january–march 1998 number 39 innovation a key to prosperity · professor guy ourisson, second...

January–March 1998 Number 39http://www.science.org.au

NEWSLETTERAUSTRALIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCE

The Academy of Science has welcomedthe overall strategy of the FederalGovernment’s $1.26 billion Investing forGrowth industry statement, which waslaunched in December. The statementincludes a $1 billion commitment toincrease targeted support for innovationand provision for specific incentives toattract strategic investment projects toAustralia.

The President of the Academy, SirGustav Nossal, said, ‘In a harshcompetitive world, schemes to supportindustry R&D are one of the few WorldTrade Organisation-approved tools left toimprove economic performance. Wewelcome the overall strategy. Governmentshould have longer-term plans fordeveloping the industries that willprovide wealth and jobs for our future.’

Sir Gustav also welcomed theimportance placed on internationalactivities, saying, ‘There are powerfulbenefits to Australia from internationalcollaboration in science and technologydue to the international nature ofscientific discovery. Informal networksmake a strong contribution to this andindividuals are the key resource.’

He was also pleased at theintroduction of 50 new AustralianPostgraduate Awards (Industry) tofurther build industry–university links.

But it was not all good news.The Academy is concerned that basic

research could lose funding as researchgoals become focused on meetingindustry needs. ‘We are concerned thatthe proposed refocusing to immediateindustry needs may exclude Australian

Innovation a key to prosperityresearchers from a seat at the table inmany small to medium-scale scienceand technology initiatives. There is adanger in failing to distinguish basicand strategic research from application.’

The Academy was cautious about themaintenance of the 125 per cent R&Dtax concession, preferring a return to the150 per cent concession, which ‘had thebenefit of simplicity and avoided thehigher costs associated withdiscretionary grants schemes.’

Sir Gustav urged the government tomaintain a commitment to thecontinuation of the CooperativeResearch Centre program, a successfulmeans of building the international linksthat help Australian companies validatetheir high-tech products in overseasmarkets.

The Academy’s President, Sir Gustav Nossal, right, and Foreign Secretary, ProfessorMichael Pitman, left, met the Vice-President of the French Academy of Sciences,Professor Guy Ourisson, second from right, and Professor Jacques Reisse of theBelgian Academy of Science, third from left, in January. Joining the discussionswere the French Ambassador, His Excellency Mr␣ Dominique Girard, middle, theEmbassy’s Scientific Counsellor, Professor Gerard Siclet, second from left, theAcademy’s Secretary for Science Policy, Professor John White, third from right, andProfessor Ron Johnstone of the Academy of Technological Sciences andEngineering.

French and Belgian visitors

Science Now!a new forumScience Now!, a new national scienceforum, will be held at the MelbourneExhibition Centre, from 7 to 10 May 1998,collocated with the Great AustralianScience Show.

The most important element of ScienceNow! will be fresh science: scientistsstarting to make their mark in the worldof science will be encouraged to presenttheir work to the media and the public. Ascientific committee will select the topics.Key criteria include that the work has notreceived significant media attention andthat the scientist can present the work ina way that makes it interesting andrelevant to the media. Nominationcriteria will be circulated in mid-February.

Other streams will include publicdebates and forums on cloning and othertopical issues, professional developmentworkshops and a youth program.

For more information, contact NiallByrne by phone on (03) 5253 1391,mobile 0417 131 977 or by email [email protected].

Australian Academy of Science Newsletter

2

Office-bearers ofthe AcademyPresident

Professor Sir Gustav Nossal

Secretary (Physical Sciences)Professor Kurt Lambeck

Secretary (Biological Sciences)Professor James Pittard

Secretary (Science Policy)Professor John White

Foreign SecretaryProfessor Michael Pitman

TreasurerProfessor Athel Beckwith

Telephone numbersExecutive Secretary (02) 6247 5777Publications (02) 6247 5385Awards (02) 6247 5777Finance (02) 6249 1362Fellowshipadministration (02) 6247 3966NationalCommittees (02) 6247 3966Internationalprograms (02) 6247 3966Library (02) 6247 3966Australian Foundationfor Science (02) 6247 5777Facsimile (02) 6257 4620

[email protected]

World Wide Webhttp://www.science.org.au

Published by the AustralianAcademy of Science, GPO Box783, Canberra ACT 2601.

Honorary editor: Professor NevilleFletcher FAA; production byGreen Words, Canberra. Otherassistance: members of Academycommittees and Academy staff.

Printed by Inprint, Brisbane.

The material in this newsletter iscopyright but may be reproducedwith acknowledgment. To receivea regular copy of the newsletter, tocontribute an item of interest, or torespond to material in thenewsletter, write to the ExecutiveSecretary at the Academy.

ISSN 1031-9204

Print Post Approved PP 255003/00025

Forthcoming eventsThe next National Science andIndustry Forum will be held onTuesday 7 April 1998 at theAustralian Academy of Science (theDome). The topic is Endocrinedisruption: Australia’s role in aninternational issue. For information,contact Faye Nicholas, phone(02)␣ 6247 5777, fax (02) 6257 4620, oremail [email protected]

A new national science forum, ScienceNow!, will be held in Melbourne from7 to 10 May 1998. See page 1.

Publications available

Historical records of Australian science,volume 11, number 4.

For more information on publicationsemail [email protected]

The Basser LibraryAnyone wishing to use the BasserLibrary should contact the librarian,Rosanne Walker, telephone(02)␣ 6247␣ 3966 or [email protected]

New topic on Nova• El Niño – riding the climate roller-

coaster

The address of the Nova science website is http://www.science.org.au/nova/

Scientists reflect: newtelevision seriesFour interviews from the VideoHistories of Australian Scientists projectwill be shown on Optus Vision cabletelevision channel 55 in Melbourneand Sydney. The series will featureProfessor Frank Fenner, SirRutherford Robertson, Dr DouglasWaterhouse and Professor ChrisChristiansen. Screening times areFridays at 7.30pm, starting 20February and continuing fortnightly,with repeats on Sundays at 5.00pm,starting 22 February.

ConferencesThe Academy’s web site has a list offorthcoming conferences in Australiaand New Zealand. Press the buttonon the Academy’s home page.

Gifts to the AcademyIf you would like to make a gift or abequest to the Academy of Science orthe Australian Foundation forScience, please contact the ExecutiveSecretary or the Development Officer,telephone (02)␣ 6247␣ 5777.

The President of the Academy ofScience, Sir Gustav Nossal, arguedstrongly in a submission to theprogram evaluation of the AustralianBiological Resources Study (ABRS) thatfunding for the study be increased. (SeeAAS Newsletter number 38 for anearlier report on the Academy’ssupport for the ABRS.)

Sir Gustav argued that the ABRSmakes an invaluable contribution tothe general scientific communitythrough its three major subprograms ofresearch, training and provision ofbiodiversity data. ‘The roles of themodern taxonomist are not only toidentify museum specimens, aseemingly simple task which belies theyears of experience needed to provideaccurate identifications. They alsoencompass accurate and reliablespecies identifications for a variety ofpurposes including screening ofquarantine pests, ecological indicators,

pathogens, vectors of diseases andparasites, and identifications used indetailed biogeographical studies.Without such accurate identificationsprovided by taxonomists, the validityand usefulness of the subsequentanalyses are rendered virtuallymeaningless.’

The submission pointed out thatsome estimates suggest that Australiais home to more than 600␣ 000 speciesbut during the past decade theworkforce required to describe andclassify this biota has been seriouslyeroded through funding cuts. TheAcademy estimates that the annualfunding level required to supportABRS research and publishing is about$5 million.

The Minister for the Environment,Senator Robert Hill, indicated inDecember that funding for the ABRSwould be increased in 1997–98 to$1.2␣ million.

Environmental protectionthrough taxonomy – the casefor ABRS

Number 39, January–March 1998

3

Managing diversity in higher educationBoth the Council of the Academy ofScience and the Academy’s NationalCommittee for Chemistry have madefurther submissions to the Review ofHigher Education Financing andPolicy, chaired by Mr Roderick West.The Academy made a submission inApril last year (see AAS Newsletternumber 36) and the President of theAcademy, Sir Gustav Nossal, and theSecretary for Science Policy, ProfessorJohn White, made oral submissions inSeptember.

The review was set up early lastyear by the then Minister forEmployment, Education, Training andYouth Affairs, Senator AmandaVanstone, and has released a policydiscussion paper entitled Learning forLife.

The Council’s submission welcomesthe West Committee’s vision of wideaccess to post-secondary education.However, the discussion paper fails topoint out the current high quality ofthe Australian higher education systemand to link this with the need for agreater variety of offerings toundergraduate and graduate students.The submission states, ‘The majorchallenge is to produce diversity,maintaining equity, opportunity andexcellence at all levels and from ageographical point of view.’ In recenttimes, diversity has suffered as thenational higher education system hasunified and new universities have setthemselves up according to traditionalmodels. This has led to a proliferationof academically oriented teaching andstructures.

The submission also welcomes theCommittee’s emphasis on teachingquality but criticises the ‘efficiencygains’ of recent years that havejeopardised the social dimension ofeducation, ‘a costly but irreplaceableaspect of the highest quality educationat all levels’. Students with the talentand ability should be able to move intoscholarship and research. The high costof their postgraduate courses should bemet, at least partially, by redistributionof the current higher education budgetto meet the equity criterion. This couldbe partially offset by fuller use ofconcentrated infrastructure such aslibraries and costly equipment.

Smaller tertiary institutions need tohave the resources to encourageresearch for academic staff. This couldbe achieved through internal

competition for the home institution’sfunds and through access to uniquefacilities at bigger universities and atmajor national and internationalfacilities, as occurs with many smallercolleges in the United States.

The Academy is concerned aboutthe training of science teachers. ‘Inscience, some 70 per cent of teachershave not been trained in subjects likemathematics, physics and chemistrywhich they are obliged to teach. Thistrend of non-expert teachers having toteach well beyond the limits of theirtraining must be reversed.’ This couldbe achieved by introducing ‘HECS feewaiver scholarships’ for those studentswilling to make a commitment to up tofive years’ teaching in schools.

Although the quality of the highereducation research system cannot bedoubted, in terms of basic researchAustralia is probably neitherdistributing resources as well as itcould nor maintaining internationalcollaborations as in the past. As well,science itself has become less attractiveto students as an academic career aspublic appreciation of the discipline,security of tenure and remunerationhave all decreased. The futuredifferentiation of the higher educationsystem must recognise this, regardlessof the funding for basic research.

The submission strongly criticisesthe discussion paper’s national prioritysettings and foresighting, describingthem as ‘misguided and reminiscent offailed eastern European dirigisme’.

‘For applied research andengineering the opportunities forcollaborative work with industry needencouragement. Individuals in theuniversities and industry have a primeresponsibility for this and schemessuch as the Cooperative ResearchCentre program, the SPIRT scheme ofthe Australian Research Council andthe START scheme of the Departmentof Industry, Science and Tourismshould be strengthened. Presentindications are that despite majorresearch student participation andonflow to industry, the CooperativeResearch Centre scheme is likely to beattenuated.’

Chemists define researchThe National Committee forChemistry’s second submission arguedthat the discussion paper’s proposed

10 to 20 year perspective shouldinvolve progressive changes over timerather than sharp step changes. Thiswould minimise the effect of errorsand allow an opportunity for changesof policy direction if required.

The proposed fully deregulatedpost-secondary education systemshould be differentiated but integrated.The submission argues that‘universities should still be the primefocus for pure basic research and thatCSIRO and other government agenciesshould have as their fundamentalfocus strategic basic and appliedresearch, while the TAFE sector couldbe involved more with appliedresearch.’

The chemists support thebroadening of research training forhigher degree students to include moreexplicit emphasis on generic skills,while maintaining the study of open-ended research problems as theprimary focus.

At the August 1997 General Assemblyof the International Union of NutritionSciences (IUNS), Professor MarkWalqvist was elected President-Elect.His four-year term as President beginsat the next General Assembly in Viennain 2001. He is a member of theAcademy’s National Committee forNutrition.

Professor Wahlqvist is head ofMedicine at the Monash MedicalCentre, a member of the Board of theAustralian and New Zealand FoodAuthority, Chair of the Food SafetyCouncil of Victoria, Chair of theAustralasian Nutrition Foundation,and Chair of the recently formedFederation of Australian NutritionOrganisations

The IUNS has responsibility for foodsecurity, food safety, sustainability offood supply, environmentaldegradation, the production andprocessing of food and the use ofgenetically modified organisms.

Australian tohead nutritionagency


4

The Academy has criticised the limitedamount of funds available to theAustralian Research Council (ARC) forthe support of high quality researchand researchers. The criticism came asthe 1998 ARC large grants wereannounced. The grants support highquality research by individuals orresearch teams, mostly in universities.They are allocated for specific researchprojects on a competitive basis.

The President of the Academy, SirGustav Nossal, said that over the lasttwo years the success rate of ARC grantapplications had declined from 23 percent to 20 per cent, putting enormouspressure on the selection process and

denying opportunities for manytalented researchers. The Academyargued that funding should beincreased so that at least 33 per cent ofqualified proposals received funding.

‘We are very worried about theeffect that funding cuts and shortfallsare having on morale in universities,especially on younger scientists,’ SirGustav said. ‘At this stage ofAustralia’s history, we should benurturing and cherishing our youngtalent. The Academy has recommendedto the government that high priority begiven to new funding to be reserved foryounger researchers.’

Research grants harder to get

The Academy’s National Committeefor the Environment responded inNovember to the draft report of theIndustry Commission’s Inquiry intoSustainable Land Management. Thedraft report, entitled A Full RepairingLease, was released in September.

Many of the commission’s basicconclusions were supported: the needfor change in the development ofmarkets for key natural resources, theinadequacy of regulation forsustainable land management, the needfor education at all levels aboutecologically sustainable landmanagement, and the case for removalof subsidies.

However, the Committeeemphasised the need for whole-of-government measures to ensure rapidchange in land management. In theCommittee’s opinion, the commission’sproposed measures will operate tooslowly to ensure that all sectors ofsociety adopt the ‘duty of care’approach. The Committee stated, ‘Themost important principle that shouldbe adopted is that any activity thatinvolves destruction of theenvironment is eventually life-threatening and socially unacceptable.This places the need for duty of care asa higher requirement than the need forfinancial success.’

The commission’s report fails toaddress the fact that, historically, thepre-eminent users of resources have thestrongest advocacy in maintaining thestatus quo and in requiring allalternative users to prove their case.‘The law in most cases supports thecurrent (that is, within the past 200years) users. Thus, pastoral leases,soldier settlement schemes, irrigationand hydro-electric authorities andsimilar government-backed schemesare endorsed through establishedlegislation and usage, and are ofteninflexible in their operation.’

A ‘no regrets’ policy is endorsed bythe report but the National Committeefeels that, as the principal reasons formassive natural resource degradationin Australia are a combination ofhistorical and current inappropriategovernment policies, all tiers ofgovernment should review all laws,policies and programs to achieveconsistently sustainable resource use.

Rapid changeneeded in landmanagement

‘Building international networks issomething Australian scientists havehad to be good at to overcome the“tyranny of distance”. As a result,Australia has a valuable resource of ahigh-quality base of science,engineering and technology withextremely strong links to the rest of theworld,’ said Professor Michael Pitmanand Professor Greg Tegart in theintroduction of a report launched atthe annual general meeting of theAcademy of Technological Sciencesand Engineering in November.

The report, entitled Internationalscience and technology: its value toAustralia and the role of the Academies,looks at international cooperation inscience, technology and engineeringinvolving public and private sectorresearch and suggests expandedinternational roles for the Academiesof Science and Technological Sciencesand Engineering.

‘While Australia is a modest playerin international science and technologyas measured by its output (2 per centof total publications),’ the report says,‘the quality of its science, engineeringand technology capability and thestrength and richness of itsinternational recognition and alliances,formed out of the necessity ofAustralians to travel to be part of theinternational scene, have served tobuild a strong position at a time wheninternational networks have become soimportant.’

The report points out theimportance of personal contacts inestablishing trust and building long-term relationships with overseasuniversities and organisations:‘Experience as postdoctoral fellows, onstudy leave or at conferences is a well-established catalyst for the relations.’

Industry links help companies applyscience and technology both locallyand overseas. Australia is seen bycountries in the region as an inventivenation with very able scientists andtechnologists. Not only must thisperception be maintained butAustralians must also recognise thetechnological capabilities of companiesfrom countries such as Korea andTaiwan.

While the government has asubstantial responsibility forinternational cooperation, the reportargues that the academies, with theirexperience in international science andtechnology programs, can help to bringindividual scientists together. As non-government organisations, theacademies can, through their contacts,promote Australia’s interests incountries where there is no formal linkbetween governments. The reportstates, ‘They can provide the bottom-up support to the top-down policydevelopment by governmentdepartments.’

Copies of the report are availablefrom Rachel Douglas at the Academy,email [email protected].

Science built oninternational networks


5

The Chairman of the AustralianFoundation for Science, Mr John Ralph,launched the Primary InvestigationsWorld Wide Web site at theFoundation’s annual general meetingon 25 November 1997.

Primary Investigations is a science,technology and environment programfor primary schools. It consists of seventeacher resource books and five studentbooks that allow students to work inteams to carry out activities usingsimple equipment. There is also aninservice workshop program providingtraining for teachers. PrimaryInvestigations has received wideacclaim.

The web site will extend theinformation available to primaryschool teachers about the program.Users can find the latest media releasesabout the program, backgroundinformation about its development,tips for teachers, lists of trainers,sponsorship for schools, and anelectronic form for ordering thePrimary Investigations package.

The address of the PrimaryInvestigations web site is http://www.science.org.au/pi

…and on Optus VisionDuring the last school term, OptusVision in Sydney and Melbournescreened a three-part introductoryseries about Primary Investigations ontheir educational channel 55. The series

Primary Investigations on the Web

Nova awardThe Academy’s Nova web site wasjudged the best science site at therecent Australian Internet Awards.Pictured with the award are theChairman of the AustralianFoundation for Science, Mr JohnRalph, and the Academy’s ManagingEditor, Ms Maureen Swanage. TheNova site was created with fundingfrom the Australian Foundation forScience, BHP and the Science andTechnology Awareness Program ofthe Department of Industry, Scienceand Tourism. The site’s address ishttp://www.science.org.au/nova

Students from St Vincent de Paul PrimarySchool, Canberra, test their windindicators from a Primary Investigationslesson on the weather. Juanita Rilometofrom the Marshall Islands, a scienceeducator sponsored by UNESCO,observes the class.

Supported by the AustralianFoundation for Science

Pioneer International Ltd, one of theworld’s largest building materialscompanies, has announcedsponsorship of the Pioneer Award forScience Teachers. The award willenable three science teachers to attendthe Academy’s Annual GeneralMeeting symposium and educationworkshop in Canberra on 30 April and1 May 1998. The topic is Pests andPeople: Prospects for 2020. Speakers willdiscuss the latest research intobiological control of pest species.

The award includes free registrationfor the symposium, workshop andtalks by Academy medal winners;return airfares to Canberra;accommodation; and a formal dinnerwith Fellows of the Academy.

Pioneer award for teachers

Supported by the AustralianFoundation for Science

was produced by Optus Vision inMelbourne.

The series covers teaching strategies,cooperative learning, classroomorganisation, equipment andassessment. It features the PrimaryInvestigations project director, Dr DenisGoodrum, and the Academy’sdevelopment officer, Dr Nancy Lane,along with footage from the ‘Do-it-yourself’ inservice video package.St␣ Bernadette’s Primary School in WestIvanhoe, Victoria, helped to trial theseries.

The series can be used by schools todecide whether to purchase PrimaryInvestigations, to inform parents aboutthe program, or to train new teachersin schools where the program isalready running. It can also besupplemented with hands-on activitiesfor use as a professional developmentworkshop for school staff. Afacilitator’s manual is available free ofcharge from the Academy for thispurpose. Contact Nancy Pritchard toll-free on 1800 673 383.

The Primary Investigations series willbe screened again on Optus Visionchannel 55 as follows:Wednesday 4, 11 and 18 March at 3.30pm(Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane)Thursday 5, 12 and 19 March at 6.30pm(Melbourne and Sydney).

Selection for the award will be basedon merit. Selection criteria include theapplicant’s involvement in classroomteaching related to the symposiumtopic, contributions made to scienceteaching generally and plans todisseminate the information gained atthe symposium to colleagues.

Application forms are available onthe Australian Science TeachersAssociation home page athttp://sunsite.anu.edu.au/asta/ orphone the Association secretariat on(02)␣ 6282 9377 or fax (02) 6282 9477.Closing date for applications is Friday20␣ March 1998.


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Researchers from the University of Western Sydney, the Queensland University ofTechnology and Edith Cowan University met with Professor Neville Fletcher, Academystaff and senior education officials on 8 December 1997 to discuss the results of theirstudies to improve science education at the lower secondary level.

The President of the Academy ofScience, Sir Gustav Nossal, outlined theAcademy’s views on public policyreform in a submission last Decemberto the Inquiry into the Effects onResearch and Development of PublicPolicy Reform in the Past Decade. TheInquiry is being conducted by theHouse of Representatives StandingCommittee on Industry, Science andTechnology.

In its submission, the Academypointed out that the introduction of the150␣ per␣ cent tax rebate in 1985 allowedbusiness expenditure on R&D to morethan double from about $1.5 billion perannum to $4.2 billion per annum in1995–96. This figure is still less than theOECD average. Current suggestionsare that the reduction to a 125␣ per␣ centrebate in the 1997–98 budget hasresulted in a drop in the level of R&Dactivity.

Sir Gustav said that the syndicatedR&D arrangements introduced in 1987to encourage institutional investors toinvest in R&D projects had producedeconomic benefits for Australia inexcess of its costs. The scheme wasreplaced in 1996 by the STARTprogram because of concern aboutincreased costs to revenue. However,the Academy would have preferred areturn to the 150␣ per␣ cent taxconcession, as the tax had the benefit ofsimplicity and avoided the higher costsof discretionary grants schemes.

The Academy was critical of theproposal in the government’sDecember Industry Statement Investingfor Growth that policy and programdelivery be separated. ‘We believe inmany cases this will reduce essentialfeedback from the customer base.Business needs consistency of deliveryand interpretation of the rules.Corporate knowledge, expertise andprofessionalism within researchfunding and performing organisationsshould not be scarified in bids toencourage outsourcing.’

The effects ofpublic policyreform onresearch anddevelopment

A forestry graduate from New SouthWales, Neil Cowley, has recentlyreturned from two years at theUniversity of Washington, where heconducted research and masters coursework in the use of organic residuals inforestry. Neil was the inauguralrecipient of a postgraduate scholarshipin forestry science funded by theStanley Wallace Gentle Fund. This fundwas established in 1990 tocommemorate the life and work of DrWal Gentle, an outstanding forestscientist and administrator.

Neil’s research and course workfocused on gaining an increasedunderstanding of soil science, therelationships between soils and forestproductivity and an appreciation of thecurrent use of organic residuals(composts and fertilisers) in forestry.The scholarship also enabled Neil toexperience forest managementpractices in the Pacific Northwest andto understand the social, cultural andeconomic differences between forestmanagement in North America andAustralia.

In his report to the Wal GentleScholarship Committee, Neil said,‘Washington has 25 years of experienceof use of biosolids [fertilisers] in forestmanagement and is a world leader inorganic residuals management. I hadample opportunity to view current

state of the art practices and reviewpast mistakes.’

During his scholarship, Neilcompleted the course workrequirement for a Master of Science(Ecosystems Analysis). The thesis,entitled ‘Relationships betweenbiosolids application and understoreyin Douglas fir stands in westernWashington’, examined the under-storey compositional change in olderDouglas fir stands treated with heavyrates of fertilisers in the early 1980s,measured the herbaceous understoreygrowth after fertiliser application totwo-year-old stands, and determinedthe nitrogen accumulation rates for theunderstorey in stands of different ages.

‘Although these three projects aresite-specific to Douglas fir,’ Neil said,‘the general concepts on biosolidsapplications are transferable toAustralian ecosystems. If biosolids areused in native systems, the thresholdlevel of fertilisation on species changewould need to be considered, as well asthe relationship between thesuccessional type of understorey andthe understorey’s role in nitrogenaccumulation and cycling.’

The next Wal Gentle Scholarshipwill be taken up at the University ofMelbourne and discussions are inprogress for a second scholarship at theUniversity of Washington.

Gentle scholar looks at fertilisers

Planning lower secondary science


7

The Academy of Science, the Academyof Technological Sciences andEngineering and the AustralianResearch Council have a memorandumof understanding with the KoreaScience and Engineering Foundation(KOSEF) to promote cooperation inscience and technology. To discuss theoperation of this program, theAcademy’s Foreign Secretary, ProfessorMichael Pitman, and the InternationalPrograms Officer, Ms Thérèse Lewis,visited Korea and Taiwan duringOctober 1997.

The visit coincided with theAcademy’s President, Sir GustavNossal, attending the opening of theInternational Vaccine Institute in Seoul,which led to preparation of a draftmemorandum of understandingbetween the Australian Academy andthe Korean Academy of Science andTechnology.

The meeting with KOSEF agreedthat the priority areas under the jointacademies’ agreement will be theenvironment, light alloys,pharmaceuticals, aquaculture, andbiotechnology. It also identified otherareas of mutual interest betweenAustralia and Korea, such as theeradication of disease, the humangenome program, communications andtechnology.

It was agreed that in future theexchange program should build onexchanges already initiated in selectedareas to develop the long-terminteractions that make effectivecooperation possible. Mr AndrewMcCredie, Counsellor, Industry,Science and Tourism at the AustralianEmbassy in Seoul, reported that, asKorea is a resource-intense economy,Australian scientists perhaps gaingreater benefit by preparing focusedresearch projects that have clearobjectives and offer up-to-datetechnology. An example of this is abiotechnology joint venture betweenSeoul National University and theUniversity of New South Wales. Hesaid that networking between Australiaand Korea is improving and Korea isexpected to pursue commercial links inAustralia.

Other visits were made to the KoreaAdvanced Institute of Science andTechnology; the Korea ResearchInstitute of Bioscience andBiotechnology; the Department ofMicrobiology at Seoul NationalUniversity; the Science and TechnologyPolicy Institute; and the PohangUniversity of Science and Technology.In a number of these places, Koreanscientists commented on theirknowledge of science and technology

Academy’s visit to Korea

Mr Byung-Ock Chung, Director-Generalof the Division of InternationalCooperation at the Korea Science andEngineering Foundation, with ProfessorMichael Pitman in Seoul in October.

in the USA and their need to be betterinformed about Australia. Australianunderstanding of Korean capability isequally important.

It was evident that there has been aworthwhile growth of collaborationbetween Korea and Australia includingstudent exchanges and that the Acad-emies’ exchange program has made auseful contribution to this growth.

The commitment to science in Koreahas been impressive, and indicationsare that despite the current economicproblems the need to continue supportfor research is recognised.

In a submission to the Review ofApproaches to Greater Commercial-isation and Self Funding in theCooperative Research Centre (CRC)program, the Academy recommendedthat a prime policy goal for Australia inthe next century should be theproduction of a greatly enlargedknowledge-based industry. The reviewis being conducted by the Departmentsof Finance and of Industry, Science andTourism and will make recommend-ations about ways in which greatercommercialisation, stronger privatesector financing and reduced publicfunding could be introduced to theCRC program. It is due to report inApril 1998.

The Academy’s submissionproposed that a joint developmentprogram be established to complementthe CRC’s ability to link the sciencebase of national, tertiary education andscience agency research sectors. Theprogram would help products at the

prototype phase be carried through thedevelopment phase and from there tomanufacture.

The program should providefunding, on a competitive basis, forCRCs, research agencies anduniversities that have a marketableproduct. Public funding need not belarge as the major part of the fundingshould come from the industrialpartner and from venture capital.

The Academy strongly supportedthe current CRC program. In the lastfew years, the program has involvedmajor industrial firms, has led to newproducts for development, has enabled50 per cent of students graduatingthrough the CRC link programs to findemployment in industry and hashelped to change the culture within thetertiary education sector, governmentagencies and industry. The submissionstated, ‘In the most general sense, theCRC program can be seen as a trueindustry support program by

providing tangible inputs forcommercialisation, contributing to amajor culture change in favour ofgreater entrepreneurial activity andsensitivity to opportunities forcommercial exploitation of scientificdiscoveries.’

Cooperative Research Centres deserve support

National Science andIndustry Forum

Tuesday 7 April 1998Australian Academy of Science(the Dome), Canberra

Endocrine disruption:Australia’s role in aninternational issue

Please contact Faye Nicholas forinformation: phone (02) 6247 5777,fax (02) 6257 4620, [email protected]


8

Seven Australian scientists will visitinstitutions in France in 1998 under theBede Morris Fellowship Scheme. Thescheme, set up in 1989, honours theachievements of the late Professor BedeMorris, an immunologist at theAustralian National University, whoformed close ties with the Frenchscientific community.

The scheme’s major sponsor isRhône-Poulenc Australia, a division ofthe international pharmaceutical andchemical company. The companyconducts research into animal healthand nutrition, genetics and vaccines aswell as producing speciality chemicals,fibres and polymers, and agriculturalchemicals and seeds. Other sponsorsare the French Embassy, the Australia–France Foundation and theCommonwealth Government.

Dr David Hampson, of the Division ofVeterinary and Biomedical Sciences atMurdoch University in WesternAustralia, will take up the Rhône-Poulenc Fellowship for 1998. He willvisit the Unité de BactériologieMoléculaire et Médicale at the InstitutPasteur in Paris for 17 days to optimisemethods to isolate the spirochaetebacterium, Serpulina pilosicoli, fromhuman and animal blood. MurdochUniversity is working on methods tocontrol infections of this bacterium inpigs and poultry and, as Frenchscientists have recently isolated it in theblood of critically ill patients, it is nowimperative to find out if it is alsoinvading the bloodstream of humanpatients in Australia.

Dr Hampson has had 10 years’experience working with intestinalspirochaetes and has organised andedited the first textbook written onthese bacteria, published in 1997. Hehas collaborated with Dr Isabelle SaintGirons, of the Unité de BactériologieMoléculaire et Médicale, who is hismain host for the trip. AlthoughDr␣ Hampson has had considerablesuccess working with intestinalspirochaetes in animals, his work hasbeen constrained by the lack of accessto human patients and by the non-availability of the best techniques forisolating the bacteria from blood.

The Rhône-Poulenc Awardee isDr␣ Robert Mensah, a researchentomologist at the Australian CottonResearch Institute at Narrabri in NewSouth Wales. Dr Mensah will spend sixweeks at the Institut National de laRecherche Agronomique, studyingresponses of the moths, Sesamianonagroides and Ostrinia nubilalis, to anewly developed natural pest foodsupplement, Envirofeast. The mothsare major pests of maize in France andare controlled exclusively by the use ofsynthetic insecticides. As the majorfocus of the grains industry is to reduceits dependence on syntheticinsecticides, research is focused onmanaging these pests via alternativemethods. Envirofeast, a productdeveloped by Dr Mensah, is added tofood and can deter egg-laying inHelicoverpa species, another cotton pest.Dr Mensah’s work in France willexamine how Envirofeast can stop themoths laying eggs on maize.

The French Embassy Fellow is DrEdith Sevick, of the Research School ofChemistry at the Australian NationalUniversity. Dr Sevick will spend fiveweeks at the Institut de Chemie desSurfaces et Interfaces in Mulhouse,studying the stacking of disk-likemolecules and the compression ofwater-soluble polymers at surfaces.Disk-like molecules forming rod-likeaggregates (sometimes one molecule inthickness) show behaviour similar tothat of living polymers. Some of thesecould serve as molecular wires forcharge transport, while some (withhollow cores) can form molecularchannels or molecular templates. Thesestackings are also surface active andstabilise emulsions (for example,asphaltenes and resins play adetrimental role in oil recovery as theystabilise oil and water emulsions). DrSevick’s collaboration with the Institutis probably one of the first joint theoryand experiments to examine thestacking of disk-like molecules.

The study of water-soluble polymersthat are capable of hydrogen bondingwith a solvent has practical relevanceto the stabilisation of colloids in water.Dr Sevick will examine thecompression of such hydrosoluble

Bede Morris Fellows

Dr David HampsonRhône-Poulenc Fellow

Dr Robert MensahRhône-Poulenc Awardee

Dr Edith SevickFrench Embassy Fellow

Dr James PicklesAustralia–France Foundation Fellow


9

surfaces, how compression changes theway the polymer layer dissolves andhow this affects aggregation.

Dr James Pickles, of the Vision, Touchand Hearing Research Centre at theUniversity of Queensland, is the 1998Australia–France Foundation Fellow.Dr Pickles will study the mechanismsof pathology and repair in the inner earat the CHU Hôpital St Charles atMontpellier for nine weeks. The nervesupply to the inner ear is easilydamaged by loud noise and byischaemia (a reduction in the bloodsupply). This can cause massiveswelling and destruction of auditorynerve fibre terminals where theycontact the receptor cells of the innerear. The process of self-repair overseveral days of these nerve terminals inanimals has been studied at theMontpellier laboratory. Dr Pickles willbe looking at the signalling moleculesknown to be involved in the repair andgrowth processes. One such class ofmolecules is the group known as eph-class receptor tyrosine kinases. Thesemolecules are surface receptors on cellsand affect growth and repair processes.If the results of the experiments arepositive, it could be possible tostimulate the signalling pathwaypharmacologically to reverse this sortof deafness in humans.

Three scientists will take upCommonwealth Fellowships this year.

Associate Professor RodneyDevenish, of the Department ofBiochemistry and Molecular Biology atMonash University in Melbourne, willspend three weeks at the Institut deBiochimie et Génétique Cellulaires duCNRS in Bordeaux, studying theenergy production of living cells. Theproject will use yeast as a modelsystem to examine the biochemical roleof subunit 8, a small membrane-associated component of the ATPsynthase of mitochondria.Mitochondria are the principalpowerhouses of fungal and animalcells and ATP is the energy source ofliving cells. The results of the projectwill provide information about thestructural and functional organisationof ATP synthases in animals and

humans, especially the diseases andageing associated with the defectiveenergy function of cells.

Associate Professor Bastiaan Hensen,of the Department of Applied Geologyat the University of New South Wales,will spend six weeks at the Laboratoirede Pétrologie Cristalline at theUniversité de Rennes, studying thethermal and tectonic evolution of thedeep continental crust. The project willinvestigate the geological processes inthe earth’s deep crust during theProterozoic era, about 1500 to 1800million years ago. The results, to bepublished in internationally refereedscience journals, will contribute to theunderstanding of the formation andevolution of the continental crust overtime and the genesis of theeconomically important ore depositsfound in deep crustal rocks worldwide.Professor Hensen will be able to usethe unique Laser-Raman spectrometryfacility in Rennes to study minutemineral grains in high temperaturepseudotachylites, collected during the1996 field season by the University ofNew South Wales.

Associate Professor Richard Keene, ofthe School of Biomedical andMolecular Sciences at James CookUniversity in Townsville, will studyelectron and energy transfer in metalassemblies at the Laboratoire deChimie Organo-Minérale at theUniversité Louis Pasteur in Strasbourgover six weeks. In photosynthesis, lightenergy is absorbed and is used topromote chemical reactions thatproduce foods, such as carbohydrates.The flow of energy through theorganism is controlled by thearrangement of components in anenzyme matrix. The same principlesapply in artificial materials designedfor light harvesting. The project couldhelp the development of new materialsfor solar cells. Professor Keene will beable to combine expertise from hislaboratory in the isolation ofstereoisomers of metal complexes withthe French expertise in energy transferwithin molecules in transition metalcomplexes.

Associate Professor Rodney DevenishCommonwealth Fellow

Associate Professor Bastiaan Hensen(right), Commonwealth Fellow

Associate Professor Richard KeeneCommonwealth Fellow

bound for France


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ChinaSix Australian scientists will visit Chinain 1998 and 1999 under the exchangeprogram between the AustralianAcademy of Science and the ChineseAcademy of Sciences.

Professor Patricia Vickers-Rich and DrThomas Rich, of the Earth SciencesDepartment at Monash University inVictoria, will visit the Institute ofVertebrate Paleontology andPaleoanthropology in Beijing in July1998 to study the relationship betweendinosaurs with V-shaped or U-shapedteeth in China and Australia.

Dr Zheng Li, of the School of Electrical,Computer and TelecommunicationEngineering at the University ofWollongong in New South Wales, willgo to the Institute of Systems Science atthe Chinese Academy of Sciences inBeijing in February 1999 to develop anadaptive control method for the controlof unknown time-varying randomsystems.

Dr Tianshun Liu, of the MaterialsDivision of the Australian NuclearScience and Technology Organisation,will visit the National EngineeringResearch Centre for High PerformanceHomogenised Alloys in Shenyang inOctober 1998 to develop an advancedcalcium oxide-based refractory for usein crucibles or as a lining for meltinghigh grade alloys.

Dr Shishan Bao, of the Department ofVeterinary Pathology at the Universityof Sydney, will travel to the ShanghaiInstitute of Cell Biology at the ChineseAcademy of Sciences in August 1998 tostudy the role of the soluble factorTGF-ß in transgenic mice in theregulation of immunoglobulin-A,which provides defence againstpathogens in mucous membranes.

Dr Stuart Hudson, of the FusionPlasma Research Laboratory at theJapan Atomic Energy ResearchInstitute in Ibaraki, Japan, will go to theInstitute of Plasma Physics at theAcademia Sinica in Anhui in February1999 to analyse the magnetic fieldstructure and the magneto-hydro-dynamic equilibrium of the Chinesetokamak, HT6M, and to help theChinese nuclear fusion research project.

JapanFive Australian scientists will travel toJapan in 1998 and 1999 under theexchange program between theAustralian Academy of Science and theJapan Society for the Promotion ofScience.

Dr Tim Baker, of the Department ofMathematics and Statistics at theUniversity of Melbourne, will go to theResearch Institute of MathematicalSciences at Kyoto University from July1998 to July 1999 to investigatealgebraic aspects of quantum many-body systems.

Dr Craig Hayward, of the School ofBiological Sciences at the University ofNew England, will visit the GraduateSchool of Agricultural and LifeSciences at the University of Tokyofrom April 1998 to April 2000 to studywhether freshwater eels and theharmful gillworms they harbourcoevolved throughout the world.

Dr Du Q Huynh, of the Department ofComputer Science at the University ofWestern Australia, will visit theDepartment of Computer Science atGumma University in Kiryu from April1998 to March 2000 to investigate ascheme to remove the statistical biasthat noise produces in the image dataused in stereo vision systems.

Mr Andrew Kricker, of theDepartment of Mathematics andStatistics at the University ofMelbourne, will go to the Departmentof Mathematical and ComputingSciences at the Tokyo Institute ofTechnology from June 1998 to May1999 to study topological quantumfield theories to aid the understandingof the different ways surfaces can glueto one another.

Miss Mei Wei, of the School ofMaterials Science and Engineering atthe University of New South Wales,will visit the Division of MaterialsChemistry at Kyoto University fromApril 1998 to March 2000 to investigatethe development of a bioactivecomposite that will mimic the structureand mechanical properties of naturalbone, and which could be used forrepairing bones or for implantsrequiring high loads.

Scientific exchanges with Chinaand Japan

Australia DayhonoursThree Fellows of the Academy and oneCorresponding Member receivedhonours on Australia Day.

Professor Grant Sutherland, Directorof the Department of Cytogenetics andMolecular Genetics at the Women’s andChildren’s Hospital, Adelaide, has beenmade a Companion in the GeneralDivision of the Order of Australia (AC).He received the honour for his researchinto human genetics and the humangenome project and for his contributionto the discovery of the importance offragile chromosomes in inheriteddiseases.

Sir Robert May, a CorrespondingMember of the Academy, Chief Scien-tific Adviser to the United KingdomGovernment and Head of the Office ofScience and Technology, has been madea Companion in the General Divisionof the Order of Australia (AC) for hisresearch in biological conservationinvolving the interaction betweenpopulation, resources and the environ-ment, for his scholarship and for theformulation of science policy.

Dr John Phillip, Fellow Emeritus at theLaboratory for EnvironmentalMechanics at the CSIRO in Canberra,has been made an Officer in theGeneral Division of the Order ofAustralia (AO) for his work inhydrology and in promoting theinterests of science for the community,and for promoting Australian culture,particularly architecture and literature.

Dr Stephen Boyden has been made aMember in the General Division of theOrder of Australia (AM) for developingscientific ideas and for his scholarshipin human ecology.

Professor Pauline Ladiges, of theUniversity of Melbourne, and DrDonald Gaff, of Monash University,will write a biographical memoir onthe late Professor Bruce Knox forpublication in Historical records ofAustralian science.

Dr Barbara Briggs, of the Royal BotanicGardens in Sydney, will write abiographical memoir on the lateProfessor Lawrie Johnson.

Biographers


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Honours toFellows

The Professor of EngineeringMechanics and Head of the School ofCivil and Mining Engineering at theUniversity of Sydney, Professor JohnBooker AO, died on 13␣ January 1998.

John Robert Booker was born inSydney on 24 July 1942. He gained anhonours degree in appliedmathematics at the University ofSydney in 1965 and gained his PhD inengineering there in 1970, researchingapplications of theories of plasticity forsoils. In 1983, he was awarded thedegree of Doctor of Engineering by theUniversity of Sydney – a very rarehonour, which has only been bestowedon three civil engineers in the history ofthe university.

Dr Booker’s early work involved theapplication of the mathematical theoryof plasticity to the theory of soilstability. This included the study of aperfectly plastic anisotropic solid, abasic reference in this area. This highlytheoretical work later found a practicalapplication in the study of the bearingcapacity of fissured clay and rocks.

During the 1970s, two fundamentalpapers co-authored by Dr Bookerhelped to determine the behaviour ofoffshore structures founded on soilswhose strength increased with depthfrom the mud-line. There had beensome previous investigations of such

materials using approximateengineering (slip circle) methods butthese methods had been shown to beinadequate for the size and type of thestructures. Dr Booker’s papers provedthat the failure pressure that can beapplied at the mud-line increases froma value of zero at the edge at preciselythe same rate as the soil strengthincreases and provided results toestimate the safety factor of gravityplatforms.

After this time, the emphasis of DrBooker’s work changed to the study ofthe time-dependent and inelasticbehaviour of soil and rocks.

The 1970s saw Dr Booker’s careertake him to the University ofCalifornia, Berkeley, in 1976 as theSenior Fulbright Scholar ResearchEngineer. Later that year, he spent fourmonths at Kings College, University ofLondon. In 1979, he was a researchfellow at Cambridge.

Dr Booker is credited with thesolution to a number of the problems ofthe consolidation of saturated soils. Heevaluated the solution for the timesettlement behaviour of a surfacefooting resting on a layer of finitedepth which overlaid rigid bedrock. Healso found analytical solutions thattook into account the anisotropicbehaviour of both the deformation andflow properties.

An investigation of storm loadingon offshore structures established thatthe design practice used at the timewas unduly conservative. Thecomputer program, GADFLEA,developed during the investigation, isstill used for the analysis of offshoregravity structures.

Dr Booker played an important rolein the development of finite layermethods, which are used to analyse ahorizontally layered deposit made upof a number of soils that have linear(but possibly time-dependent)behaviour.

In the 1980s, Dr Booker turned hisattention to developing a simple theoryto explain whether burying radioactivewaste in remote parts of the sea floorwould result in contamination as watersaturating the marine sediments washeated by the radioactive waste,fracturing the soil and allowing wasteto escape. Dr Booker found a simpleanalytic solution which showed that,

although the increase in temperaturearound the soil caused the porepressure to rise, there was anaccompanying flow of water fromregions of high water pressure toregions of low water pressure. Thisflow caused the thermally generatedpore pressures to dissipate andmitigated the danger of soil fracture.

Dr Booker was appointed to theChair of Engineering Mechanics in theSchool of Civil and MiningEngineering at the University ofSydney in 1985. He became Head of theSchool in 1989 and Pro Dean of theFaculty of Engineering in 1990.

He was elected to the Fellowship ofthe Academy in 1995 and was amember of the Academy’s NationalCommittee for Theoretical and AppliedMechanics.

In 1997, he received the award ofOfficer in the General Division of theOrder of Australia (AO) for hisscientific achievements.

Deaths

John Booker

Dr Liz Dennis, Chief Research Scientistof the CSIRO Division of PlantIndustry in Canberra, won the 1997Avon Spirit of Achievement Award inNovember 1997. Dr Dennis is studyingthe role of genes in how plants knowwhen to flower and how they react tostress. She will use the $15␣ 000 grant ina project called The Discovery Centre,an interactive program funded by theACT Government and Optus aimed atenhancing the public’s understandingof and interest in science.

Professor John Pate, of the Departmentof Botany at the University of WesternAustralia, was awarded a 1997Australian Minerals and EnergyEnvironment FoundationEnvironmental Excellence Award inOctober. He received the award for hisextensive contribution to ourunderstanding of the plant ecologicalprocesses of Western Australia, hiscommitment to cooperation betweenbotanical ecologists and the mineralindustry, and for his teaching andinspiration of a generation of mineralindustry ecologists.


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The ethics of research and managementpractices in World Heritage areas wasthe topic of the Fenner Conference onthe Environment, held in Canberra inNovember 1997. The Fennerconferences are supported by ProfessorFrank Fenner and the late Mrs Fennerand aim to bring together scientific,administrative and policy experience toconsider environmental problems inAustralia and to help form policies toalleviate the problems.

Despite sweltering in the heatwavethat hit Canberra at the time of theconference, the more than 100participants overcame the difficultconditions to tackle enthusiasticallythis difficult topic.

There has been a great deal ofcontroversy in recent times over anumber of research programs in theGreat Barrier Reef World Heritage Area

and other world heritage areas.Conservation groups, the scientificcommunity and the public have calledfor national ethical guidelines forWorld Heritage and environmentallysensitive areas. The conference usedtwo half-day workshops, involvingcase studies covering a range ofresearch and management issues, todevelop recommendations and draftethical guidelines. These will besubmitted to Commonwealth and stategovernments for their consideration.

The outcomes of a study by theAustralian Science, Technology andEngineering Council, which reviewedprocedures for assessing theappropriateness of research, ethicalissues associated with the conduct ofresearch and the development of draftethical guidelines, were made availableto participants as background material.

Fenner conference on research ethics

A National Academies Forum, entitledReviewing the Review, was held inCanberra on 8 December 1997. Theforum looked at the Review of HigherEducation Financing and Policy’sdiscussion paper, Learning for Life (seethe report ‘Managing diversity inhigher education’ on page 3).

Topics included ‘Does Learning forLife prepare us for the future?’, ‘Theglobal context’ and ‘What’s missing inLearning for Life?’, funding and researchissues, and technology. Mr West, Chairof the Committee, made a response atthe end of the forum.

The President of the Academy ofScience, Sir Gustav Nossal, said in hissumming up, ‘The AustralianAcademy of Science found much tolike in Learning for Life. It applauds thestrong defence of the role ofuniversities in the first chapter. It findsthe concept that every Australianshould have access to five years ofsome kind of post-secondary schooleducational experience at some time oflife novel, ambitious and appealing. Itstrongly supports the courageousstatement that the commitment ofgovernment funding to highereducation should increase or at leaststay the same.’

However, Sir Gustav said that theAcademy would have liked to seemore emphasis placed on the publicgood aspect of universities, rather thanon the private good gained by

individual students. ‘I venture tosuggest that 40 per cent of universityfunding should be primarily related toscholarship and research and should bemore sharply differentiated from thecost-per-student style of arguments.’

The Academy believes that thediscussion paper’s approach toresearch is ‘seriously under-cooked’. Agreater proportion of the totaluniversity cake should go to theAustralian Research Council andresearch, while the National Health

Reviewing the review: Academies Forum

Conference themes included:• How do we value and manage

World Heritage andenvironmentally sensitive areas?

• What are the social and ethicalissues arising from the conduct ofmanipulative research andmanagement practices in WorldHeritage and protected areas?

• What are the principles andprocedures for determining ethicalpractices?The Fenner conference was

sponsored by the Australian Instituteof Marine Science, the AustralianScience, Technology and EngineeringCouncil, the Bureau of ResourceSciences, the CRC Reef ResearchCentre, Environment Australia and theGreat Barrier Reef Marine ParkAuthority.

and Medical Research Council shouldbe funded out of a different pot butshould keep pace. The Academy isespecially concerned about youngeracademics because if AustralianResearch Council large grants only goto 20 per cent of applicants, the chancesof younger academics competing on anequal footing are slight. More attentionshould be paid to the morale problemsand career worries of youngeracademics as losing many overseaswould be a national tragedy.

The Foreign Secretary, Professor Michael Pitman, left, welcomed a delegationfrom the Academy of Finland to the Academy in January. They discussed thefurther development of scientific cooperation between Australia and Finland,particularly possible collaborations in the fields of the environment, forestry,paper production, machinery, telecommunications and electronics.

Finns keen to collaborate

january–march 1998 number 39 innovation a key to prosperity · professor guy ourisson, second...

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