Newsletter #8. AUSTRALIAN SOCIETY FOR BIOPHYSICS
WELCOME to the eighth ASB electronic newsletter.
Please visit our WWW site and send me your comments. The address is:
http://www.anatomy.su.oz.au/ASB/
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NEWS ITEMS
(1) The 1997 ABS Annual Meeting.
Ray Norton and his colleagues in Melbourne are in the process of planning
the 1997 meeting of the ASB and he would like to hear from you if you
are
interested in assisting. Contact Ray on: ray@mel.dbe.csiro.au. His
phone
number in Melbourne is: 03 9903 9650, his fax is: 03 9903 9655.
(2) FASTS Council Meeting in november. Please read this and respond
to me
directly.
FASTS COUNCIL MEETING:
On Thursday November 21, Academy of Science, Canberra, 9 am to 5.15
pm will
be attended by both the Minister for Science and Technology (the Hon
Peter
McGauran, MP) and the Shadow Minister for Science and Information
Technology (Martyn Evans, MP).The meeting will allow Member Societies
to
discuss the FASTS policy document, and to nominate a "Ten Top Policies"
as
priority matters for FASTS to pursue over the next twelve months.
Amendments to the FASTS' Constitution is another matter listed for
discussion (Attachment E).
To prepare for discussion on "Ten Top Policies", we have been asked
by
FASTS to nominate about 4 policies which we consider the most important.
Here are some of my concerns but I would like to hear from you and then
transmit those to FASTS at its Council meeting in November.
1. The next generation of scientists.
I am concerned that we will fail to renew our ranks with the best young
scientists. Young scientists are being sent the wrong signals about
science. I am worried that young scientists see Australian science
as being
under-funded and the scientists themselves unde-rpaid and under-valued.
They hear and read about the successes of Australian Scientists but
they
are not tempted to join our ranks because of limited opportunities
at the
academic and other levels and increasing levels of competition for
a
restricted pool of research funds.
2. Science and the media.
The Federal funding restrictions have adversely affected the ABC and
it, in
turn, has cut science programs (eg Quantum). Presumably, this cut was
made
in the face of decreasing ratings for science on TV. If this is so,
are we,
as scientists failing failing to communicate? Is the public becoming
jaded
with science? If we can recognize the problem perhaps we can find a
solution.
3. Science funding.
How do young scientists fare in the competition for federal funding?
There
was marginally more funding for research (ARC and NH&MRC) in the
last
budget but probably there was also an increase in the number of
applications. Is there a trend in science funding towards or away from
the
new generation of scientists? Does the government simply see us as
a group
trying to protect its own financial interests?
4. International competitiveness.
How does Australian biophysics compare with other countries? Are we
internationally competitive? We have to lift our game to compete for
Australian funds but is it enough?
Please send me your concerns for Australian science and I will see that
they get through to the FASTS Council and thence to the government.
There
are many more issues for concern that the ones I have listed.
Joe Baker, President of FASTS, writes about how he can put into effect
the
concerns of the members of Australian scientific societies: He says
this:
On Friday September 13 1996, I participated
in the first meeting of
PMSEC under the Howard Government. (The agenda
for the meeting is
attached)
Prime Minister, John Howard chaired the entire
meeting (except for one
10 minute period when he was called away).
He showed interest
throughout and was enthusiastic about what
he had learned.
Our FASTS weekly report of 13 September, from
Toss Gascoigne,
illustrated the significant attendance of
Ministers and members of
Parliament.
I do believe there is a distinctive role for
FASTS to play in
PMSEC. We bring an Australia-wide geographic
perspective and our
member Societies cover a wide range of disciplines.
The members of
the Societies cover an even wider range of
types of professional
employment. We have the potential to
continue to illustrate the
significance of Science and Technology to
the sustainable well-being
of Australia and of its people.
Many politicians do not consciously appreciate
the good things from
science and technology even though they use
and benefit from them in
their everyday activities. Rather they
see us as communicators of
problems, of costly needs (education, training,
job creation etc.) and
as generators of problems - CFEs, chlorinated
hydrocarbons,
radioactive substances etc.
We have to regularly publicize the good things
coming from Science and
Technology throughout Australia, especially
from Australian
scientists and technologists, as distinct
from overseas workers.
Some people may believe that I put too much
emphasis on the value of
FASTS being on PMSEC. In last week's
meeting there were, in the
morning session, the Prime Minister, 6 Ministers
and "Member" 15
Parliamentarians. In the afternoon there
was one additional Minister.
They hear the debate; they become directly
aware of FASTS. Since
last Friday I have had two requests for meetings
with Members and they
would not have arisen except for the awareness
raised on Friday 13th
September.
The next PMSEC meeting will be in March 1997
and then the next in
September that year. We have the opportunity
to suggest items for
each of these meetings - and work has already
commenced to plan the
March meeting: What do you consider should
be the key issues to raise?
They should be of national relevance.(We
will discuss priority items
at the November Council meeting.)
Let me return to the need for good news stories
from Australian
scientists and technologists.
I believe that such stories should be a regular
feature of your
individual newsletters, and I would really
love to see a regular
column in every Australian Newspaper on such
topics. Could you
identify at least one - but preferably several,
member(s) of your
Society, who would act to gather such information
and develop the
communication links with the public and the
media?
It is clear that one of the greatest challenges
in this age of
sophisticated technology is to communicate
effectively and
efficiently. I believe we can achieve
it best by "starting local",
starting within individual scientific Society
groupings, and building
to regional, State, Territory, and National
levels.
I am confident that FASTS could compile an
accessible central
reference data-base of all such items.
Best wishes for ongoing success in your scientific
and technological
endeavours.
Yours sincerely
Joe Baker
President
23.09.96
You can visit the FASTS web site using: Web address:
http://bimbo.pharmacol.su.oz.au/fasts/fastshome.html
LET ME HEAR FROM YOU
Cris dos Remedios
Institute for Biomedical Research
Ph: (61-2) 9351 3209
Muscle Research Unit
Fax: (61-2) 9351 2813
Dept of Anatomy & Histology, F13
email: crisdos@anatomy.su.oz.au
The University of Sydney, 2006 AUSTRALIA
website: http://www.anatomy.su.oz.au/~mru/