PRESIDENT'S NOTES

21 April 2008

Dear Colleagues,

From 9 to 11 April, the Academy hosted a Sir Mark Oliphant International Frontiers of Science and Technologies conference, Vaccine and immunotherapy technologies. Experts from Australia and overseas discussed the latest research and applied challenges that face the global community in the quest to combat diseases such as AIDS, malaria, hepatitis C and virus-associated cancers.

I was pleased to invite Senator Jan McLucas, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Health and Ageing, to open the conference. The chair of the conference program committee, Professor Ian Frazer FAA, introduced an analogy that recurred throughout the conference, likening today’s immunisation development and knowledge to ‘a glass half full’ or half empty in view of future goals. This year’s failure of a novel HIV vaccine that seemed to make some study participants more susceptible to the disease, is a chilling demonstration that the hunt for effective vaccines is far from over despite the recent advances in the field.

Professor Frazer and plenary speaker Sir Gustav Nossal FAA commented on the timeliness and useful outcomes of the conference. The dinner speaker was ABC Health Report presenter, Dr Norman Swan. The program for the conference is available from www.oliphant.org.au/april2008.html

The Academy also hosted Future directions for Australian climate change science on 12 and 13 March, in association with the Department of Climate Change, the Bureau of Meteorology and CSIRO. The workshop was opened by Senator the Honourable Penny Wong, Minister for Climate Change and Water, and introduced by Professor Mike Dopita FAA. Key speakers were Dr John Church, Chair of the Joint Scientific Committee of the World Climate Research Programme, and Professor Will Steffen, Director of the Fenner School of Environment and Society at the Australian National University. It was well attended by almost 200 people and the media reported on the event. The workshop was an opportunity for the climate change science and research community to identify research priorities. Discussions covered important areas for research under the three broad categories of infrastructure, people and organisational priorities. An interim report will be prepared prior to the full report being published by the Department of Climate Change. The program is available at www.science.org.au/events/scienceflyer_program.pdf

If you haven’t already done so, I encourage you to register for Science at the Shine Dome at www.science.org.au/sats2008 There is an exciting line up of awardees, new Fellows and symposium speakers, promising three days of great presentations from some of Australia’s best researchers.

With best wishes,

Kurt Lambeck

ACADEMY ANNOUNCES NEW FELLOWS

Seventeen of Australia’s leading scientists were honoured on 19 March by election to the Australian Academy of Science.

Election to the Academy recognises a career that has significantly advanced, and continues to advance, the world’s scientific knowledge. Scientific contributions of the new Fellows cover a wide range of specialities that include immune response to pathogens; physics of supernovae; photosynthesis; plasma physics; population dynamics of vertebrates; solvable lattice models; and mammalian embryonic development. The new Fellows, elected in 2008 from Australian universities, CSIRO and medical research institutions, are:

Professor Antony Bacic, School of Botany, University of Melbourne structure and biology of complex carbohydrates

Professor Murray Ronald Badger, Research School of Biological Sciences, Australian National University photosynthetic CO2 acquisition and metabolism

Professor Roderick William Boswell FAPS FTSE, Research School of Physical Sciences and Engineering, Australian National University basic and applied plasma physics

Professor William Ross Heath, Deputy Head, Immunology Division, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research immune response to pathogens

Professor Nalini Joshi, Professor of Applied Mathematics, School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Sydney mathematical structure of nonlinear integrable systems: complex analysis

Professor Peter Anthony Koopman, Professorial Research Fellow, Institute for Molecular Bioscience, University of Queensland developmental biology, molecular genetics, SRY maleness gene

Professor David Bruce Lindenmayer, Centre for Resource and Environmental Studies, Australian National University ecology: experimental and statistical analysis of the distribution, abundance and population dynamics of vertebrate populations

Professor Nicholas Martin, Senior Principal Research Scientist, Queensland Institute of Medical Research psychology: genetics of human behaviour and complex diseases

Professor John Stanley Mattick AO FRCPA, Professor of Molecular Biology, Institute for Molecular Bioscience, University of Queensland structure of genetic systems in higher organisms

Dame Bridget Ogilvie AC DBE FRS, c/o Medical School Administration, University College London parasitology, science administration, research and education

Professor Hugh O’Neill, Research School of Earth Sciences, Australian National University mineral thermodynamics and experimental petrology

Professor Brian Paul Schmidt, ARC Federation Fellow, Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Mount Stromlo Observatory, Australian National University cosmology, physics of supernovae and gamma ray bursts, and ‘dark energy’

Professor Patrick Ping Leung Tam FIBiol, Head, Embryology Unit, Children’s Medical Research Institute, Faculty of Medicine, University of Sydney mammalian embryonic development

Professor Geoffrey Tregear FRACI, Deputy Director, Howard Florey Institute, University of Melbourne peptide synthesis, the chemistry and biology of parathyroid hormone and relaxin family peptides

Professor Matthew Paul Wand, School of Mathematics and Applied Statistics, University of Wollongong nonparametric function estimation

Professor Sven Ole Warnaar, Senior Research Fellow, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Melbourne solvable lattice models, special functions, q-series and algebraic combinatorics

Professor Howard Mark Wiseman, Centre for Quantum Dynamics, Griffith University quantum measurement and control theory

Further information about the recipients is available from www.science.org.au/media/newfel2008

CORRESPONDING MEMBERS

Sir David Attenborough and Professor David Buckingham join a distinguished group of international scientists who have been elected Corresponding Members of the Australian Academy of Science. Corresponding Members are eminent scientists residing overseas who have developed links with scientific institutes in Australia and maintain strong ties with Australian scientists.

SCIENCE BY DOING

It has been a busy period for the Science by Doing team with the pilot program now in full swing. Since the workshops in January our pilot teachers have been trialing the two curriculum units; Rock, paper, scissors, a year 7/8 unit on the nature of matter, and Moving together, a year 9 unit on the interaction of body systems. As well as the unit delivery, the trial teachers have been meeting in their Professional Learning Communities (PLC). The PLCs were established during the January workshops and comprise five or six teachers from a similar geographic region.

Over the last six weeks members of the Science by Doing team have been travelling all over the country visiting each of the 11 PLCs. These visits provided an opportunity to garner feedback about the program and offer support to our pilot teachers. In many cases a visit to one or two classrooms was included on the itinerary and so we have also been able to gain insight as to how students have responded to the program. The visits reinforced for us the professionalism, integrity and commitment our pilot teachers are bringing to the project.

The coming months hold two main foci for the team: follow-up workshops and a review of the curriculum units. The follow-up workshops will be held in four locations around the country bringing together three or four PLCs at a time. The workshops are designed to further our pilot teachers’ understanding of inquiry-based science education and to help them develop strategies that will enable them to embed Science by Doing approaches into their teaching beyond the pilot. As teachers complete the delivery of the curriculum units they will be providing detailed written feedback. This feedback, as well as that gained during our PLC visits, will inform the curriculum review process which is due to begin very soon. More information about the Science by Doing project is available from www.sciencebydoing.edu.au or by contacting Professor Richard John at richard.john@science.org.au

PrimaryConnections

PrimaryConnections facilitated a very successful two day curriculum leader workshop at the Jika International Conference Centre at Fairfield in Melbourne on 14 and 15 April. The workshop, organised by Helen Gist, senior policy officer in the Learning and Teaching Branch at the Victorian Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, was attended by almost ninety teachers from more than eighty Victorian schools. The workshop was also attended by Dr Pichet Durongkaveroj, Executive Director of the Knowledge Network Institute of Thailand, who was visiting Australia at the invitation of the President, to learn about the science education programs at the Academy. Teachers from state, catholic and independent schools participated in dynamic professional learning activities and heard presentations from Victorian PrimaryConnections professional learning facilitators highlighting how PrimaryConnections has contributed to curriculum innovation and student engagement at their schools. The teachers left the workshop very enthused and motivated about their role in furthering the implementation of PrimaryConnections in Victoria. More information is available from www.science.org.au/primaryconnections

Over 75,000 PrimaryConnections units have now been published with ten units available for sale. Following a successful pilot to incorporate Indigenous perspectives, an updated Plants in action unit has gone to print and will be available soon.

DIGITAL ELEVATION MODELS WORKSHOP

The National Elevation Data Framework (NEDF) Workshop, Preparing for the high-resolution future of digital elevation models in Australia, was held at the Shine Dome in Canberra on 18 March. ANZLICthe Spatial Information Council, the Academy of Science and the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering organised the workshop. The aim was to publicly discuss a draft science case and business plan to prepare for future high-resolution digital elevation models in Australia. A summary of outcomes is currently under consideration by the NEDF Joint Academies Review Panel. For more information go to www.anzlic.org.au/nedf.html

GRANTS FOR INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL

Applications are invited for grants for short-term scientific visits to Europe, North America and Asia in FY 200910, to foster collaborations between Australian and overseas researchers. Closing date for applications is 27 June. For more information go to www.science.org.au/internat/programs

QUALITY AUSTRALIAN SCIENCE RECOGNISED IN CITATION AWARDS

Australian researchers who had a significant number of very highly cited scientific papers (adjusted for discipline) from 1997 to 2007 were presented with awards at the 2008 Thomson Scientific Citation Awards. Among the ten winners were four Fellows of the Academy:

Professor Brian Schmidt, Australian National University astronomy and astrophysics

Professor Suzanne Cory, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research biochemistry and molecular biology

Chief Scientist Dr Jim Peacock, CSIRO plant sciences

Professor Terence Hughes, James Cook University marine and freshwater biology

The other winners were:

Dr Stuart Batten, Monash University chemistry

Professor Paul Chandler, University of Wollongong education

Professor Don Harding, LaTrobe University economics

Professor Anthony Jorm, Orygen Research Centre at the University of Melbourne psychiatry

Dr Ian Wright, Macquarie University ecology

Professor Zheng-Xiang Li, Curtin University of Technology geosciences

The Academy congratulates the Fellows and other award winners on their achievement.

NATIONAL COMMITTEES FOR SCIENCE

The National Committee for Medicine met on Friday 4 April. Ms Fiona Glaskin, Chief of Staff and Chief Media Adviser to The Hon Joe Hockey MP, Shadow Minister for Health and Ageing, joined the committee for discussions.

The National Forum on Education in Biomedical Sciences was held on 11 December 2007 at Monash University, attracting 120 registrants from within Australia and internationally, including South Africa, Singapore and New Zealand. The concept for the forum was developed by Professor Phillip Nagley, of the National Committee for Biomedical Sciences.

Professor Trevor Anderson, head of the science education group at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa and member of the educational sub-committee of the International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology presented a keynote address, The multifaceted nature of conceptual understanding in molecular life science. This was followed by presentations by Dr Michelle Siow and Ms Elaine Yew (Republic Polytechnic, Singapore) illustrating their One day, one problem learning system, in which students work entirely in small groups to solve a new, relevant problem each day. Other themes addressed included graduate attributes and employability.

The forum was sponsored by the Australian Academy of Science, and the relevant academic or research societies, as represented in National Committee for Biomedical Sciences. The full report on the forum can be found at www.science.org.au/natcoms/biomedical-nat-forum-edu.pdf

THE PRIME MINISTER’S PRIZE FOR SCIENCE

Nominations are called for the 2008 Prime Minister's Prizes for Science. Each of the five prizes comprises a cash grant, a medallion and a lapel pin. The prizes are awarded in five categories:

• Prime Minister’s Prize for Science ($300,000)

• Malcolm McIntosh Prize for Physical Scientist of the Year ($50,000)

• Science Minister’s Prize for Life Scientist of the Year ($50,000)

• Prime Minister’s Prize for Excellence in Science Teaching in Secondary Schools ($50,000)

• Prime Minister’s Prize for Excellence in Science Teaching in Primary Schools ($50,000).

Nominations close on 9 May 2008 and can be made on-line at www.dest.gov.au/scienceprize The Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research can provide assistance at all stages of the nomination process. Inquiries can be directed to pmprize@dest.gov.au

THE 2008 AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM EUREKA PRIZES

Presented annually by the Australian Museum, the Australian Museum Eureka Prizes reward excellence in the categories of:

• research and innovation

• leadership

• school science

• science communication and journalism.

There is something for everyone in this year’s competition, with 20 prizes worth over $200,000 available including the brand new:

• action against climate change (school science)

• taxonomic research (research and innovation)

• Research in support of defence or national security (research and innovation).

The Sleek Geeks Science Prize has been expanded to include primary, secondary and university students, and the New Scientist science photography prize is open to anyone over 17 years of age. Promotion of the understanding of science has been amended to permit entries from professional science communicators. Entries close 2 May. For further information on the prizes and how to enter, go to www.australianmuseum.net.au/eureka or email eureka@austmus.gov.au

HARVARDAUSTRALIA CONFERENCE GRANTS

The Harvard Australian Studies Committee encourages applications for grants of up to $40,000 (US) to support academic conferences/symposia organised jointly by Australian scholars and Harvard faculty. The committee will consider support for conferences involving approximately 2040 participants drawn from Australian academic institutions, Harvard University, and elsewhere, meeting for a day or more to present and discuss current research. Proposals should identify the Australian institution(s) that will co-sponsor the planned conference. The committee will consider applications for funding to cover 50% of the estimated costs of the conference. Conferences may be held at Harvard University or at a co-sponsoring Australian institution. Proposals are not limited by academic field, but are expected to focus on issues of critical importance to current research involving both Australian and Harvard scholars. Applications must be jointly submitted by scholars in Australia and at Harvard University. Deadline for proposals is 1 May. Inquiries and applications should be sent to Ms Janet Hatch jhatch@fas.harvard.edu

ACADEMY NEWSLETTER

The March issue of the Academy newsletter is available online at www.science.org.au/newsletters

DIARY DATES 2008

30 April. National Committee for Earth System Science teleconference. Contact Jeanette Mill on 02 6201 9413 or jeanette.mill@science.org.au

2 May. Australian Research Council sponsored public forum Ensuring positive outcomes from technological developments: Does Australia need Technology Assessment? Old Parliament House, Canberra. Please RSVP by 18 April to the event organiser, Dr Ana Maria Esteves on amesteves@communityinsights.com.au or 0408 506 607.

79 May. Science at the Shine Dome and annual symposium Dangerous climate change: Is it inevitable? Shine Dome, Canberra. The program is available from www.science.org.au/sats2008/

14 May. The inaugural meeting of the National Committee for Data. Ian Potter House, Canberra. Contact Jeanette Mill on 02 6201 9413 or jeanette.mill@science.org.au

26 May 2008. Iodine deficiency in Australia: A call for action. A Symposium held under the auspices of the Australian Academy of Science, the International Life Sciences Institute, Australasia and the Nutrition Society of Australia. Shine Dome, Canberra. Contact 03 9852 7755 or ilsi@ghapl.com.au

2829 June. Science and engineering: Skills for Australia's future. Sydney Marriot Hotel. For more information and to register, call 02 9080 4425, fax 02 9290 3677, or email william.davies@informa.com.au

710 July. ICO-21 Optics for the 21st Century. Triennial Congress of the International Commission for Optics. Sydney, Australia. More information is available from www.iceaustralia.com/ICO2008/ or contact Professor John Love jdl124@rsphysse.anu.edu.au

15 August. A dinner will be held in Adelaide for the presentation of the Ian William Wark Medal and Lecture. The medallist is Dr Alan Reid FAA. Contact Faye Nicholas on faye.nicholas@science.org.au or

02 6201 9407.

1722 August. The 12th International Symposium on Microbial Ecology. August Cairns Australia. The program is available from www.kenes.com/isme12/scientific.asp or email Dr Sandra Hall, International Society for Microbial Ecology Event Coordinator, at s.hall@awmc.uq.edu.au

2430 August. The 22nd International Congress of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics will be hosted by the Adelaide Theoretical and Applied Mechanics community. Adelaide Convention Centre, Adelaide. A list of important dates is available from http://ictam2008.adelaide.edu.au/ Contact Jim Denier, Chair, National Committee for Mechanical Sciences, Secretary General ICTAM 2008 at ictam2008@adelaide.edu.au

2528 August. Annual scientific meeting and 50th anniversary celebration of the Endocrine Society of Australia. Melbourne Convention Centre, Melbourne. More information is available from www.esa-srb.org.au/

1216 September. The Physiological Society is hosting an international workshop for young physiologists, Latest advances in ion channel techniques applied to physiological problems. Free registration; travel grants available. Shanghai, China. The program and more information is available from www.physoc.org/site/cms/contentviewarticle.asp?article=702

1619 November. Medical bionics a new paradigm for human health, Sir Mark Oliphant Conferences: International Frontiers of Science and Technology. The Bionic Ear Institute, Melbourne. For further information go to www.medicalbionics.consec.com.au/

Academy delegates will be attending the following international meetings:

International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme 4th Congress, Sustainable livelihoods in a changing Earth system. 59 May Cape Town, South Africa. Dr Roger Gifford

Scientific Committee for Antarctic Research, 416 July 2008, Moscow, Russia. Professor Robert Vincent FAA

27th Committee on Space Research Scientific Assembly, 1320 July 2008, Montreal, Canada. Professor Iver Cairns

International Union of Crystallography General Assembly, 2331 August 2008, Osaka, Japan. Professor Mitchell Guss, Professor Jenny Martin and Dr Steve Wilkins

International Geographical Union, 1215 August, Tunis, Tunisia. Professor Lesley Head, Professor Margaret Robertson and Professor Nigel Tapper

General Assembly of the International Union of Microbiological Sciences, 59 August, Istanbul, Turkey. Associate Professor David Ellis, Dr Tuck Weng Kok and Professor Harold Stokes

General Assembly of the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics, 1318 October, Tsukuba, Japan. Professor Michelle Simmons FAA

29th General Assembly of the International Council for Science, October 2008, Mozambique. Professor Bruce McKellar FAA

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

President, Kurt Lambeck
phone (02) 6125 5445, fax (02) 6125 5443, kurt.lambeck@anu.edu.au

Secretary (Physical Sciences), Robert Frater
phone (02) 8884 2338, rfrater@resmed.com.au

Secretary (Biological Sciences), Graham Farquhar
phone (02) 6125 3743, graham.farquhar@anu.edu.au

Secretary (Science Policy), Philip Kuchel
phone (02) 9351 3709, p.kuchel@mmb.usyd.edu.au

Secretary (Education and Public Awareness), Julie Campbell
phone (07) 3365 4658, julie.campbell@uq.edu.au

Foreign Secretary, Jenny Graves
phone (02) 6125 2492, jenny.graves@anu.edu.au

Acting Treasurer, Michael Dopita
phone (02) 02 6125 0212, michael.dopita@anu.edu.au