Antarctic and Southern Ocean science is essential for understanding and responding to climate change and safeguarding Australia’s national interests.

Australia’s scientific leadership in Antarctica and the Southern Ocean has never been more critical than in this era of rapid progression towards abrupt Earth system changes and increased geopolitical tension in the Antarctic Treaty System. 

An aligned and integrated community of multidisciplinary researchers across universities and government is critical to accelerate knowledge of Antarctica in the face of the emerging climate crisis.

The Australian Academy of Science calls for:

• an ambitious, strategically prioritised and explicit Antarctic and Southern Ocean research agenda supported by a consolidated whole-of-government commitment
• a long-term, sustainable funding model to maintain Australian scientific research and leadership in the Antarctic governance system
• an uplift in scientific investment, along with improved coordination of funding and logistics, to maintain Australian leadership in the Antarctic governance system. 

Antarctic research must be directed at five critical issues, identified through extensive strategic consultation of the Australian science community:

1. Climate change. Improved projections of Antarctic and Southern Ocean changes, and their influence on Australia in a global, Earth system context.
2. Ice sheets and sea level vulnerability. Enhanced capability to project the behaviour of the Antarctic ice sheet and its contribution to sea level rise, especially in our region and the broader Indo-Pacific.
3. Environmental protection. Comprehensive understanding of the current and future dynamics of Antarctic environments, including biodiversity, to support Australian leadership of their protection through the Antarctic Treaty System.
4. Digital, data-driven innovation. An interdisciplinary digital platform and analytical capabilities to strengthen Australian science and geopolitical leadership.
5. Monitoring capability. An enduring Antarctic monitoring program that enables Australia to track ecosystems and environmental changes in our area of responsibility and to demonstrate that through our scientific activities, Antarctica is valued, protected and understood. 

The majority of human exposure to air pollution occurs indoors, where people spend around 90% of their time. Air pollution negatively affects human health and wellbeing, accessibility of spaces, and the economy.

Despite decades of effort by many experts, and a large body of evidence about the scale of the problem, indoor air quality has attracted little attention. In Australia, we don't measure nor monitor indoor air according to scientific best practice – and so, we don't manage poor indoor air.

This report provides a primer on the scientific evidence base and explores policy pathways to deliver healthier indoor air for everyone.

Policymakers have a range of mechanisms available to improve indoor air quality in Australia. The options provided in this document offer opportunities for immediate action and long-term strategic planning.

These start with:

• elevating indoor air quality as a national health and infrastructure priority
• establishing a multidisciplinary taskforce to provide expert advice on indoor air quality to multiple government departments
• developing a national reporting standard for workplace indoor air quality
• adopting the World Health Organization's Global air quality guidelines.

‘Australian science, Australia’s future: Science 2035’ is a comprehensive policy report that examines whether Australia has the national science capability to meet the challenges of the next decade.

This initiative analysed Australia’s science capability to meet three national challenges informed by the forces shaping the economy listed in the Australian Government’s 2023 Intergenerational report.

Drawing on data dashboards, expert workshops, and foresight techniques, the Academy mapped scientific capability and shortfalls across three major challenge areas – technological transformation; demographic change; and climate change, decarbonisation and environment – with all three underpinned by sovereign capability and science literacy.

Based on these challenges, the report identifies the following eight science capabilities increasing most in demand over the coming decade:

• Agricultural science
• Artificial intelligence
• Biotechnology
• Climate science
• Data science
• Epidemiology
• Geoscience
• Materials science

Abridged report

This is the financial report of the Australian Academy of Science for the year ended 30 June 2025.

It includes a balance sheet for the financial year, as well as statements of comprehensive income, changes in equity and cash flows.

On 24 October 2025, the Academy made a submission on the possible association to Horizon Europe.

In the submission, the Academy:

• strongly supports Australia’s association to Horizon Europe to enhance access to world-leading research funding, infrastructure, collaboration opportunities and to mitigate geopolitical risks that can leave Australia’s research and innovation base vulnerable
• strongly puts that association must not be drawn from Australian Research Council (ARC) or the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) research budgets which are already under considerable strain
• recommends investment in the Belmont Forum’s multilateral Oceans Collaborative Research Action to demonstrate the value and impact of multilateral, cooperative research.

On 29 September 2025, the Academy made a submission on the National Food Security Strategy.

Nutrition security, equity, and environmental sustainability must be embedded in setting priorities in the National Food Security Strategy. Without this, the strategy risks focusing only on food production and trade while neglecting the health, wellbeing, and equity outcomes it is meant to deliver.

The Academy recommends:

• Strengthening the framework by explicitly including nutrition equity as a principle.
• A long-term horizon of at least 10 years for the strategy, with clear short- and medium-term targets.
• Including the actions in the body of this submission to address the strategy’s challenges (pages 3-4).
• Recognising Australia’s engagement and responsibilities in the Indo-Pacific region.

On 21 October 2025, the Academy made a submission on implementing Australia's strategy for nature 2024–2030.

In the submission, the Academy recommends that the strategy implementation plan:

• establish a national biodiversity monitoring program to measure progress toward the 2030 and 2050 Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) commitments
• set targeted research priorities and an associated investment framework sufficient to enable Australia to meet its GBF targets.
• action the recommendations from the Samuel Review of the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (the EPBC Act), especially the commitment to legally enforceable National Environmental Standards
• elevate freshwater ecosystems in equal standing with other ecosystems within the Strategy
• set interim quantified milestones towards Australia’s GBF targets.

On 24 November 2025, the Academy made a submission on the Environmental Protection Reform Bill 2025 and six related bills.

The Academy recommends the Bills be amended to:

• establish clear, legislated mechanisms that embed scientific advice into decision-making, including in relation to biodiversity offsets
• remove damaging exemptions including forestry, cumulative land clearing and continuous use pathways to improve the strength and impact of the Bills, particularly placing conditions on ministerial discretionary powers.
• establish independent governance boards for the Environment Protection Agency and Environment Information Australia and legislate their expert advisory committees with clear functions under each
• legislate clear definitions of key terms and tests in the legislation with quantifiable criteria, supported by independent scientific assessment, to reduce interpretive discretion and improve clarity over required outcomes.

On 16 October 2025, the Academy made a submission on the Draft National Health and Medical Research Strategy.

The Academy recommends the strategy:

• clearly articulate the links between the National Health and Medical Research Strategy and Strategic Examination of R&D to deliver a coordinated, dynamic research system
• develop a set of actions to address funding challenges as a key part of the strategy, including lifting the cap on MRFF disbursements
• provide opportunities for large multidisciplinary research teams through networks and funding structures
• deliver a coordinated approach across infrastructure, data and emerging technologies for health and medical research
• prioritise development of sustainable careers for EMCRs and preparing for future demands on the workforce in the proposed workforce plan
• develop joint Indo-Pacific regional research programs and increase resources necessary to build multidisciplinary, multinational research teams.

On 26 July 2025, the Academy made a submission on the Australian Government’s economic reform roundtable.

The Australian Academy of Science is calling for an urgent national conversation on R&D investment in Australia.

The economic reform roundtable and strategic examination of R&D together provide a rare opportunity to create policy settings that enables R&D to thrive and in so doing improve economic complexity and growth and to enable Australia to participate and compete in a technologically advanced world.

The Academy proposes:

• Incentivising business R&D investment by applying a 0.25% or 0.5% R&D levy to businesses with annual revenue of $100 million or more, with offsets available to those businesses that invest in R&D. The levy revenue would be quarantined invested in research to contribute to discovery and breakthroughs that drive productivity and economic growth.
• Implementing a long-term national high-performance computing and data (HPCD) strategy and roadmap to build national capacity, with targeted investment in next-generation HPCD infrastructure, as the essential underpinning infrastructure required to support research and industry growth.

More information

Why investment in Australia’s supercomputing should matter to every Australian