Australian Synchrotron Gets High Marks from Victoria's Auditor-General but... (August 24, 2011)

Previously TFW reported that On October 30, 2009 the Board of the Australian Synchrotron, under the chairwomanship of Catherine Walter, removed Melbourne University chemist Rob Lamb as director of the facility, and as a result the facility's staff began an extensive work to rules protest while a number of the members of its Science Advisory Committee resigned.

Although the facility returned to full operation in April 2010 it was not until February 28, 2011, that the managing board appointed crystallographer Keith Nugent as part-time director and physicist Andrew Peele as science chief.

Nevertheless, back on March 8, 2010 a revamped international scientific advisory committee (SAC), concluded its meeting in Melbourne and according to ScienceInsider's Elizabeth Finkel found that the "Australian synchrotron is pulling together under new leadership and churning out good science".

According to Dr Finkel:

The popular [new] appointments have boosted morale. "It's very clear the synchrotron is now science led," says SAC chair Ted Baker, an x-ray crystallographer at the University of Auckland. The synchrotron, he says, is "doing brilliantly" in terms of generating scientific publications and maintaining high-quality beamlines.


The challenge now, Baker says, is to convince officials in the State of Victoria and the federal government that things are back on track. The synchrotron has no guaranteed funding beyond June 2012, putting plans for more beamlines on hold. "It's critical that the Victorian and Federal governments understand what a jewel they've got," says Baker.

Now The Australian's Bernard Lane writes: "Reviewing public sector investment in biotechnology, [the Victorian auditor-general Des Pearson's] report says the synchrotron has 'achieved benefits in line with the original expectations of the government'.

Synchrotron director Keith Nugent considers the auditor-general's "reasonably positive"  and told Mr Lane: "We have delivered on the expectations for us; that is important for ongoing funding,"

While the auditor general states the synchrotron is a world-class facility and represents good value for money, it needs to better articulate and measure the benefits it delivers. Which sounds rather like the advice a member of the recruiting committee gave to an applicant for a faculty position who while praising him concluded: "Great job, but you should sell yourself better."