Information and communication sciences cover a range of disciplines, including computer science, software engineering, information systems, telecommunications, and networking. 

Developments in these areas underpin the broad technology area commonly known as information and communication technology, which is the engine room of much of today’s and tomorrow’s economy.

Future advances in areas such as data, the internet of things, virtual reality, e-health, automation and smart cities will provide great opportunities for new and existing businesses in Australia. 

The strategic plan specifically addresses how researchers in Australia’s information and communication sciences (ICS) can assist in furthering these opportunities.

The strategic plan aims to identify implementable actions that will:

• enable Australia’s education, research, and industry sectors to increase national capacity and performance in all aspects of ICS
• translate this enhanced capacity into increased hardware and software innovation and increased industry participation in the development of new information and communication technology products and services
• develop a shared, sector-wide understanding of the challenges and opportunities for ICS in Australia, and a sector-wide commitment to respond
• encourage greater collaboration in areas that are identified as priorities.

This strategic plan is a partnership between the Australian Academy of Science’s National Committee for Information and Communication Sciences and the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering.

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Published September 2021.

Implementation of the strategic plan

The National Committee for Information and Communication Sciences is working on three focus areas, from the recommendations in Preparing for Australia’s digital future.

1. Making the case for digital innovation as a national science priority

Research into the fundamental aspects of digital technologies is underrepresented in the Australian research landscape. In an increasingly digital global environment, Australia must recognise digital innovation as a central, yet independent, sector that warrants research investment to ensure Australia remains competitive as digital nation.

In collaboration with the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering, the National Committee for Information and Communication Sciences is preparing a policy document to summarise the key ideas in support of recognising ‘digital innovation’ as a national science priority for research investment.

2. Identify and break down systemic disincentives for transdisciplinary and translational work

Establishment of a 'consortium/group' of IT adoption/diffusion researchers/practitioners from across the ICS disciplines (and the country) as a focus on ICS research innovation, translation and training – i.e. focused on existing ICS, new, reused, at different development phases (innovation to maturity) and implementation at different levels of scale and scope (very small to very large organizations, vertical industry sectors, simple to complex supply chains, government/NGO/commercial etc.).

We see a natural alignment with current discussions in Focus Area 3 regarding the leverage of the expert database extension and promotion to support these activities.

The sector has also undergone significant staffing and budgetary changes in 2020 due to the impacts of COVID-19, including Senate approval of the Federal government’s 'JobReady' legislation. This provides an opportunity and impetus to develop multi-university systemic approaches to transdisciplinary and translational research and teaching.

3. Support the university-industry interface

Australian universities and industry organisations can benefit from a greater level of collaborations and making research competencies across the Australian digital sector more readily accessible to accelerate innovation across all sectors. The National Committee for Information and Communication Sciences is pursuing practical ways in which such collaboration can be improved and has responded to specific initiatives of the government in relation to the improved university-industry collaboration.

The National Committee for Information and Communication Sciences is focusing its effort to the development and expansion of database of experts who can contribute to the broader challenges faced by Australia and to allow such research competencies across the Australian universities and other organisations be more readily accessible. The committee has also identified the need for a systematic, longitudinal study of evolving and maturing state of university–industry collaboration across Australia and welcomes the recent proposal from the government to establish a survey aligned with this focus. In addition, the committee has been looking at mechanisms and processes to assist researchers to form better relationships with industry.

The Chairs of the Academy's 22 National Committees for Science and members of the Academy’s Executive Committee met at the Shine Dome in Canberra on 13 November 2023, for an extensive, full-day roundtable meeting. 

This gathering provided a platform for the Chairs to share their visions for their individual disciplines and to engage in meaningful dialogue about the challenges and opportunities within their fields. 

Key discussions revolved around developing strategies to foster engagement with the Australian and international science communities, governmental bodies, and early- to mid-career researchers. 

Additionally, the meeting focused on exploring effective methods for each committee to enhance the visibility of their respective disciplines as well as the broader scientific landscape in Australia.

This report presents the results of a survey of the bioscience community about the current state of bioscience education in Australia. The survey was undertaken in 2021 by the Australian Academy of Science’s National Committee for Biomedical Sciences. 

Drawing on the results of this survey and lessons learnt from the rapid shift to virtual teaching in response to COVID-19, the report explores opportunities and challenges for bioscience teaching in the coming decade. 

It outlines six practical recommendations for higher education bioscience teaching and identifies essential transferable skills for bioscience graduates.  

The report was written by and for bioscience educators through a working group of the National Committee for Biomedical Sciences.  

Australia is confronted by a changing climate. Understanding climate risks to the economy, business and environment across Australia requires knowledge founded on Earth system science.

A decadal plan for Australian Earth system science makes 14 recommendations, beginning with the urgent establishment of an Australian Institute for Earth System Science, tasked with developing, coordinating and implementing the national science required to deliver answers to nationally significant questions.

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Executive summary

Australia is confronted by a changing climate. Understanding climate risks to the economy, business and environment across Australia requires knowledge founded on Earth system science: a comprehensive scientific understanding of our atmosphere, oceans and land, and the flows of energy, carbon, water and nutrients between these systems. Australia needs a new approach to build this understanding into our predictions and projections using the best available science and ensuring uncertainties and gaps in the science are filled. This new approach must prioritise long-term national coordination, oversight, strategy and implementation.

Australia’s Earth system science endeavour is rich with talent. However it is fragmented and operates under various priorities which are often in competition and increasingly focused on short-term outcomes. Excellent investments such as Centres of Excellence, the National Environmental Research Program, the Australian Climate Service and CSIRO initiatives align with the urgent need to solve immediate problems around impacts and adaptation to climate risk. As a result, an unintended vacuum has emerged where no unifying agency or long-term funding initiative is addressing the fundamental understanding of climate to provide the foundations for climate intelligence needs in 10, 20 or 30 years’ time. We are, in effect, building climate action and climate policy on foundations developed 10 to 20 years ago.

This plan for Australia by the Australian Academy of Science’s National Committee for Earth System Science will, over the next decade, create the scale and ambition of endeavour to generate the scientific understanding needed to answer the critical questions that climate change is demanding of our national and regional security, economic wellbeing, and environmental and social resilience.

This plan makes 14 recommendations. The first, and enabling, recommendation is the urgent establishment of an Australian Institute for Earth System Science, tasked with developing, coordinating and implementing the national science required to deliver answers to nationally significant questions.

This necessitates long-term investment by the Australian Government.

Other recommendations relate to the urgency of a national strategy for integrated high-performance computing and data via a Tier-1 facility. The national strategy must include a fully integrated strategy for the management and custodianship of data to enable the effective use of new tools, including artificial intelligence and machine learning. We also highlight challenges associated with workforce planning.

With the implementation of Recommendation 1, Australia can establish the science foundations for an evidence-based approach to climate risk, and partner with our allies to provide climate intelligence across our region. Without the establishment of a strong science-based foundation, we risk investments that lead to maladaptation, incorrect disclosure of financial risk by business, and erroneous assessments of national and regional risks associated with climate change.

Recommendations

1. Urgently establish an Australian Institute for Earth System Science, tasked with developing, coordinating and implementing the national strategies required to deliver answers to nationally significant questions.
2. Establish an integrated, standardised and curated observational data system, including national and global reanalyses and satellite data, co-located with nationally significant computing facilities to support understanding and modelling, artificial intelligence and machine learning based applications.
3. Coordinate and prioritise observational programs for research across Australia. Oversight of these observational programs, strategic review of investment in research observations and a strategy to identify emerging needs should be established above the level of individual capabilities.
4. Develop a strategy and methodology to prioritise process-based studies that build understanding, and leverage that understanding to improve more complex modelling systems.
5. Establish oversight or coordination of the multiple investments in process-based studies to identify duplication and gaps to maximise the return on investment.
6. Ensure a sovereign Earth system modelling capability to answer crucial and concerning questions about the interactions in Earth’s system via the implementation of a national strategy for exascale capability.
7. Establish a national solution to manage Earth system science data, including the custodianship of observations and model simulations. This needs to be integrated with data wranglers and technical staff with the required competencies, compute infrastructure to enable analysis, and the implementation of artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques. The establishment of this national data solution is overdue and requires urgent attention.
8. Maintain strong collaboration with the Australian Community Climate and Earth System Simulator National Research Infrastructure (ACCESS-NRI) to integrate new process-based understanding into ACCESS to enhance national prediction and projection capability.
9. Universities consider locating disciplines and courses relevant to Earth system science, in particular atmospheric science, oceanography, soil science and ecophysiology, within schools of mathematics or physics where possible.
10. Provide mentorship or co-supervision, additional to existing institutional supervision, to coordinate and enable world-class postgraduate training aligned with identified priorities and national research needs.
11. Identify critical areas of model development that are suitable for PhD students, and extend scholarships to recognise the value of, and challenges related to, model development.
12. Provide a mix of permanent and short-term positions, working in collaboration with external researchers, to target identified areas of process-based understanding and/or model development.
13. Identify major areas of national need and communicate those needs to funding agencies, and identify and encourage applications from suitable individuals in collaboration with universities and other research agencies.
14. Provide direct investment in research proposals in the form of cash and in-kind support to highlight those that align with the national strategy.

This report provides an assessment of Australia's research strengths and gaps in hydrogen, compared to international efforts. This is intended to contribute towards the development of a scientific roadmap for the hydrogen economy.

It highlights the country’s potential to lead in areas such as CO₂ separation and sequestration, hydrogen storage materials, and distributed energy supply for remote areas.

The report also makes a number of recommendations for increased government support for hydrogen energy research and coordination. To support R&D, commercialisation and energy transition, the report suggests the development of an Australian Hydrogen Energy Initiative.

This report builds on The Academy’s symposium on Science on the way to a hydrogen economy on 5 May 2006, which brought together international and Australian scientists for a timely discussion about the research and development challenges for widespread and safe hydrogen production, storage, utilisation and distribution.

The 2011 Theo Murphy High Flyers Think Tank brought together about 60 early-career scientists and social scientists with diverse backgrounds, to discuss new approaches to understanding the effects of stress on complex ecological systems. Four Australian ecosystems were utilised as case studies for discussion:

1. Queensland’s Bowen and Surat Basins
2. Ningaloo Marine Park, Western Australia
3. Melbourne’s peri-urban grasslands
4. the Murray–Darling Basin.

The four groups developed recommendations that were specific to their ecosystem, as well as four overarching recommendations.

1. Collect more data on Australia’s ecosystems and make it freely available.
2. Engage the community in data collection.
3. Develop methods to determine the consequences of ecosystem decisions and make these accessible to all stakeholders.
4. Involve all stakeholders in ecosystem planning and decision-making.

The purpose of the study was to develop a clear understanding of Year 11 and 12 science in Australian schools and the potential issues involved. The research approach develops two pictures.

The first picture captures the best of what we want for our science students; the ideal. This ideal picture should embrace our high but realistic aspirations for Year 11 and 12 students.

The other picture is a clear appraisal of what is actually happening in Year 11 and 12 science classrooms at the present time throughout Australia.

Ideal picture

Students and their curriculum 

• The science curriculum is relevant to the needs, concerns and personal experiences of the students.
• The teaching and learning of science is centred on inquiry. Students investigate, construct and test ideas and explanations about the natural world.
• Assessment serves the purpose of learning and is consistent with and complimentary to good teaching.

Teachers and their profession 

• The teaching-learning environment is characterised by enjoyment, fulfilment, ownership and engagement in learning and natural respect between teacher and students.
• Teachers are professionals who are supported so that they can reflect and build the understanding and competencies required of best practice.
• Teachers of science including Year 11 and 12 have a recognised career path based on sound professional standards endorsed by the profession. 

Resources for teaching and learning science 

• Excellent facilities, equipment and resources support teaching and learning.
• Sufficient time is available by which teachers can prepare, teach and assess student science learning. 

The value of science education 

• Science and science education are valued by the community, have high priority in the school curriculum and science teaching is perceived as exciting and valuable, contributing significantly to the development of persons and to the economic and social well-being of the nation. 

Actual picture

The students 

One of the disturbing results is the fall in the collective number of students studying science. The general picture that emerges is that fewer students are studying science but these fewer students enjoy the science they experience and it is in keeping with their expectations for the future. Science students have a very positive view about science and its importance in broader society. 

The science curriculum 

The view of teachers and students as derived from the surveys and focus groups is that Year 11 and 12 science is constructed to prepare students for university study. This university preparation perspective has resulted in an overcrowded content-laden curriculum. With the amount of content to be covered there is little room for flexibility from either the teacher or student. The science courses are perceived to be conceptually difficult with an emphasis on theoretical abstract ideas.   

Science teaching and learning

The content-laden curriculum encourages science in Year 11 and 12 to be taught in a traditional way using the transmission model. This approach is revealed by the fact that 73% of science students indicated that they spend every lesson copying notes from the teacher while 65% never or seldom have choice in pursuing areas of interest. Teacher demonstrations are common, with 79% of science students suggesting this occurs often, very often or always in a lesson. The practical work tends to be ‘recipe based’ with students required to follow specific instructions to achieve known results. In some states there are assessable open-ended student investigations. From the focus group discussion with teachers there was a concern about these investigations. The investigations were placing significant demands on both students and teachers. 

Year 11 and 12 science teachers

Science in Year 11 and 12 is taught by the most qualified and most experienced science teachers. In the telephone survey, three quarters of the interviewed teachers indicated they had a Bachelor of Science. Only 7% had no science qualifications.   

Resources

The heavy content curriculum puts significant pressure on teachers as they attempt to help their students. The most common factors that teachers listed as limiting their teaching were time (36%) and resources (23%).

Recommendations

1. Science courses of biology, chemistry, Earth and environmental science and physics need to include a realistic amount of content for the time available. All the three strands of Science Understanding, Science as a Human Endeavour and Science Inquiry Skills need to be adequately covered in the content.
2. Support a program like Science by Doing to recapture the interest of students in Years 7 to 10 science.
3. Develop a set of guidelines to provide quality advice to Year 10 students considering selecting Year 11 and 12 science subjects.
4. Provide more professional learning opportunities for senior science teachers to expand their teaching skills including the latest scientific developments.
5. Develop a suite of digital curriculum resources for the new national curriculum subjects that will assist teachers.
6. Increase the number of paraprofessionals, especially laboratory technicians, to support teachers.
7. Relevant boards of study need to evaluate the value, impact and implementation of large scale student investigation assessment activities.
8. Re-examine the various pathways by which people may train (or retrain) to become teachers. The intention should be to increase options by removing barriers while maintaining quality. In particular, employing authorities should be encouraged to acknowledge the relevant skills and knowledge that new teachers bring with them from previous work experience in determining salaries.

About the study

This study was commissioned by the Office of the Chief Scientist and funded by the Australian Government Department of Innovation, Industry, Science, Research and Tertiary Education.

Enrolment information in this report is based on data supplied by the Australian Government Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR). It was updated in January 2012 based on public statements made by DEEWR.

The 2010 Theo Murphy High Flyers Think Tank participants propose that future exploration success can be realised through an innovative, well-defined and nationally coordinated strategy. 

They recommend bringing together the relevant expertise into a coherent, collaborative research network, working within a well-designed strategic framework or ‘roadmap’, to address the fundamental needs of the exploration industry. 

The proposed road map would be underpinned by the following six initiatives:

1. A national map of the depth and character of the cover of Australia that will prioritise new areas for exploration and new directions for research.
2. A national map of the deep crust and adjacent upper mantle that will employ innovative methods to acquire new geophysical and geochemical data. This map will be supported by a competitive crustal drilling program to constrain the interpretations resulting from these new data.
3. A national ‘distal footprints’ program to detect the far-field signatures of giant ore systems in ancient land surfaces now buried by cover.
4. A national four-dimensional (3D plus time) metallogenic map that relates Australia’s major mineral deposits to the geodynamic contexts in which they formed.
5. A national research network to bring the exploration community together and ensure we understand and exploit the available synergies.
6. A national education and technology transfer program to foster rapid uptake and application of the results and ensure exploration success.

These initiatives will open up new frontiers for mineral exploration and enable the private sector to undertake Australia’s next phase of exploration competitively. 

The data and knowledge created through these initiatives will also assist in further defining our water, energy and land resources.

The questions in this survey were first asked of Australians in July 2010 and were based on a previous survey conducted by the California Academy of Sciences.

The second survey was undertaken online and conducted between 7 and 10 May, 2013. Respondents were drawn from a professional social and market research panel.

Key findings

Although most Australians have a basis grasp of key scientific facts, there are still large numbers who answer important scientific questions incorrectly.

• For example, 59% knew the Earth takes one year to orbit the sun.
• 70% of Australians think that evolution is currently occurring.
• 73% of Australians think people are influencing the evolution of other species.  

These results are broadly similar to those in 2010 however there were some small, but statistically significant decreases, in the proportion of Australians who were aware of some key scientific facts.

• There was a 4% reduction in the proportion of people who knew that 3% of the earth’s water that is fresh (down to 9%).
• There was a 4% reduction in the proportion of people who believe humans are influencing the evolution of other species (down to 73%).

Generally younger respondents, men and those with a higher education level were more likely to answer the questions correctly.

• For example, 68% of men knew the Earth takes a year to orbit the sun compared to 50% of women. While 78% of university educated respondents knew that evolution is still occurring compared to 63% of those with just a high school education.

However, knowledge levels amongst young people have dropped more than other groups over the last 3 years.

• For example, there was a 12% reduction in the proportion of 18–24 year-olds who know the earth orbits the sun in a year (down to 62%).
• There were also tentative, but less significant falls in the proportion of 18–24 year olds who believe that evolution is occurring or that humans are influencing the evolution of other species.

There remains a high acknowledgement that science education is important to the Australian economy.

• 79% of Australians say that science education is absolutely essential or very important; almost the same proportion as 2010. 

About the study

The overall sample size was 1,515, segmented and weighted to be nationally representative of Australia’s population by gender, age and residential location.

The accuracy of the results at an overall level is +/-2.5% at the 95% confidence interval. This means, for example, that if the survey returns a result of 50% to a particular question, there is 95% probability that the actual result will be between 47.5% and 52.5%.

Note: All percentage figures in this report are rounded. Accordingly, totals may not add up to 100%.

The nation’s future socio-economic and environmental prosperity will be underpinned by science, technology and innovation.

Without urgent attention to education, research and innovation policies, Australia may find its current competitive advantages in the international marketplace rapidly eroded.

Alternatively, strategic investment in science, technology and innovation will open up new and exciting opportunities to strengthen the quality of life for all Australians.

Recommendations

1. That Australia increases its support for the national R&D effort to ensure that it retains an internationally competitive science capability to underpin the nation’s industrial, commercial, environmental and economic position among leading world economies.
2. That Australia examines the implications of the continuing relatively low level of private sector investment in R&D and creates policy settings that encourage greater innovation.
3. That Australia further addresses the critical lack of suitably qualified science and mathematics teachers, and expands programs to encourage high school students to study science and mathematics.
4. That Australia maintains a long-term commitment to basic research funding in universities, and ensures that the Research Quality Framework (RQF) results in additional funds for high-quality research.
5. That Australia continues to invest in the future by building on the Higher Education Endowment Fund (HEEF) for capital works and research infrastructure in universities.
6. That Australia provides support for publicly funded research organisations sufficient to maintain their core capabilities, on which their competitiveness as world-class research providers depends.
7. That Australia increases its level of support for existing research centre schemes and develops new ‘International Research Centres’, and that the research fellowship awards be substantially expanded, particularly for early- and mid-career researchers.
8. That Australia makes a long-term commitment to maintaining first class national research infrastructure facilities and promotes Australian access to international facilities.
9. That Australia gives urgent attention to nurturing rewarding and secure career paths for talented early-career researchers.
10. That Australia recognises the importance of engagement with the international scientific community and uses science more effectively as a tool in foreign policy.