Dr Tim Doherty from Deakin University and PhD student Ms Nicole Foster from the University of Adelaide are the 2019 recipients of the Australian Academy of Science Max Day Environmental Science Fellowship Award.

The award provides up to $20,000 for early-career researchers working on the conservation of Australia’s flora and fauna, the ecologically sustainable use of resources and the protection of the environment and ecosystem services.

It is named in honour of Academy Fellow, the late Dr Maxwell Frank Cooper Day AO FAA, who spent a lifetime championing entomology, conservation and forestry, as well as helping other scientists. He died in 2017 aged 101.

Dr Doherty will use the award to study the environmental consequences of removing the predators of the large native Australian monitor lizard, Varanus gouldii. Also known as the racehorse or sand goanna, it can cover up to 20 km/hour.

The research will be conducted at Wild Deserts - a fauna reconstruction project at Sturt National Park in north-west New South Wales. Two 20 km² fenced enclosures have been constructed from which introduced cats and foxes will be eradicated by early 2019.

“We will obtain baseline data on goannas inside the fenced predator-free ecosystem before ecosystem changes accumulate such as increased plant growth, the reintroduction of threatened mammals and changes in invertebrate communities,” Dr Tim Doherty said.

“The project will determine how sand goannas change their movement behaviour and habitat use in response to the removal of mammalian predators, and also produce new knowledge on the ecological outcomes of erecting predator-free enclosures in Australia.”

Dr Tim Doherty and Ms Nicole Foster are the 2019 recipients of the Max Day Environmental Science Fellowship Award.

Ms Foster will use the award to study innovative approaches to the management of coastal environments

Ms Foster will look at environmental DNA buried in sediment profiles of coastal environments to understand changes in coastal vegetation through time.

“Mangroves, salt marshes and sea grasses capture large amounts of carbon from the atmosphere and this actually helps to prevent global warming. They also provide a large amount of habitat for marine life and birds and stabilise the coastlines against erosion and storm events,” Ms Foster said.

“Through this environmental DNA analysis we will be able to see what the natural state of this system is and then tailor conservation goals towards the natural environment.”

Three researchers were also ‘highly commended’ for the Max Day Environmental Science Fellowship Award:

• Ms Anita Perkins from Southern Cross University for her project: Fungi as degraders of kelp detritus: unravelling the role of fungi in coastal carbon cycling and storage;
• Dr Jose Lahoz-Monfort from the University of Melbourne for his project: Acoustic monitoring: new technologies and analytical tools for large-scale monitoring of the threatened Sarus crane; and
• Dr Alexandra Carthey from Macquarie University for her project: - Microbially-mediated olfactory communication in the Anthropocene: a key to the lockbox of problematic captive breeding for conservation?

More information about the Max Day Environmental Science Fellowship Award

The Academy welcomes the appointment of six new board members to the National Science and Technology Council including four Academy Fellows: Professor Barbara Howlett, Professor Geordie Williamson, Professor Brian Schmidt and Professor Ian Frazer.

The other new board members are Professor Genevieve Bell and Professor Debra Henly.

The Council was announced recently by the Federal Government.

Announcing the appointments, the Minister for Industry, Science and Technology Karen Andrews said the members bring an impressive range of expertise to the council.

“The six new members have outstanding records in areas that show how much science and technology matters to our lives—from understanding our universe, to cutting-edge artificial intelligence and productive agriculture, as well as high quality education and healthcare,” Minister Andrews said.

Other members of the Council are Prime Minister Scott Morrison (Chair of the Council), Minister Andrews (Deputy Chair), Australia’s Chief Scientist Dr Alan Finkel (Executive Officer), and Dr Larry Marshall, the Chief Executive of the CSIRO.

The Academy looks forward to the first meeting of the new National Science and Technology Council in 2019.

Read the Minister’s media release

Bradley Moggridge, Tui Nolan, and Amy Searle are the inaugural recipients of the Australian Academy of Science Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Scientist Travelling Research Award.

The award recognises research primarily in the natural sciences by outstanding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander PhD students and early- and mid-career scientists. It also supports the expansion and growth of each scientist’s research networks and international knowledge exchange, through visits to relevant international centres of research.

The award is part of the Academy’s national effort to improve diversity and inclusion in the sciences.

The award will allow Mr Moggridge, a PhD candidate at the University of Canberra, to visit New Zealand to learn how Maori culture has incorporated Indigenous knowledge and values into their water management practices.

“I’ll be looking at what advantages they have from some of their Treaty settlements. But also, from a legal point of view, from a cultural point of view, what methodologies they've considered to actually make their management of water benefit their tribe,” said Mr Moggridge.

Mr Tui Nolan, a PhD student at University of Technology Sydney, will use his award to visit the Alan Turing Institute in London, one of the world-leading centres in data science. There he will study computational methods that have applications in public health and education.

Mr Tui said he has a passion to share what he learns with the next generation of Indigenous scientists.

“Even more than motivation and pride it's really about responsibility. Encouraging the next generation of Indigenous students to study at university,” Mr Nolan said.

Amy Searle, a PhD student at the Baker Heart & Diabetes Institute, is inspired by the impact her work will have for all Australians, especially Indigenous peoples.

“The new therapies that we're developing here might be able to be used in a more rural and remote setting as well. It's reaching Indigenous populations, which is a big driving force for my research,” Ms Searle said.

Amy Searle is unable to take up the research and travel component of her proposal but will be attending Science at the Shine Dome in 2019, the annual signature event of the Academy, where she will meet with internationally acclaimed scientists. All awardees are provided support to attend this event to network and attend the various workshops and activities.

This award recognises research primarily in the natural sciences, but also supports interdisciplinary and socio-cultural research that incorporates the social sciences and humanities. More information about the award.

Image of the Shine Dome in the above video by Stuart Lindenmayer, CC BY-SA 4.0

There’s nothing like fully immersing yourself in a good book—so what do Australia’s top scientific minds recommend you read this holiday season?

The Australian Academy of Science’s third Annual Christmas Reading List, released today, contains 55 favourite reads submitted by the Academy’s Fellows.

Academy Chief Executive, Ms Anna-Maria Arabia, said while some Fellows recommend good reads for exploring science, there are plenty of suggestions for escaping it altogether.

“From politics and history through to spy thrillers and murder mysteries, there’s something for everyone on this year’s list,” Ms Arabia said.

Here’s a selection of the recommended reads:

Lab Girl, Hope Jahren

Recommended by Professor Jenny Graves FAA
Brutally honest, passionate and wry account of the author’s rather eccentric life and career as a geobiologist. Her insider observations on the secret life of plants parallel her growth as a scientist, her struggles with officialdom, budgets, pregnancy and mental disease. I really empathised, groaned, laughed and cried with her.

The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion, Jonathan Haidt

Recommended by Professor Karl Glazebrook FAA
An extremely interesting take (from 2013) on the ‘moral divide’ between right and left in politics—and why good people on both sides seem to simply talk past each other. Includes an interesting, controversial claim that people on the left have a more limited moral palette. Not sure I am persuaded by that, but it is thoughtfully argued.

The Cellist of Sarajevo, Steven Galloway

Recommended by Emeritus Professor Cheryl Praeger FAA
The book is a profoundly moving account of life in Sarajevo while under siege in the 1990s, from the viewpoint of several residents of the ruined city. The cellist, whom we meet in the first chapter, symbolises the soul of the city as he plays to commemorate those killed.

Scrublands, Chris Hammer

Recommended by Professor Ian Frazer FAA
A murder mystery set in an Australian town, and with more twists than the average murder story. Difficult to put down once you get started. It will keep you guessing right to the end pages.

Old School, Tobias Wolff

Recommended by Professor Wendy Hoy FAA
I need to read this book yet another time to further grasp its subtleties. These are the reflections of a young man on his journey as an aspiring writer competing for acknowledgement in an elite educational environment. The smooth low-key narrative belies the profundity and complexity of content: deliberations on personal morality, class issues at several levels, great human empathy. It is, to quote the review of Entertainment Weekly, ‘emotionally devastating’.

Dark Emu, Bruce Pascoe

Recommended by: Professor Jennie Brand-Miller FAA
This book will change forever how you think about Australia and its traditional owners. Pascoe argues forcefully that Indigenous Australians were thriving in an environment that was semi-settled in many parts of the country, with villages of thousands of people and huts up to 15 meters in diameter. The description of a ‘fairy-like’ burying-ground by the explorer Thomas Mitchell brought me to tears (see page 100).

Other recommendations include:

The Book of Why: The New Science of Cause and Effect, Judea Pearl and Dana Mackenzie

Recommended by Professor Dacheng Tao FAA

How Does Government Listen to Scientists? Dr Claire Craig

Recommended by Anna-Maria Arabia, Chief Executive, Australian Academy of Science

Who We Were, Lucy Neave

Recommended by Professor Peter Doherty FAA

Read the complete Annual Christmas Reading List.

Fifteen Australian institutions have been recognised for their efforts to improve gender equity and diversity, receiving the inaugural Athena SWAN Bronze Awards from Science in Australia Gender Equity (SAGE).

The awardees are:

• Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO)
• Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute
• Charles Sturt University
• CSIRO
• Curtin University
• Edith Cowan University
• Griffith University
• Monash University
• Swinburne University of Technology
• Queensland University of Technology
• University of New South Wales
• University of Newcastle
• University of Technology Sydney
• University of Wollongong
• Walter and Eliza Hall Institute

Members of the first SAGE cohort to achieve accreditation were presented with their award at a gala dinner at Parliament House in Canberra.

The South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute, Southern Cross University, University of Canberra, University of Melbourne and University of Western Australia were also recognised for their progress to date towards Bronze Award accreditation and their continued commitment to SAGE.

Cohort One members are the first group of the 45 institutions from the higher education and research (HER) sector to complete the Athena SWAN Bronze process. The remaining institutions are due to complete their accreditation in 2019.

SAGE—a partnership between the Australian Academy of Science and the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering—was set up to pilot the UK’s Athena SWAN Charter and accreditation framework in Australia.

Australia is the third jurisdiction after the United Kingdom and Ireland to implement the Athena SWAN Charter program. Australia has taken a leadership role by piloting the Athena SWAN Charter program, with countries such as Canada and the United States now following Australia’s example.

More about SAGE

The Australian Academy of Science has welcomed the Federal Opposition Leader’s commitment to science and his plan for working with Australia’s science and research sector if elected in 2019.

Bill Shorten outlined his vision for science in a speech at the Shine Dome in Canberra this evening.

Academy President Professor John Shine said he was pleased to see Bill Shorten commit to a number of the Academy’s recommendations put forward in its science priorities for the federal election.

The Academy welcomes Labor’s commitment to establish a Charter that recognises the mutual obligations of scientists and government and to establish meaningful national priorities.

The Academy welcomes the restoration of the Prime Minister’s Science and Innovation Council (PMSIC) and is honoured by the proposal that Labor, if elected, would partner with the Australian Academy of Science to establish a National Scientific Expert Panel to work directly with the PMSIC.

“In our election statement we called for a review to look at how effectively research is being supported because only then can we know that maximum benefits are being returned. So we are pleased Labor has committed to holding an inquiry to build a long term framework for the research sector,” Professor Shine said.

“We note and applaud that Academy Fellow Professor Ian Chubb AC FAA will Chair the review and other members will include former Academy President, Professor Andrew Holmes AC FAA as well as other leading scientists, such as Professor Emma Johnston AO and Professor Karen Hussey.

 The Academy also welcomes the announcement by Labor to:

• lead a national effort to encourage more women and girls to study and work in STEM;
• recognise the important contribution and role of early and mid-career researchers;
• lift Australian spending on R&D to three per cent by 2030;
• legislate that ministerial changes to Australian Research Council funding recommendations be tabled in Australian Parliament; and
• increase collaboration between public and private industry R&D.

The Academy looks forward to further policies from Labor as well as the Government on how they will deliver a coherent and visionary plan for science to drive the nation’s future.

The Australian Academy of Science today outlined science priorities for the 2019 federal election so Australia can earn its future.

To thrive in an increasingly uncertain world, the future economy and workforce will be underpinned by science of the highest quality and intensity.

Earning Our Future: the platform of the Australian Academy of Science:

• recommends that the mutual obligations of scientists and government be made clear
• provides measures to build national capacity
• keeps community benefit at the heart of all we do.

Academy President Professor John Shine said as the countdown begins to the federal election, Australians deserve a coherent and visionary plan for science.

“Australia has a choice: determine our future and develop the science plan to drive it or be swept along trailing the decisions of other nations,” Professor Shine said.   

The Academy’s election statement includes 10 recommendations that provide a clear vision for science in Australia.

1. A charter between scientists and government—to establish a relationship built on trust, respect, and mutual obligation.
2. A formal structure for science advice—to provide independent science information to politicians, government and the Commonwealth Science Council. Australia would benefit from formal structures that produce independent, timely and relevant science advice to government and to the parliament.
3. Boosted commitment to STEM education—all Australian schools, teachers and students should have access to the Academy’s proven science and maths education programs.
4. Increase gross national R&D spending to three per cent of GDP over a decade—with longer and more ambitious research grants and greater security for early- and mid-career researchers. Australia cannot afford to let careers for researchers drift.
5. State-of-the-art science infrastructure—acknowledging the government's existing research infrastructure commitments, a further investment of $1.85 billion is required through a long-term mechanism such as an Australian National Research Infrastructure Investment Fund.
6. A new international engagement strategy—that allows Australia to meet its agreed Sustainable Development Goal obligations, and that strategically positions Australia and its STEM capabilities.
7. A stronger commitment to equity in science—Australia needs access to all its available talent regardless of who or where they are, and we must ensure everyone takes action through the Women in STEM Decadal Plan.
8. Pursue national research priorities—with a focus on Australia’s strategic advantages and where no other country could or would address our nation’s research challenges.  
9. Develop a best practice framework for responsible research and innovation—to ensure research is in step with community expectations.
10. Review how effectively research is being supported—only then can we know that maximum benefits are being returned.

Australia should enhance and capitalise on its existing skills and expertise in geographic information systems (GIS) and big data to address thesocial, economic and environmental challenges of our region and the emergence of the ‘China Century’.

The recommendation is one of several in a strategic plan for Australian Geography launched today by the Australian Academy of Science’s National Committee for Geographical Sciences.

Chair of the Committee, Adjunct Professor Stephen Turton from CQ University, said Australian geography focuses on solving issues and threats affecting the wellbeing of people and places in Australia and our Asia–Pacific neighbours.

“The plan explains the contribution that geography makes to the social, economic and environmental wellbeing of Australia through research, education, training, skills, expertise and engagement with industry and the community,” Adjunct Professor Turton said.

“It also offers a research, teaching and industry engagement framework strategically aligned with contemporary challenges of our region. Indeed, addressing sustainable development, climate change, regional development, environmental degradation and biodiversity loss, requires an increasingly whole of government, industry and academia approach.

“The breadth and depth afforded by geographical understandings to such problems places Australian geographers in a strong position to provide evidence‑based research informing and advancing innovative policy and practice.

“We invite policy‑makers, senior managers in universities and research organisations, fellow academic and practicing geographers and interested members of the public to review the rich material covered in this strategic plan.

Read the plan

The National Committee for Geographical Sciences acknowledges the support of the following organisations in the development of this plan: The Institute of Australian Geographers, Australian Geography Teachers Association, Royal Geographical Society of South Australia, Royal Geographical Society of Queensland and the New South Wales Geographical Society.

The Australian Academy of Science is urging parents to vaccinate their children against all strains of meningococcal disease, after a recent spike in cases in Adelaide and the death of a seven-year-old boy in south-west Sydney.

The call by the Academy comes as it releases a new video campaign, developed in partnership with the Australian Department of Health, to educate consumers and medical professionals about the disease.

Spring is a peak time for the disease with babies and children up to the age of five years and teenagers and young adults aged from 15 to 24 years among those at most risk of contracting the disease. People with suppressed immune systems, smokers and those living in crowded accommodation are also at greater risk.

Professor Robert Booy, from the National Centre for Immunisation Research, University of Sydney, who features in the campaign, said there are five common strains of meningococcal disease in Australia—A, B, C, W and Y—with an increase in cases over the last few years.

“We had a surge in W (strain) leading to nearly 150 cases last year and a surge in Y (strain) leading to 75 cases last year,” Professor Booy said.

Professor Allen Cheng from Melbourne’s Alfred Hospital, who also features in the campaign, said there are very few bacteria that can kill someone in hours, but this is one of them.

The videos also feature the stories of meningococcal disease survivors including Ms Eliza Ault-Connell, who became an amputee after contracting meningococcal disease when she was 16.

“When you consider my case—I was in an intensive care unit for 110 days and had over 60 operations—the financial burden of the diseases is so great. When we look at the cost of a vaccination, it’s safe and effective; I can only see prevention as being better than cure,” said Ms Ault-Connell, who is also the Director of Meningococcal Australia.

The videos have been rigorously fact-checked by Academy Fellows and feature some of Australia’s leading experts in the field, including Professor Jodie McVernon from the Doherty Institute. 

Watch the video for consumers (also below)

Watch the video for health professionals

Find out more via the Department of Health.

Watch the six-part video series of the Science of Immunisation.

Regional and remote students are underrepresented in higher education—particularly Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. The Academy welcomes the Australian Government acting to improve access and equity through new scholarships and support for regional universities.

However, the Academy is very concerned at the Minister’s comments on radio this morning that he intends to fund these new measures by reallocating research support funding for universities.

University research plays a critical role in developing the knowledge and skills that benefit all Australians. Australia cannot afford to let our intellectual edge slip as we prepare for the challenges and opportunities of the coming decade.