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
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 have organised a public forum on the fire management in the Australian landscape with an excellent panel of speakers to present some critical perspectives. We hope you can join us for this important event.
DATE Friday 20 September, 2024
TIME 1-5pm Please arrive by 12.30 for registration
VENUE Gregory Place, RGSQ Level 1 /28 Fortescue St, Spring Hill
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 its series of Occasional Papers has now been published online in preprint form.
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 subject to peer review and has been revised accordingly. It is published in pre-print form to allow feedback from people with expertise and lived knowledge of the coal seam gas industry. It is yet to be finally copyedited, formatted and proofread, but is scientifically authoritative.
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, ten articles had been published. Click here for a list of them.
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 will deliver a lecture on this theme on Norfolk Island, home of the late Geraldine Hall, Pharmacist, on 1 May 2024. Her paper will be published in the 2024 issue of the Society’s Proceedings, volume 134.
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.
As a teaser for this workshop, browse through this powerpoint: An Analysis of the Land-New System in Queensland, Multiple Problems and the Benefits of Constructive Reform (pdf version) by Society member David Marlow, sponsor of the workshop.
(ppt version)