University of Newcastle's Science Challenge Scores $680,000 to Spread its Wings.    (30/06/04)

   Newcastle University's  Faculties of Engineering and Science developed the outstandingly successful Science and Engineering Challenge to increase secondary school students' participation in the enabling sciences and have now obtained significant government funding move ahead. [More]

Did CSIRO Executives Mislead Senate Committee?    (30/06/04)

    In its forthcoming July issue Australasian Science reports that CSIRO Chief Executive Dr Geoff Garrett and his Deputy, Dr Ron Sandland, gave incorrect or incomplete answers to the Senate in an Estimates hearing on 2 June. [More]

Melbourne Vice-Chancellor Kwong Lee Dow and Labor's Deputy Leader Face Off over $108 Million.    (30/06/04)

    The Australian reports in today's Higher Education Supplement that Melbourne University estimates were Labor to assume government following the coming federal election the university will be $108 million worse off. [More]

When a Canberra Political Columnist Mentions Education Its News.    (26/06/04)

    The Sydney Morning Herald's chief political writer, Alan Ramsey has been occupying the Canberra parliamentary press gallery for more years than most mammals have teeth, and it's a rare event when the topic of education, no matter how obliquely, crosses one of his columns so a paragraph in today's example is newsworthy. [More]

Scottish Universities Physics Alliance Planned to Allow Scotland to Mix it with the Big Guys.    (24/06/04)

    This past January a group of six Scottish universities determined to set up an alliance of their physics departments. [More]

Twenty US Science and Engineering Graduates Take Their Summer Break in Australia Through AAS / NSF  Summer Graduate Program.    (24/06/04) [More]

Queensland's Benitec Heads Toward Its First RNAi  Clinical Trial.    (24/06/04)

    RNA interference (RNAi) therapy is moving toward clinical trials. While its efficacy has been demonstrated to a limited extent in animals it has not yet been tested in humans. [More]

Professor Peter Høj Named as Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Research Council    (23/06/04)

    The Minister for Education Science and Training, Brendan Nelson, yesterday announced that Peter Høj, Director of the Australian Wine Research Institute at the University of Adelaide, would take up a five year appointment as Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Research Council on October 1. [More]

Some Petunia, Some Onion Patch.    (23/06/04)

     The Australian National University vice-chancellor and Go8 president Ian Chubb told The Australian's Brendan O'Keefe that he is the "lonely little petunia in the onion patch" when it comes to HECS fees. [More]

Iraqi Universities Low Priority for Nation's Resurrection.    (22/06/04)

    The Washington Post has run an extensive article by Rajiv Chandrasekaran, "An Educator Learns the Hard Way", in which he describes the fate of Iraq's universities. [More]

48 US Nobel Laureates Become Politically Active, Back John Kerry.    (22/06/04)

    The New York Times reports, "Backed by the unusual endorsement of 48 Nobel laureates, Senator John Kerry on Monday accused the Bush administration of letting ideology trump science." [More]

ANU's Vice-Chancellor's Contract Extended to 2009.    (19/06/04)

    The Chancellor of the Australian National University, Professor Peter Baume has made public the decision made by the University Council. [More]

Submissions Regarding the Office and Role of the Chief Scientist.    (18/06/04)

    The Senate Employment, Workplace Relations and Education References Committee  was directed on May 7 to examine the functioning of the Office of the Chief Scientist and, in particular, potential conflicts of interest which may arise when appointees to the position of Chief Scientist act in a part-time capacity. [More]

Australian National University Quality Review Update.    (17/06/04)

    TFW asked Ian Chubb, Vice-Chancellor, ANU how the review he had announced at the beginning of this year was progressing. [More]

2004 Federation Fellows Announced.    (16/06/04)

    The recipients of the third round of Federation Fellowships were announced today by the Minister for Education, Science and Training, Brendan Nelson. [More]

Two Sandstone Universities put Labor on Notice to Get Their Act Together.    (16/06/04)

    The Vice-Chancellors of the Universities of Sydney and Melbourne are reported to  believe that their universities would be worse off as they understand Labor's proposals of rejigging the Coalition's higher education package. [More]

FASTS: Beware Australia's Free Trade Agreement with the US; the Path May Contain Hidden Crevasses .    (15/06/04)

     The President of Federation of Australian Scientific and Technological Societies (FASTS), Snow Barlow, warned of potential pitfalls for Australia in the FTA with the US. [More]

Howard Government Publishes Its White Paper Securing Australia's Energy Future.     (15/06/04)

    At Today's National Press Club luncheon the Prime Minister, John Howard, Announced the Coalition Governments forthcoming energy policy. [More]

Is Research an Election Issue? Group of Eight Begins Pre-Election Lobbying in Hope.     (11/06/04)

     Last week saw Brendan Nelson, Peter McGauran, Ian Macfarlane, Jenny Macklin and Andrew Bartlett buttonholed by Vice-Chancellors of the Group of Eight. [More]

International Review Gives Qualified Thumbs Up to U.K. Maths Research.     (11/06/04)

    Britain's three mathematical societies and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, U.K. mathematics' principal source of funding, wanted to know how good is the nation's maths research. [More]

Update on Germany's Upgrading of its Research Universities.     (11/06/04)

    Last February TFW reported that Germany was set to allocate A$2 billion to upgrade five of its research universities. [More]

Bonn's Center of Advanced European Studies and Research Receives a Severe Caution from the Wissenschaftsrat, the German Science Council.     (10/06/04)

    It ought to be a cautionary example for Australian policy makers who are forcing with increasing pressure top down scientific research prioritisation. [More]

The Soothing Light of "Primitive" Life.     (10/06/04)

    Will it be the ground-breaking innovation for stress and tension relief - the human kind not those encountered in material science and civil engineering? [More]

Critical Comment of CSIRO by Australasian Science Evokes Executive Outrage and a Threatened Boycott.     (02/06/04)

    Australasian Science has featured frequent critical assessments of CSIRO but as far as we are aware no member of CSIRO's executive has requested a right of reply in the magazine's pages. However, it has now informed the magazine that it is "no longer willing to respond to requests for information". [More]