The Royal Society of Queensland, founded in 1884, is the senior learned society in the State. The Society seeks to increase respect for intellectual inquiry and evidence-led policy analysis. The Society provides a forum for scientists and lay people to involve themselves in the progress of science in society, with ‘science’ defined broadly. The Society networks between disciplinary specialists, government and the community; holds events crossing jurisdictional and sectoral silos; and publishes the annual Proceedings, the pre-eminent journal of Queensland-focused general science, now in its 132st volume. More information on the About page. There are no educational or professional barriers to membership.
The Queensland Science Network is a collaboration between ~26 not-for-profit scientific and naturalists’ societies. Its website is a portal to each group and to general science. It includes a portal into the Queensland STEM Education Network, a compendium of educational materials.
The Queensland Policy Network is a nascent forum to foster discourse in Queensland’s policy community. It will aim to counter ‘fake news’ and policy-making based upon preconceived ideology or single-disciplinary enthusiasms.
The Rangelands Queensland website was established to accommodate materials generated after September 2020 in the course of the Rangelands Policy Dialogue, otherwise recorded on this website.
Recent News
Dr Geoff Monteith, an international giant in entomology and member of the Society for 60 years, has succumbed to illness.
The ABC recently ran an article showcasing the taxonomic work of Dr Monteit. He has been included in the list of the top 10 most commemorated scientists in history.
- Entomologist Dr Geoff Monteith has had 225 species and 15 genera named after him
- Dr Monteith has collected more than 200,000 specimens, as well as significant numbers of arachnids, myriapods and molluscs
- Despite retiring in 2006, Dr Monteith continues to collect and classify new insect species.
Dr Monteith worked for 16 years as Curator of Insects at the University of Queensland, then 28 years as Curator of Insects at Queensland Museum, a total of 44 years’ paid employment, then has been an active research fellow at the Museum from 2006 until the present.
The list of the world’s top 10 most commemorated scientists was published in 2020 in a book by Canadian biologist Stephen Heard titled Charles Darwin’s Barnacle and David Bowie’s Spider: How Scientific Names Celebrate Adventurers, Heroes and Even a Few Scoundrels.
Ten most commemorated scientists
- Charles Darwin, Geologist, England
- Alfred Russel Wallace, Biologist, England
- Joseph Dalton Hooker, Botanist, England
- William Jackson Hooker, Botanist, England
- Alexander von Humboldt, Polymath, Germany
- Augusto Weberbauer, Botanist, Germany
- Julian Steyermark, Botanist, USA
- Cyrus Guernsey Pringle, Botanist, USA
- Willy Kuschel, Entomologist, New Zealand
- Geoffrey Monteith, Entomologist, Queensland, Australia, Queensland Museum.
Until his passing in October, he was the only one still alive! Vale Geoff Monteith.
The President has announced that Society member John Brisbin had won the David Marlow Prize for an essay entitled Planning for purpose: How Queenslanders might flourish in the challenging times ahead. The author picks up a theme that in an earlier era would have been called ‘decentralisation’, a concept that has dropped off the public policy agenda in recent decades.
More details about the Research Fund can be found on https://www.royalsocietyqld.org/research/.
The Royal Geographical Society of Queensland and The Royal Society of Queensland held a public forum in September on the management of fire in the Australian landscape with an excellent panel of speakers.
The paper submitted by Dr Wendy Laupu and awarded the Geraldine Hall Memorial Prize has been edited and is now available as the first article in Volume 133 of the Proceedings of The Royal Society of Queensland.
Dr Laupu delivered the paper at the launch event of the Knowledge and Learning Centre on Norfolk Island on 1 May 2024. David Hall, son of the late Geraldine Hall, Pharmacist, announced the prize. Her powerpoint is here.
The first paper in the Society’s series of Occasional Papers has now been published online.
As explained on the landing page for Occasional Papers, establishment of this line of documents was approved by the Council of the Society to accommodate papers that are too long for its annual journal, or in some other way are not in a suitable format. At nearly 20,000 words, a review paper called Coal Seam Gas Mining: Potential to Induce Seismic and Aseismic Events and Aquifer Discontinuity is twice as long as the word limit indicated for articles for its annual Proceedings.
The paper reviews local and international experience in the propensity of fracking coal seam gas seams to trigger seismic events, with a tangible risk of earthquakes. The paper notes the loss of seismographic recording capacity in the University of Queensland and the lack of interest by the Queensland Government in knowing how serious is this risk. The President has issued a press release summarising the findings.
The paper has been typeset but not printed. No date has been set for print-publishing.
The first article in our series on the preconditions of well-being has been published in The Mandarin online newsletter, on 28 February 2024. Read the article here. Consult our community health page for more details, including the context.
By mid-July 2024, 28 articles had been published. Click here for a running list of them.
In November 2023, the Royal Societies of Australia resolved to take this project national. It has a dedicated page on its own website.
The Society is delighted to announce that Dr Wendy Laupu has been awarded the Geraldine Hall Memorial Prize for writing, with an essay on the theme “Updated Mental Health Literacy to Improve Public Health in Remote Australian Communities”. More details on the Research Fund page. Dr Laupu delivered a lecture on this theme on Norfolk Island, home of the late Geraldine Hall, Pharmacist, on 1 May 2024. Her paper has been published in the 2024 issue of the Society’s Proceedings, volume 133.
Emeritus Professor Peter Leggat was a member in good standing Society and prime organiser of 2016 workshop at the Cairns Institute on Community Health that initiated its Preconditions of Well-being project. We re-publish this obituary Vale Emeritus Professor Peter Leggat – JCU Australia from the James Cook University website.
Prof. Leggat also organised prizes for science students at JCU. The Society is grateful for his service to science, medicine and public policy through his membership.