The Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering (ATSE), in collaboration with the Australian Academy of Science, will deliver the Australian Government’s $18.2 million ‘Global Science and Technology Diplomacy Fund – Strategic Element’, a key part of the new $60.2 million GSTDF fund.

Over the next four years, the fund will support international collaboration to enhance Australia’s profile in science and technology research and application. Australian business, entrepreneurs and researchers can capitalise on international opportunities to commercialise their cutting-edge products and services and strengthen scientific collaborations.

The fund will advance strategic areas such as boosting the competitiveness of Australian advanced manufacturing; artificial Intelligence and quantum computing to create a safe, trusted and secure digital economy; hydrogen production to provide a zero-emissions fuel source with strong export potential; and emerging applications of RNA (including mRNA) vaccines and therapies to improve health outcomes.

ATSE’s CEO Kylie Walker said, “By increasing links between Australia’s STEM leaders and global partners, we have a unique opportunity to unlock access to international networks that can boost our sovereign capabilities, grow our economy and build our international science and technology reputation in a win, win, win.

“The Academies have a strong commitment to international engagement, a long history of successfully supporting it, and are steadfast advocates for social and economic development that benefits all Australians. ATSE is proud to collaborate with the Academy of Science to deliver this new initiative, funded by the federal Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources,” Walker said.

The Academy of Science’s Foreign Secretary, Professor Elaine Sadler said, “The Global Science and Technology Diplomacy Fund will create a flexible and streamlined approach to supporting international collaboration at a time when we need it most. By identifying and supporting strategic international science and research collaboration with identified partners worldwide, the fund will boost Australia’s science and technology research and commercialisation effort.”

ATSE and the Academy of Science will draw on the expertise of their learned fellowships to support Australian researchers and innovators to build global science and technology collaborations, amplify commercialisation potential and strengthen Australia’s standing as a global science leader.

Nominations are now open for the Academy’s 2023 honorific awards, research conferences, research awards and travelling fellowships.

Each year, the Australian Academy of Science shines a light on researchers who have made outstanding contributions to science, and in progressing the advancement of science in Australia, by awarding our prestigious honorific awards.

The awards recognise remarkable achievements in research fields including Earth sciences, biology, physics, mathematics, chemistry, biomedicine and more.

The Academy is committed to celebrating and supporting diversity. We are seeking nominations of outstanding scientists from all career stages, backgrounds and genders, and strongly encourage more nominations of women and other under-represented groups for all awards, in particular the career and mid-career honorific awards.

The closing date for honorific award nominations is 1 May 2022.

The closing date to apply for research conferences, research awards and travelling fellowships is 1 June 2022.

Find out more about the Academy’s awards, including how to nominate or apply.

For further information on the 2023 award round, please download the awards fact sheet (PDF, 1.28MB).

In the 2022 award round, we recognised Australian scientists’ discoveries across a breadth of research fields and career stages.

The 2022–23 Federal Budget contains some welcome measures for science but falls short on the vision needed to support Australia’s economic recovery and protect our future.

The Australian Academy of Science welcomes funding of $5.3m over two years to improve the National Science and Technology Council provision of evidence-based advice to government.

Academy President Professor John Shine said it was pleasing to see that mechanisms that bring science to the service of government will not be lost during or after Australia’s recovery from the pandemic.

“This must continue to be an important part of our future preparedness,” Professor Shine said.           

The ongoing provision of evidence-based advice to independently inform government decisions was recommended in the Academy’s pre-budget submission.

Academy President Professor John Shine said the Academy also notes the Budget’s focus on space, mRNA manufacturing, medical research and funding for the University Research Commercialisation Fund.

“Research translation, commercialisation and acceleration will be crucial for keeping Australia safe,” Professor Shine said.

“But this Budget falls short of the vision needed to put Australia on a strong footing in an uncertain future.

“It is disappointing that fundamental science capability is not recognised as the first essential step in the commercialisation effort, and there are no measures to boost basic research investment.

“This at a time when science is at the heart of every major issue being faced by our nation: the pandemic response; national security, mitigating and adapting to climate change; and recovering from flood and other extreme events,” said Professor Shine.

“Advanced industrial societies depend on a secure and active science sector to help deliver high-wage jobs and high-value industries to maintain the standard of living for their people and to propel economic growth. Australia is no different.”

“For scientists, the pandemic in Australia has brought about both great purpose and great uncertainty. Too many have been affected by reduced funding, job losses, increased workloads, and declining morale.

“Despite one-off funding for research and science during the pandemic, in 2021 the Australian Government’s investment in science was 0.56% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP)—which is lower than comparable nations—and less than R&D investment in 2010,” Professor Shine said.

The Academy welcomes the following measures announced in this Budget:

• $2b for a Regional Accelerator Program
• $1.3b for Australia’s space sector
• $83.1m for Australia’s circular waste economy
• $66.3m new funding for AIMS
• $50.5m for a virtual Critical Minerals R&D Centre 
• $37.4m for research translation at CSIRO  
• Expansion of the patent box tax concession to low emissions and agricultural technologies
• Continuing support for women in STEM, across the career pipeline.
• Continuing support for the Modern Manufacturing Strategy

“Don’t speak about yourself.” This was the advice given to incoming Academy President, Professor Chennupati Jagadish, growing up.

“I was taught that it is for the rest of the world to judge how good or bad you are. That is challenging when to succeed you must market yourself or promote your own research,” Professor Jagadish says.

“Culturally, it's a quite different way of looking at life.”

Each year, March 21 marks the United Nations International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, highlighting the importance of meaningful participation and representation in all areas of decision-making to combat racial discrimination.

Building from this, Harmony Week not only celebrates Australian cultural diversity*, but also aims to increase awareness of the ongoing mistreatment and lack of representation of culturally diverse people, particularly in workplaces.  

With dedicated and persistent effort needed to achieve meaningful reconciliation, Australia has additional and unique complexity to discussions on cultural diversity. The Academy recognises and respects the diversity of cultures, languages, kinship structures and ways of life of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and is committed to playing its part.

This year, Harmony Week had a focus was on inclusiveness, respect and a sense of belonging for everyone.

Important for science

Although the STEM-qualified population in Australia has a larger migrant representation than the general population, there is still a long way to go to support increased cultural diversity in the workforce. There is also a need for more research into cultural identity within the Australian STEM workforce.

The Australian Government’s Advancing Women in STEM report found that girls and women face multiple barriers to STEM participation, especially if they were from minority groups, rural and remote areas and disadvantaged backgrounds.

There has been growing awareness of the lack of representation in STEM, especially of culturally diverse people and in particular culturally diverse women. According to STEM Sisters, less than 40% of the STEM workforce are women, and of this, only a small fraction is culturally diverse.

“We need to include and sustain more STEM women of colour in the Australian STEM workforce by promoting a career in STEM as attractive and attainable as any other,” says STEM Sisters.

“I think finding a mentor or someone who can relate to my story and experiences as a black, immigrant woman in STEM has been hard,” says Kudzai Dune in a recent interview on the Academy’s STEM Women directory, a platform which seeks to make women in STEM and other under-represented groups more visible.

“There aren’t a lot of us out there. I’m finding that there are more people who fit this category coming through now, but not so many who have been doing it for a while,” said Kudzai Dune.

We all have a role to play

As a leader in the STEM ecosystem, the Academy recognises it has a role in advancing the discussion, in improving our own practices to eliminate racial discrimination in all its forms, and in ensuring that STEM workplaces are safe and inclusive for everyone.

Under-representation and underutilisation of the workforce are threats to Australia’s prosperity. Women in STEM Decadal Plan

As a nation we can ill afford to under-utilise all the available STEM talent.

We must work together to ensure that every Australian is able to access the transformational opportunities STEM offers and be able to thrive and contribute to Australia’s STEM sector.

Myriad reports outline gender disparities within the STEM sector, but further research on intersectional identities and the bias and barriers that culturally diverse people experience would help the sector take evidence-informed action.

As part of Harmony Week 2022, the Academy spoke with Academy Fellows, early- and mid-career researchers, industry representatives and staff, to capture their valuable stories and experiences on cultural diversity. You can read their interviews on the STEM Women blog.

Organisations can support development and increased participation of culturally diverse individuals in STEM by centring the voices and lived experiences of staff and ensuring that language and practices reflect everyone within their workforce.

There is incredible work being done by many organisations within the STEM sector to continue to address the challenges and barriers faced by culturally diverse individuals. Some organisations working to remove barriers experienced by people from culturally diverse backgrounds include:

• STEM Sisters, which supports women of colour (WOC) to challenge and overcome intersectional, gender and racial barriers in STEM education and employment. It achieves this by addressing all stages of the STEM pipeline, through engagement with STEM students and cohorts of recent STEM graduates, early-career STEM professionals, STEM returners and STEM experts.
• DeadlyScience, which aims to relieve educational poverty for remote and Indigenous students in Australia. It resources schools with STEM learning materials and equipment, connects them to STEM professionals, and runs programs that target systemic sources of educational disadvantage. It hopes to establish lasting change to disrupt cycles of educational poverty in Indigenous communities.
• QueersInScience, an Australian initiative that is building community and improving support for LGBTQIA+ people in STEMM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine). It embraces LGBTQIA+ people of diverse ethnicities, cultural backgrounds, disabilities, religions, ages and gender identities, and acknowledges the unique place in the community of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, placing intersectionality at the forefront of its decision-making.

More on the Academy’s commitment to promoting and sustaining diversity and inclusion in the STEM sector is covered in our Diversity Strategic Statement.

*The term cultural diversity refers to the differences between cultures which are associated with race, ethnicity, national or geographical origin. You can find more information on the Federation of Ethnic Communities’ Councils of Australia fact sheets.

Academy Fellow Professor Sue O’Reilly AM FAA has been honoured with one of China’s most prestigious awards in recognition of her work promoting scientific and technological cooperation between China and Australia.

The China International Science and Technology Co-operation Award is the nation’s highest scientific honour for non-national individuals and institutions.

Professor O’Reilly is the second Australian to receive this international award, which was announced in 2020.

It was originally to be presented in China by Chinese President Xi Jinping, but pandemic travel restrictions prevented this.

The award was instead recently presented to Professor O’Reilly by His Excellency Mr Xiao Qian, Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China, in a ceremony at the Chinese Embassy in Canberra.

“Professor O'Reilly epitomises the two-way endeavours to promote China–Australia exchanges and cooperation in science and technology,” Ambassador Xiao said in his address.

“What she represents is a broad-mindedness to pursue ideals across national borders, and deep feelings and friendship for China.”

Building collaborations

Professor O’Reilly has been building collaborations with China since 1982, when she led the first Australia petrological-geological delegation to the country after it opened, following the end of the Cultural Revolution.

“At that time, more was known about the rocks and structures on the surface of the moon than about the continent, and indeed the Earth, beneath our feet,” said Professor O’Reilly in her acceptance speech.

“China […] was a natural laboratory – a Rosetta stone – to be able to understand the geological meaning of deep earthquake waves, [and] my co-workers and I could not have done our scientific work in understanding the deep Earth in any other location at that time.

“Our Chinese colleagues have provided different expertise and perspectives to ours, enabling enormous intellectual leverage to a very significant area of geoscience – a true demonstration of synergy.”

Professor O’Reilly said the award demonstrates that science cooperation is a robust bridge that can unite people and institutions from different cultures and backgrounds for the great benefit of all those involved.

“This award is also proof that science collaboration is a powerful way to build lasting international bonds and ongoing cooperation in an increasingly complex world – a world that we all share and must shape for the future,” she said.

President-Elect of the Academy, Professor Chennupati Jagadish AC FAA FTSE, said that international scientific collaborations are more important than ever to find solutions to major global problems, and to enhance economic productivity and competitiveness through innovation.

“The international research effort in response to the COVID-19 challenge demonstrates the power of science, to which international collaboration is indispensable,” said Professor Jagadish.

Elected a Fellow of the Academy in 2002, Professor O’Reilly previously served as Chair of the Academy’s National Committee for Earth Sciences and led the development of the Decadal plan for Australian Geoscience.

She is currently the Academy’s spokesperson on diversity and inclusion, and has significantly advanced diversity and inclusion practices across the Academy and across the STEM sector.

The Australian Academy of Science and the Chinese Academy of Sciences have been collaborating in bilateral activities since 1978, with the Australian and Chinese governments signing an agreement on cooperation in science and technology in 1980.

Currently, about 15% of Australia’s research publications are jointly completed with Chinese scientists.

Eleven young early-career researchers from Australia will be attending the prestigious Lindau Nobel Laureates Meeting in Lindau, Germany, including six recently nominated by the Australian Academy of Science and five attendees who attended the 70th meeting virtually in 2021.

The 71st annual Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting, dedicated to chemistry, will be held from 26 June to 1 July and will bring together around 30 Nobel Laureates and around 600 young scientists from around the world.

Participation in the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings is proudly supported through the Science and Industry Endowment Fund (SIEF) and administered by the Australian Academy of Science (AAS).

The six PhD candidates and postdoctoral researchers selected in 2022 to attend these meetings as SIEF–AAS Fellows are:

• Dr Amandeep Kaur – researching fluorescent sensors for super-resolution imaging applications at the University of Sydney, and also a recipient of the prestigious JG Russell Award.
• Dr Neil Robinson – researching porous materials for energy applications at the University of Western Australia, and will begin a Forrest Foundation Research Fellowship from May 2022.
• Ms Sanjana Prasad – currently investigating nanochemistry and sensor technology at RMIT University.
• Mr Piyush Sharda – a PhD Candidate at the Australian National University specialising in astronomy, with a particular focus on early universe astrochemistry and chemical evolution of galaxies.
• Mr Matthias Wurdack – researching strong light-matter coupling and exciton-polaritons in atomically-thin semiconductors at the Australian National University, and also the recipient of AIP NSW Award for Postgraduate Excellence in Physics 2020 and the John Carver Award 2020.
• Miss Diana Zhang – a 2021 Fulbright Scholar specialising in analytical chemistry from the University of New South Wales, currently working at Boston University to develop an advanced machine learning method that can diagnose Parkinson’s Disease from a chemical ‘fingerprint’.

The Lindau SIEF–AAS Fellows will receive a grant to enable their attendance at the event and take part in the SIEF Research Innovation Tour in Germany, led by Academy Fellows Emeritus Professor Cheryl Praeger and Emeritus Professor Hans Bachor.

The tour will showcase some of Germany’s finest research and development facilities, while also providing opportunities to share the research done by the young scientists and encourage scientific collaboration between the two countries.

Five of the SIEF–AAS Fellows who attended the 70th meeting virtually in the field of chemistry have also been invited to participate in person and will travel with the cohort selected this year to Lindau:

• Dr Nicole Foster – previously nominated by the University of Adelaide, she is now working at the Flinders University on Environmental DNA.
• Dr Emily Kerr – an NHMRC Early Career Fellow from Deakin University, and also the recipient of the VESKI Fellowship to undertake a 10-week research visit to France for attending a conference in Spain, followed by a short research visit to Italy, prior to heading to Lindau.
• Dr Wenyue Zou – a Superstar of STEM working as a Research Fellow in Applied Chemistry at the RMIT university.
• Dr Adam Sutton – previously nominated by the University of South Australia, he is now in the USA researching green analytical chemistry.
• Dr Lukas Michalek – previously nominated by Queensland University of Technology, he is currently at Stanford University investigating polymeric materials in emerging flexible electronics from molecular scale to applications.

Their cohort from the 70th Meeting in other fields are invited to attend future Lindau Meetings.

Some of our planet’s natural and cultural assets listed under the World Heritage Convention will be impossible to maintain in the face of climate change, even if effective adaptation and on-site mitigation strategies are applied locally, a roundtable of experts concluded in a report released this week.

The Australian Academy of Science, in consultation with the Australian Academy of Law, assembled 18 Australian experts in natural and cultural heritage, climate change and diplomacy at a national roundtable in December 2021.

The impact of climate change on heritage-listed assets is complex and global.

“The Academy of Science was pleased to draw together experts to search for ways to manage these assets within this complexity, and so ensure that future generations will be able to relish them just as we have been able to do,” said Professor John Shine, President of the Australian Academy of Science.

The aim of the roundtable was to develop a ‘menu of ideas’ that would initiate serious discussion about what could be done to amend the Convention to enable it to support the world’s most precious heritage assets in the face of unremitting climate change.

Ideas put forward include: reforming the nomination, inscription, evaluation and delisting of properties included defining the limits of acceptable change to sites, the use of climate vulnerability assessments and possible changes to World Heritage Committee processes to recognise effectively the threat of climate change.

2022 is the 50-year anniversary of the World Heritage Convention, which was adopted by the General Conference of UNESCO in 1972.

Adapting the Convention to enable it to address contemporary pressures – like the consequences of climate change – would be a fitting project both to celebrate achievements to date and to prepare the utility of the Convention for the coming decades.

Australia has a strong interest in encouraging reform, as a high proportion of Australia’s world heritage properties are threatened by climate change.

The International Union for the Conservation of Nature has rated 11 of Australia’s 16 natural and mixed World Heritage properties as being at high risk from climate change.

Read the full report.

The Australian Academy of Science’s secondary science program, ‘Science by Doing’, is proud to announce a new website designed specifically for teachers.

Launched in February, the site builds on the Academy’s strong educational foundations with a new program using a revised pedagogical approach emphasising flexible professional learning.

Supporting teachers supports students

Recognising the pivotal role that teachers play and based on knowledge of how students learn, the program provides teachers with strategies designed to challenge Year 7–10 students to explore, ask questions, share ideas and improve their ways of thinking for the rest of their lives.

The goal is to support teachers to be confident to reach out to all students, which promotes equitable learning where all students are supported to engage with science.

Teachers are provided with examples that will help their students to ‘figure things out’ through problem-oriented teaching and learning, all aligned to the Australian Curriculum.

The program incorporates sensemaking, a way to build on individual student experiences, and is designed to develop each student’s confidence to engage with the world through science.

“Teachers are so often the source of that early spark of excitement about discovery that inspires young people to pursue a scientific career and turn their minds to the process of discovery,” says Academy Fellow and Australia’s Chief Scientist, Dr Cathy Foley.

Using research-based contemporary practices, with a greater emphasis on real-world Australian science contexts, data, and scientists, the resources are adaptable to cater for the diversity amongst Australian students and different contexts across our classrooms.

Inspiring our young people through science

In designing and testing the new program, Science by Doing is examining how to enable teachers to better facilitate a guided inquiry approach, create deeper engagement and enhance outcomes for their students.

The Science by Doing program engages with teachers, science education academics and scientists – across Australia and internationally – to co-develop, trial, monitor and evaluate curriculum materials, to strengthen STEM capabilities and to meet the needs of school communities.

The Australian Academy of Science aims to inspire young people through science, and this new website is designed to help build a future Australia equipped to face the challenges and opportunities of a fast-changing world, both locally and globally.

Learn more about the Science by Doing program.

Science by Doing is supported by the Australian Government Department of Education, Skills and Employment

This year, the theme for International Women’s Day is Changing Climates: Equality today for a sustainable tomorrow, which recognises the contributions of women and girls around the world, and calls for climate action for women, by women.

The Academy’s Diversity and Inclusion Strategic Lead, Allison Hornery, took the opportunity to speak with Professor Sue O’Reilly, Chair of the Academy’s Equity and Diversity Reference Group, and the Academy’s Chief Executive, Ms Anna-Maria Arabia, to explore how we might all help to change the climate of gender equality.

Reflecting on how far we have come in achieving gender equity at an institutional level, Professor Sue O’Reilly acknowledges the increase in the number of women in senior positions and how initiatives such as SAGE have played a vital role in changing the narrative around gender equity, including raising awareness and encouraging organisations to develop strategies and policies that address the issue of inequity.

“We've come a very long way on that journey. There's a long way still to go,” Professor O’Reilly said.

‘Girls don't need physics’

She also reflected on her own journey and experiences and how it has made her a strong advocate for women’s rights.

“The headmaster, who had a son in my class, looked down at me very condescendingly, and said, ‘Ah, girls don't need physics. Girls get married, and their husbands look after them’. So, my friend and I set up on the veranda for two years, working from the syllabus, working from textbooks, and then we beat all the boys in the actual final exam. It was a wakeup call to me; I think it made me a little bit feisty about advocating for women's rights.”

The headmaster, who had a son in my class, looked down at me very condescendingly, and said, "Ah, girls don't need physics. Girls get married, and their husbands look after them". So, my friend and I set up on the veranda for two years, working from the syllabus, working from textbooks, and then we beat all the boys in the actual final exam. It was a wakeup call to me; I think it made me a little bit feisty about advocating for women's rights.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a severe impact on individuals and institutions; and has shed a light on the realities of what it is like to be a woman in STEM and the existing institutional and cultural barriers that continue to put women at a disadvantage.

“It was women who predominately took on a greater proportion of the domestic responsibility when working from home … making it particularly difficult to advance their research even when it was possible to continue research outside of a formal scientific setting,” Ms Arabia said.

Better work outcomes

Employers and organisations have had to develop flexible work arrangements which better supported individuals, and with this it has become clear that such policies can create sustainable and inclusive working environment that produce better work outcomes.

“We know diversity results in better decision making, greater profits, greater productivity and higher quality publications. With that comes more competitive research grants so there are a range of benefits in the STEM sector,” she said.

We know diversity results in better decision making, greater profits, greater productivity and higher quality publications. With that comes more competitive research grants so there are a range of benefits in the STEM sector.

In order for us to achieve gender equity, it is vital that long-term and sustainable changes are implemented across the STEM sector which is why initiatives such as STEM Women and the Decadal Plan for Women in STEM have been instrumental.

“The Decadal Plan Champions program offers institutions, organisations, entities, private businesses – wherever you may sit in the STEM ecosystem – an opportunity to align your work to achieve gender equity, with the recommendations in the Decadal Plan for Women in STEM,” Ms Arabia said.

On this International Women’s Day, and every day moving forward, it is important that we continue to discuss ways we can and do advance gender equity and ensure we do so in an inclusive and intersectional manner to ensure the impacts of inequitable practice on diverse groups are considered.

“I'm really pleased that there is growing awareness, there are proactive initiatives, and part of the discussion has really matured, around how we look at Indigenous knowledge, how we bring more Indigenous scientists closer to the Academy’s work, and how we work together to design a path forward,” she said.

I'm really pleased that there is growing awareness, there are proactive initiatives, and part of the discussion has really matured, around how we look at Indigenous knowledge, how we bring more Indigenous scientists closer to the Academy’s work, and how we work together to design a path forward.

See the full transcript and recording of the interviews on the STEM Women website.

Visit the Academy’s Climate Change Hub and Future Earth Australia for more information on how the Academy is contributing to address climate change.

The Australian Academy of Science condemns in the harshest possible terms the unprovoked and unlawful military aggression by Russia on the sovereign country of Ukraine. What the world is witnessing at this time is completely unacceptable and reprehensible.  The Academy stands by the people of Ukraine, and in particular the Ukrainian scientific community. 

Diplomacy, dialogue and good will are tested ways to try and resolve serious conflicts such as this one. We call for this to happen immediately before more innocent civilians on both sides are severely impacted or lose their lives.   

We applaud those in the scientific community in Russia who have spoken against the war on Ukraine and trust that they will not be impacted by expressing their human right to do so. 

Academies of science around the world will continue to speak out and work through the umbrella of science and technology to bring peace, harmony, and prosperity in the world. The Australian Academy of Science is in absolute support of the International Science Council and the InterAcademy Partnership statements on this war because of the severe outcomes that the conflict will have on the research and academic community. 

Read the International Science Council statement

Read the Interacademy Partnership statement