSHIPS
The Academy has decided to support the following research conferences:
The Boden research conference on applied functional genomics of insect pests and insect vectors of disease.
The Boden research conference on developmental cutaneous biology.
The Fenner conference on redesigning agriculture for the Australian environment.
The Elizabeth and Frederick White conference on active galactic nuclei variability across the electromagnetic spectrum (http://www.atnf.csiro.au/people/lkedzior/agn_workshop.html).
Details of these conferences will be published by their organisers.
PLANT SCIENCES WORKSHOP
The Academy has endorsed a joint Australia-Germany workshop to be held in conjunction with the 12th International Congress on Photosynthesis in Brisbane in August 2001. The workshop will build future collaborations between younger researchers on the basis of some strong links that have been created in the past among plant scientists.
DIARY HIGHLIGHTS
7 March: 285 Council and EXCOM
2-4 May: Science at the Shine Dome (http://www.science.org.au/sats)
30-31 May: FEAST (Forum on European-Australian Science and Technology Cooperation). Information is available from mailto:io@science.org.au
September: Asian Post-Doctoral Awards Committee
October: Asia Collaboration Support Committee
November: Europe Collaboration Support Committee
December: North America Collaboration Support Committee
OFFICE BEARERS
President, Professor Brian Anderson
phone (02) 6279 8667, fax (02) 6279 8688;
from 1 January phone (02) 6125 8667, fax (02) 6125 8688
mailto:brian.anderson@anu.edu.au
Secretary (Physical Sciences), Professor Bruce McKellar
phone (03) 9344 5122, mailto:b.mckellar@physics.unimelb.edu.au
Secretary (Biological Sciences), Professor John Young
phone (02) 9351 4600, mailto:johny@physiol.usyd.edu.au
Secretary (Science Policy), Professor John White
phone (02) 6249 3578; from 1 January phone (02) 6125 3578
mailto:jww@rsc.anu.edu.au
Foreign Secretary, Professor Kurt Lambeck
phone (02) 6249 5161; from 1 January phone (02) 6125 5161
mailto:kurt.lambeck@anu.edu.au
Treasurer, Professor Athel Beckwith
phone (02) 6249 3234; from 1 January phone (02) 6125 3234
mailto:beckwith@rsc.anu.edu.au
