The Academy’s 22 National Committees for Science are widely representative of scientific disciplines in Australia. The broad aims of the committees are to foster a designated branch or theme of natural science in Australia and to serve as links between Australian and overseas scientists in the same field. National Committees advise the Academy’s Council on Australia’s representation for the unions and multidisciplinary bodies of the International Council for Science (ICSU) and other international bodies.
Recent activities include the:
For more information on the meetings and other business of the National Committees for Science, see the quarterly National Committees for Science updates.
The National Committee for Physics is chaired by Academy Fellow Professor Hans Bachor AM FAA, Emeritus Professor in the Department of Quantum Science of the Australian National University.
The committee is keenly interested in contributing to policy development in Australia.
The committee advises the Academy on matters relating to the International Commission for Optics and, in partnership with the Australian Institute of Physics, the International Union for Pure and Applied Physics, of which Academy Fellow Professor Bruce McKellar AC is the current president.
The committee is keenly interested in contributing to policy development in Australia. It was instrumental in the development of reports detailing the contribution of STEM sciences to the Australian economy, undertaken by the Academy with the Office of the Chief Scientist in 2015. The committee produced the 2012–21 decadal plan for physics and will be undertaking a review of this plan in 2016–17.
The Chair of the National Committee for Earth Sciences is Academy Fellow Professor Sue O’Reilly FAA, Director of the ARC National Key Centre for Geochemical Evolution and Metallogeny of Continents at Macquarie University.
The committee covers the sciences of the solid Earth, including quaternary research, and links to the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics, the International Union of Geological Sciences and the International Union for Quaternary Research.
The committee’s current focus is the production of a new strategic plan for Earth sciences (following the publication of the 2003 National Strategic Plan for the Geosciences) which will be completed in 2017.
The committee also co-manages two funds that provide travel support for young Australian and New Zealand geoscientists to undertake career-enhancing fieldwork or attend international conferences: the 34th International Geological Congress (IGC) Travel Grant Scheme for Early-Career Australian and New Zealand Geoscientists together with the Australian Geoscience Council; and the 24th IGC Fund together with the Geological Society of Australia.
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