Abstract

The Royal Society of Queensland has an honourable history as the senior scientific institution in the state. It was established in 1884, with royal patronage continuing unbroken from 1885. Her Excellency the Honourable Dr Jeannette Young PSM, Governor of Queensland, is the present Patron. The Society seeks to increase respect for intellectual enquiry. It encourages original research and the application of evidence-based methods to policy development and decision making. The Society provides a forum for scientists and lay people to involve themselves in the progress of science in society, with ‘science’ defined broadly. As a non-partisan, secular, learned group, the Society is committed to the Enlightenment tradition of curiosity-led, knowledge-based enquiry that arguably was born with the Royal Society in London in 1660. The centrepiece activity of the Society is the production of the annual scientific journal Proceedings of The Royal Society of Queensland, supplemented from time to time with Special Issues on specific themes.