News & Views item - February 2011

 

 

Chief Scientist Lists Her Milestone Achievements for 2010. (February 5, 2011)

At the end of last month Australia's Chief Scientist, Professor Penny Sackett,  looked back at the milestones reached in 2010 and the 2011 goals set for the Office of the Chief Scientist. Below is her listing in full.

 

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Each New Year is a time to reflect on the year past and plan for the future with resolutions for the year to come.

In the Office of the Chief Scientist, we have recently reviewed outcomes and compared them against our 2010 workplan in order to celebrate achievements past and help us plan for new goals even more strategically.

I’m pleased to say that although not everything we originally planned in January 2010 eventuated, most of what we wished to accomplish, we did.  And that over the course of the year, an even wider variety of new opportunities presented themselves that we were able to grasp.

I’d like to share with you a few highlights:

Transforming Learning and the Transmission of Knowledge: Preparing a learning society for the future

The “TLTK report” was released in March 2010, following contributions from experts in neuroscience, biology, psychology and education.  The report focuses on the fundamental questions that influence our ability to learn, including whether humans can learn in our sleep, how our brains age, whether men and women learn differently and how new nerve cells develop.  We expect a response from Government on this report when PMSEIC meets on 4 February 2011.

Challenges at Energy-Water-Carbon Intersections

Only recently released near the end of 2010, this report investigates the inextricable links between energy, water and carbon use and the need to develop solutions for a sustainable future that takes all three into account simultaneously.  This report will be discussed at the 4 February PMSEIC meeting.

Australia and Food Security in a Changing World

Also recently released, the report discusses future challenges for Australia and considers possible ways to meet them, to ensure the sustainability of Australia’s food industry, on which our nation and 40 million others worldwide, rely upon.  The Food Security report also forms part of the 4 February agenda.

The science-based, user-friendly online tool, developed in partnership with the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany, will enable citizens around the world to ask their own questions about the impact of global human activity on their own region and others around the world.  The tool was officially launched at the Governors’ Global Climate Summit 3 in California last November.  The first stage of delivery is expected in the latter half of 2011.

The YAS program links top high school science students from the National Youth Science Forum with their communities, each other and the YAS alumni, and the Chief Scientist.  The program encourages students to be involved in science through a variety of community events, contributions to key debates in the scientific arena and fosters a life-long appreciation for science.

Following the announcement of the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in October 2009, laureate Professor Elizabeth Blackburn visited Australia in February 2010.  My office organised a full day of events to allow Australians to meet her and share in the excitement of her inspiring success.

This year, two meetings were held bringing together the Chief Scientists from each State and Territory to discuss common issues and develop nationwide solutions. The group is developing its workplan for 2011 on issues that cross jurisdictions and disciplines.

The Office of the Chief Scientist published its first ever Annual Review, covering many of these highlights in depth and outlining the development of our most important stakeholder relationships.


The Office of the Chief Scientist will now begin the task of prioritising its goals over the course of the coming year, capitalising on our momentum and continuing to build strong relationships with the international science community, government, industry, local communities, and students, and through these efforts serve the Australian people.

Best wishes in this New Year.

-Penny