Events from 2016
Learned societies
21 October 2016
Seminar room 4, ground floor, 80 George St (adjoining café), 9.30 for 10.00am until noon. Contact the Society for an invitation.
Annual General Meeting
28 October 2016
Queensland University of Technology on Friday, 28 October, from 3.30 PM informal conversation then 4 PM to 6 PM. Room P638.
Guest speaker A/Prof. (Climatology), Joachim Ribbe, University of Southern Queensland.
Teacher preparation brainstorm
17 November 2016
Professor Ken Wiltshire AO, Co-Chair of the 2014 Australian Curriculum Review, will be keynote speaker at an open brainstorming workshop to be held on Thursday 17 November in Room V714 at Queensland University of Technology, Gardens Point campus.
Please see invitation letter for details.
Enduring legacy of Queensland’s botanists – 12 Sep
12 September 2016
The Queensland Herbarium hosts free public seminars at the Mt Coot-tha Botanic Gardens once a month (March to November) on every second Monday from noon until 1pm in the conference room in the Herbarium building. No need to register, just turn up on the day.
The enduring legacy of Queensland botanists: The work of Robert Johnson, George Batianoff, Bryan Simon and Phil Sharpe was presented by Dr Bill McDonald, Dr John Neldner, John Thompson and Ron Booth of Queensland Herbarium. Enquiries : 3896 9326.
Dr Bill McDonald and John Thompson are long-standing members of the Society and all members were encouraged to attend this seminar. The late Robert Johnson and George Batianoff were also long-standing members.
Deep History of Sea Country – 6 October
6 October 2016
The Professorial Inaugural Lecture presented by distinguished Member Prof Sean Ulm was delivered on 6 October in Cairns.
The Deep History of Sea Country: Colonisation, Submerged Landscapes and the Archaeology of Australia’s Coasts.
Guests were invited to register prior to 21st September.
We congratulate Prof Ulm on this milestone in his career and on his research achievements.
Australia’s ‘comparative advantage’ – 7 September
7 September 2016
A new report on potential opportunities for Australia to develop ‘comparative advantage’, notably through research and innovation, was launched at the Queensland Museum, on 7 September.
The report has been prepared by the Academy for the Social Sciences in Australia (ASSA). It is the culmination of a three year long project – Australia’s Comparative Advantage, chaired by its current president, eminent economist Professor Glenn Withers AO FASSA.
The event was co-hosted with the Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering Queensland (ATSE). Registrations were open via ATSE website.
Further information is available on our Initiatives, Innovation page.
Workshop on Community Health in North Queensland
30 May 2016
The interest of the Royal Society of Queensland in community health dates back to its foundation in 1859.
With this background, the Society agreed to host a workshop in Cairns on 30 May to examine current models of achieving community health and whether the institutional arrangements for delivering health are adequate.
A report on the event appeared in the July Newsletter of the Cairns Institute: Extract_Cairns Institute_Newsletter_July 2016. More information on our Initiatives, Community Health page.
Inaugural John O’Hagan Lecture
20 April 2016
The Queensland Academy of Arts & Sciences has established an annual lecture named in honour of the founder and first President of the Academy, Dr John O’Hagan.
The inaugural John O’Hagan Lecture was given by Professor Peter Doherty AC, the 1996 Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine, on Wednesday 20 April in the main auditorium of the Translational Research Institute in the PA Hospital precinct. The subject was: “The Science of Australia”.
Dr O’Hagan has been a prominent and active member of the Society for many years.
Publishing Queensland Science : EcoSciences Precinct, 10 March
10 March 2016
Some 35 Queensland Government scientists participated in a discussion forum on Thursday 10 March 2016 at 12.30pm in Seminar room GA 603. The Society’s Hon. Editor Dr Barry Pollock attended with the President.
Maintaining regional Queensland’s natural capital: June conference
29 June 2016
A symposium on 29, 30 June 2016 sought to explore pathways to practical and effective natural resource and conservation management in regional Queensland.
Rural producers, natural resource managers and conservation managers face a constantly changing set of climatic and human influences. Traditional land production systems and environmental management are under pressure. New approaches to production and natural resource management are required in the face of government financial resource and capacity constraints, as well as the intensifying environmental challenges.
Expert advice and technical reports on climate-change adaptation have been provided to Government since the early 2000s. However, with some exceptions, on-ground natural resource management has yet to reflect the new challenges. Further, some city-based community expectations of environmental management do not match the contemporary regional condition on farms or in conservation reserves. Four fundamental themes were pursued:
1. Sustainable regional communities.
2. Ecosystem services and natural capital in rural production lands.
3. Role and management of the conservation estate.
4. Identification and management of climate change refugia.
The event was held at the University of Queensland and co-hosted by the Sustainable Queensland Forum, Central Queensland University and The Royal Society of Queensland.
For more information, see updated program or the proceedings. The Society’s President gave a presentation on “A stewardship model for managing pastoral lands“.