Message from the President

As we draw 2024 to a close, we have a bumper November-December edition of the Academy newsletter for you to enjoy now or over the break.

I was thrilled to end the year with the formal commencement of the Australian Government’s Strategic Examination of the R&D system. The Academy has long called for a comprehensive review of the R&D system looking at all its facets so it can be strategic, efficient and support the modern science and technology enterprise.

We have bookended 2024 actively supporting international scientific collaborations by delivering $6 million in funding to stimulate science and technology collaboration in our region via the Australian Government’s Global Science and Technology Diplomacy Fund delivered in partnership with ATSE.

I commend to you the Decadal Plan for Australian Earth System Science 2024–2033 which calls for the urgent establishment of a national agency to coordinate climate science and address research gaps critical to maximise agricultural success, and to support the excellent individual researchers in the field.

We proudly facilitated the participation of six Indigenous scholars in the inaugural Tri-Academy Partnership Summit in Vancouver. The summit enabled opportunities for knowledge sharing and connections between Indigenous scholars from Australia, Aotearoa New Zealand and Canada, as well as non-Indigenous allies and stakeholders. Australia will host the third summit in 2026.

I am immensely grateful to Academy Fellow Professor Brian Anderson AC FAA FTSE FRS and Dianne Anderson AM, who via a generous donation, have established the Brian Anderson Medal for Information and Communications Technology to honour outstanding achievements of early-career researchers who are engaged in high-quality ICT research.

Finally, the 2024 Fellows’ Christmas Reading and Listening List is out! There is something in it for everyone – I encourage you to take a look.

We look forward to welcoming you to the Academy in 2025, whether that be at one of the Public Speaker Series events which will focus on the promise, perils and path forward with AI, or Science at the Shine Dome from 8 to 11 September, or any one of our many activities.

Until then, I wish you all a wonderful holiday season and thank you for your support throughout 2024.

Professor Chennupati Jagadish AC PresAA FREng FTSE