This is the transcript of a speech that the Australian Academy of Science President, Professor Chennupati Jagadish AC delivered at the Chinese Academy of Sciences on 31 May 2025.
Hello and nǐhǎo everyone.
Thank you, Professor Jianguo Hou, for your presentation.
I am delighted to be here for this important event.
It’s wonderful to see so many leaders from national academies and international scientific organisations in the room.
That speaks to the convening power of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
I’d like to acknowledge a special milestone tomorrow – the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the Academic Divisions of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
The establishment of CASAD was described as “the beginning of a new stage in the development of China’s scientific undertaking”.
The establishment of the Australian Academy of Science one year earlier, in 1954, also signalled a new era for Australian science.
Seventy-one years later we gather to discuss the future of the planet. And it is in danger – the science revealing this is unambiguous and compelling.
For years, scientists across the world have been warning of the growing evidence of collapsing global ecosystems, biodiversity loss, the damage to natural resources and their decline, and the rise and mobility of diseases due to the changing climate.
Today, the very architecture and nature of the global research system required to respond to these challenges is also at stake.
There are local challenges which each country’s scientists will need to solve, but the global challenges are different: bigger, more complex and political.
They require global solutions, with researchers and countries working together.
But I’ll return to this theme a little later.
First, I wanted to touch on the strong foundation of scientific collaboration established between China and Australia over many years.
This is my 50th visit to China. My first was in 1995 to help establish a collaboration between my university – the Australian National University – and the Shanghai Institute of Technical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences.
The aim was to better understand the optical qualities of tiny semiconductor nanocrystals, known as quantum dots.
It wasn’t only senior scientists involved in this collaboration, but also postdocs and students. To me, this exemplifies ‘inclusive collaboration’ at the micro level.
Of course, collaboration between our two countries began many years before my first visit to China.
My colleague and Academy Fellow, Professor Sue O’Reilly, led Australia’s first petrological-geological delegation to China in 1982.
The Xinhua News Agency said recently with all of Sue’s visits over the years, she probably knows more about the geo-structure of China than many Chinese.
The scientific partnerships between our two countries have also been occurring at the macro level for many years.
The Australian Academy of Science and the Chinese Academy of Sciences have been collaborating in bilateral activities since 1978.
In 1980 our two academies signed a memorandum of understanding that covered an exchange program that continued until 2011.
More than 600 scientists from each side benefited from this program that led to extensive ongoing relationships and collaborative activities and projects.
Between 2004 and 2023 we forged strong links through the annual bilateral symposia between our two academies and the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering.
And next week, CAS and the Australian Academy of Science will hold a joint workshop on environmental protection and biodiversity hosted at the CAS Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research in Beijing.
I look forward to attending the opening of this important event and learning about the outcomes of the discussions during this event.
Last year we welcomed two Chinese delegations to the Academy in Australia.
We met with the National Natural Science Foundation of China (or NSFC) to discuss young scientist exchanges between Australia and China.
We also met with members of the China Association for Science and Technology (or CAST) to discuss education and outreach and the joint promotion of the International Science Council Regional Focal Point for Asia and the Pacific, incubated at our Academy.
Only a few days ago the Academy’s Chief Executive, Ms Anna-Maria Arabia and I met with Minister YIN Hejun at the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology.
This important meeting continues to facilitate and strengthen bilateral scientific collaborations.
The ongoing inclusive science collaboration between our two countries is also reflected in the election of new Fellows to the Australian Academy of Science for outstanding contributions to science.
Since 2017, about 7% of the Academy’s newly elected Fellows were born in China. That’s the second highest group of new Fellows from any country after the United Kingdom.
Professors Guoxiu Wang, Deli Chen and Xiaojing Hao are among 26 new Academy Fellows announced last week.
They will be admitted to the Academy later this year at the Shine Dome in Canberra.
Finally, our engagement with China goes beyond the bilateral.
We are also pleased to collaborate in several multilateral fora, in part through our shared membership of the International Science Council and InterAcademy Partnership and as a member Academy of the Science 20 G20 engagement group.
The COVID-19 pandemic began just over five years ago.
Although now common to cite, I can think of no better example to demonstrate the power of multilateral science collaboration.
Australian scientists were among the leaders of COVID-19 research efforts. They collaborated most closely with China and the United Kingdom on COVID-19 publications.
Much has changed in the years since. The post-COVID world is not the same.
Some of the discourse regarding COVID-19 and the benefits of vaccination reflect a worrying and growing pattern of deliberate undermining of public trust in science.
In addition, today we seek to balance the benefits and risks associated with emerging technologies that were recently the stuff of dystopian Hollywood imagination – artificial intelligence, advanced robotics and quantum technologies.
And whilst they too demand collaborative science to deliver answers to government and society, they have fast become matters characterised more by strategic national competition, than collaboration.
It’s a conundrum of global proportions and my own field of scientific endeavour illustrates why.
My work in nanotechnology and semiconductors – an area of strategic competition between nations – is underpinned by and benefits from a multicultural research group.
My work is also made possible because of some 30 collaborations I maintain across the world, spanning countries including China, working across borders to build basic science knowledge.
The stark reality is that science is increasingly seen through a geopolitical lens.
Tariffs and trade restrictions are now both tools of, and impediments to, scientific strategy.
Multilateral collaboration is giving way to bilateral or bloc-based science partnerships.
We are in a global competition for the same minds, tools, and technologies.
Every country is trying to train, attract, or retain scientific talent in a constrained market. This is especially acute in critical areas – AI, climate tech, advanced manufacturing, and biosciences.
But advancing national interests and international science cooperation to address global challenges are not mutually exclusive.
In a world that is becoming increasingly competitive, with many countries’ leaders looking inwards, science must rise above and enable responsible collaboration.
By combining resources, expertise and efforts across borders, the global scientific community can develop more effective, inclusive and sustainable solutions to the pressing issues facing humanity.
No single country can do it alone.
Cooperation not only advances science but also fosters global solidarity and peace.
Adaptation to climate change, decarbonising our economies, pandemics, and food and water security are complex challenges that require coordinated, multinational and transdisciplinary solutions with the involvement of all peoples.
Despite the rise in global scientific competition, we live in an increasingly interconnected world.
The research of Associate Professor Arunima Malik from the University of Sydney is a case in point.
Her research, published recently in the Nature Sustainability journal, examines how consumption in one country affects the environment and society of its trading partners.
These interconnections present opportunities to improve standards of living, skill development and employment generation, but also generate adverse impacts in the form of resource depletion, pollution, habitat loss and inequality.
International trade can amplify these effects by placing pressure on vulnerable nations, leading to spillover effects that hinder countries’ ability to progress toward the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Arunima’s research highlights the growing disparity between nations that benefit from trade and those that bear significant environmental and social costs, deepening existing inequalities.
Her research also underscores the critical importance of considering consumption-based cross-border impacts within the framework of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Arunima’s research was nominated by the Australian Academy of Science for the prestigious Frontiers Planet Prize, which recognises research with the most promising potential to keep humanity within planetary boundaries.
I am pleased to share with that Arunima was named Australia's National Champion for the prize and is now in the running for the global prize which will be announced on 17 June.
International research partnerships like mine and Arunima’s enhance the quality of our research, foster innovation, help us tackle global challenges and address complex issues – from climate change, health crises and food security to economic and geopolitical stabilisation.
They highlight what can be achieved when we work together.
We understand that this does not come without risks. But the risks of failing to collaborate are far greater.
Particularly when it comes to addressing climate change.
Both China and Australia are making significant investments to deploy low-carbon technologies and in clean energy to reduce emissions.
We must all work together to accelerate the deployment of clean energy sources.
And Learned Academies across the globe have a responsibility to continue to advocate that their own governments accelerate emission reduction.
The Academy has recently expressed its serious concerns regarding the dismantling of scientific principles that enable science to thrive and to benefit all peoples.
The consequences of such actions are profound and must be resisted.
The principles of freedom and responsibility in science, clearly articulated in Article 8 of the International Science Council’s Statues alongside the right to share in and benefit from scientific progress enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, must remain paramount.
When ideological and political agendas impede scientific enquiry, restrict the free exchange of knowledge or supress the fundamental right to participate freely in scientific activities, the whole of humanity suffers.
When science is censored based on an ideological position on climate change or vaccination, the very principles that enable science to thrive are eroded, and people suffer.
Long-term, widespread vaccination meant measles was officially declared eradicated in the United States in the year 2000. In 2025 people are once again dying from it following a recent measles outbreak in Texas.
We must unequivocally resist attempts to elevate conspiracy theories and efforts that undermine rigorous scientific evidence.
As private investment in R&D grows – consider that in the United States the business sector now funds 36% of basic research – we must be clear about how we ensure that everyone benefits from advances in science and technology.
Science conducted for the public good must not only continue to flourish but intensify. Only science provides the source of verified knowledge that transcends national borders and serves humanity collectively.
For example, science undertaken for the public good enables the exchange of data collected across our atmosphere, oceans and in space – places that know no geographic borders.
Global exchange of knowledge gives us a complete picture of our environment that feeds into weather forecasting, disaster responses, the aviation industry and maritime practices.
In the current climate we must redouble our efforts to ensure public good science is not obstructed, impeded or withheld by political, philosophical or religious beliefs and practices, or by those who withhold or monopolise knowledge for private gain.
Colleagues, in conclusion, science is critical to our future, and science academies are uniquely placed to think in the long term and maintain bridges for engagement.
Since our two academies were first established, we have fostered enduring partnerships at all levels.
This has helped our two governments open doors, navigate tricky negotiations, and unite people and institutions to the great benefit of all.
Science offers unique avenues for fostering mutual understanding and contributes to global peace and prosperity.
Scientific dialogue and evidence are our common language.
The role of scientists in our respective countries and our ongoing ability to nurture and engage in meaningful and responsible scientific collaborations is critical.
Thank you for your generous hospitality and for the opportunity to address you on this important topic.
© 2025 Australian Academy of Science
