PRESIDENT'S NOTES

25 October 2002

Dear Colleague,

After the tragic events in Bali on 12 October, national security is once more to the fore. Earlier this year the Academy was very pleased to note that the Prime Minister's Science, Engineering and Innovation Council had established a working group on science and security to identify Australian civilian expertise and facilities that could be deployed in countering terrorism. In September, acting on behalf of the working group, the Academy emailed a questionnaire to many Australian scientists, inviting them to describe relevant (unclassified) expertise in prevention of, detection of, response to and recovery from various threats. The questionnaire was not designed to generate a national audit of expertise, but nevertheless has provided an informative snapshot of relevant research activity. This group is due to report to PMSEIC in December.

With best wishes,
Jim

AMERICAN-AUSTRALIAN ASSOCIATION FELLOWS
Congratulations to the five young Australians who will share over $US114,000 in grants awarded by the American-Australian Association to study in the US. These awards are designed to promote educational exchange between the United States and Australia and strengthen science, technology and business relationships. The Fellows are expected to contribute to Australia's intellectual capital and to the country's overall social and economic well-being upon their return. It was rewarding for me to be a judge for these awards. Information on the recipients - Jodie Bradby (Canberra), Katherine Humphry (Perth), Eric May (Perth), Dr Nicholas Shackel (Sydney) and Dr Cuong Duy Tran (Adelaide) - is available at http://www.aaanyc.org/Fellowships.html.

SPECIAL ELECTION
Nominations are called for special election. Bye-law Chapter II Section 10 presents the qualifications necessary for special election:

From time to time the Council may deem it desirable that the Academy should elect to Fellowship a person who has rendered conspicuous service to the cause of science or whose election would be of signal benefit to the Academy and to the advancement of science.

Note that special election does not depend on the scientific work of the candidate.

Certificates are available from Kathryn Lawry or Lynda Folkard at the Academy (mailto:em@science.org.au). The deadline for receipt of completed forms and related material is 15 December 2002.

CHANGES TO BYE-LAWS
Changes to Bye-laws go before Council in December and will be subsequently sent to the Fellowship for vote. There are three areas reflected in the changes to Bye-laws:

• voting for Special Elections by postal vote;

• provision for up to four additional ordinary members in the Jubilee Year; and

• provision for up to three Special Elections in the Jubilee Year.

Council would welcome feedback from Fellows on these proposed areas of change.

POPULATION AND THE ENVIRONMENT
Following the report commissioned by the Academy on the subject, the National Academies Forum has agreed to a small strategic symposium on 'Population and the Sustainable Environment' in 2003 and will provide $10,000 towards the cost. For further information contact Marian Heard at mailto:marian.heard@science.org.au.

ACADEMY AWARDS
Call for nominations for the 2004 Flinders Medal and Lecture: Fellows are invited to nominate candidates for this award. Nominations should be up to one-page in length and should include a citation on the candidate's research and reasons for your nomination of the candidate. Please note that 2004 is the Academy's Jubilee Year. Send your nominations to mailto:faye.nicholas@science.org.au or fax (02) 6257 4620. The closing date is 8 November 2002 and further information is available at http://www.science.org.au/awards/flinders.htm.

Endangered species award: The Academy is calling for applications for support for research on endangered Australian vertebrate species. The closing date is 22 November 2002. Further information is available at http://www.science.org.au/awards/conservation.htm.

Call for applications for the Kanagawa Museum of Natural History Award: The Academy is calling for applications for support for research on the Precambrian history of life in Western Australia and its analogues in the modern microbial ecosystem in Hamelin Pool, Shark Bay. The closing date is 28 November 2002 and more information is available at http://www.science.org.au/awards/kanagawa.htm.

ACADEMY SUBMISSIONS
The Academy is endeavouring to raise the profile of risk management as applied to the business R&D tax concession. This perspective was discussed in a submission to the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Science and Innovation in August and at a later appearance before the committee. The committee is inquiring into business commitment to research and development. The full submission is available from the Inquiry website at http://www.aph.gov.au/house/committee/scin/randd/subslist.htm (submission number 45).

The Academy's response to the Commonwealth Department of Education, Science and Training's issues papers - The funding of research and research training in Australian universities - is available at http://www.science.org.au/media/13September02.htm.

Our submission on Research involving embryos and prohibition of human cloning Bill 2002 (Legislation Committee Community Affairs, Australian Senate) is available at http://www.aph.gov.au/Senate/committee/clac_ctte/emb_cloning/submissions/sub1044%20.doc.

Our response to the Commonwealth Department of Education, Science and Training's Review of Teaching and Teacher Education is available at http://www.science.org.au/media/4October2002.htm.

ARC FUNDING
The Academy has been awarded two Linkage-Learned Academies Special Projects Awards by the ARC. The first award is entitled 'Development of a Strategic Plan for Australian Earth Sciences'. This project will develop a framework within which the discipline could evolve over the next decade, with a particular emphasis on becoming more relevant and valuable to the Australian community. This project has been awarded $45,000. The Steering Group will be chaired by Phil McFadden.

The second project is entitled 'Benchmarking Australian Research in Emerging Areas of Science and Technology - A Pilot Study of Nanotechnology'. This project seeks to develop an effective means of benchmarking research performance in situations in which data on publication performance is less reliable than for more established research fields. The study will adapt a peer assessment methodology developed in the United States by the Committee on Science, Engineering and Public Policy (COSEPUP) and compare the results of this assessment exercise to the findings from a standard bibliometric analysis. It aims to generate useful information on Australia's current performance and future prospects in nanotechnology while also informing policy-makers on how best to assess performance in emerging research fields. This project has been awarded $95,000. The Steering Group will be chaired by Michael Barber.

INTERNATIONAL
International Council for Science
The 27th general assembly of the International Council for Science (ICSU) was held in Rio de Janeiro at the end of September. The Academy was represented by Graeme Pearman and the Executive Secretary, Sue Serjeantson. The Academy represents Australia on ICSU. The general assembly meets every three years and is responsible for setting the general direction, policies and priorities for ICSU for the next triennium. Major current programs include the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme and the World Climate Research Program.

US-links
In her capacity as a member of the PMSEIC working group on science and security, the Executive Secretary met with representatives of the Committee on Science and Technology for Countering Terrorism at the US National Academies in Washington. Sue also had productive discussions at the National Science Foundation, aimed at strengthening bilateral US-Australian scientific links. The first bilateral US-Australia workshop, on quantum computing, will take place in Sydney in January 2003 and will be hosted by Bob Clark. The second workshop, on nanoscience, will be held in the US. The third bilateral workshop will be on the topic of robotics and will be held in Australia in 2004.

The Academy and NSF are working together to extend the East Asia Program (under which US graduate students work in laboratories in one of four East Asian countries for eight weeks in the northern hemisphere summer) to include Australian institutions. It is hoped that about 20 US graduate students could be hosted in Australia each year, with the program commencing in June 2004.

Interacademy Panel Executive Committee Meeting
The Academy's Foreign Secretary, Kurt Lambeck, will be attending the InterAcademy Panel Executive Committee Meeting to be held in Beijing, from 18-19 November 2002. The meeting will be hosted by the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

ACADEMY TEXTBOOKS
Because of a continuing decline in sales and an increase in warehousing and freight costs, Council has resolved to bring its secondary textbook publishing to an end. All secondary schools in Australia are being advised of this decision and are being offered the texts at much reduced prices. The Academy will continue to support its primary school science and technology program, Primary Investigations.

PRIVACY STATEMENTS
New legislation requires not-for-profit organisations such as the Academy to include brief statements as to what information is collected, the purpose for its collection and the use of the information collected, the distribution of the information and the manner by which individuals can access and correct their personal information. From December the Academy will be including privacy statements on all requests for information. A sample statement follows:

The Australian Academy of Science may collect personal information from you from time to time. The purpose of collecting this information is to maintain a database which will enable us to inform you about the activities of the Academy. This information will not be forwarded to any other organisation. If you wish to access or correct this information, please contact the Academy office.

DIARY DATES

8 November. Deadline for nominations for 2004 Flinders Medal and Lecture. (See item above.)

18 November. Australian Foundation for Science AGM.

18-19 November. ATSE National Symposium 2002, Sydney. Owning innovation - from idea to delivery. Contact michelled@atse.org.au for registration brochure.

22 November. Deadline for Endangered species award. (See item above.)

28 November. Deadline for applications for Kanagawa Museum of Natural History Award. (See item above.)

15 December. Deadline for receipt of completed forms and related material for Special Election candidates. (See item above.)

16-18 December. Biochemistry Society Christmas Meeting, Imperial College, London: 'Biochemical aspects of health and disease' (http://www.biochemistry.org).

COUNCIL MEMBERS (http://www.science.org.au/academy/council/officers.htm)

President, Jim Peacock
phone (02) 6246 5250, fax (02) 6246 5530
mailto:jim.peacock@csiro.au

Secretary (Physical Sciences), Bruce McKellar
phone (03) 9344 5122, mailto:b.mckellar@physics.unimelb.edu.au

Secretary (Biological Sciences), John Shine
phone (02) 9295 8120, mailto:j.shine@garvan.org.au

Secretary (Science Policy), Michael Barber
phone (08) 9380 2460, mailto:mbarber@acs.uwa.edu.au

Secretary (Education and Public Awareness), John McKenzie
phone (03) 8344 6407, mailto:dean@science.unimelb.edu.au

Foreign Secretary, Kurt Lambeck
phone (02) 6125 5161, mailto:kurt.lambeck@anu.edu.au

Treasurer, Ian McDougall
phone (02) 6125 4136, mailto:Ian.McDougall@anu.edu.au