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Australian Quarterly July 2023 edition

Australian Quarterly July 2023 edition

Australian Quarterly, July 2023 edition

In the July Australian Quarterly edition – The more things change, the more things stay the same – particularly for Australia’s Indigenous communities who have seen waves of enthusiasm for Indigenous rights ebb and flow on the political tides from which they have largely been excluded.

As one of Australia’s longest running publications, it is exciting for us when an article pops up from our archives that casts some much-needed perspective across current issues.

24 years ago, Australia stood at the cross-roads of the Republic referendum and within that discussion, Indigenous recognition was also front of mind. Except that in 1999 the conversation was of ‘Treaty’ – makarrata – and an ambitious reckoning with our past.

The Republic referendum was ultimately unsuccessful, burying alongside it the political appetite for constitutional change. In this edition we republish ‘Makarrata Dreaming’, which lays out how progressive the Treaty agenda had been. The article puts into perspective just how modest and humble the current request for a Voice to Parliament truly is.

When it comes to the shifting sands of politics, we welcome back Michelle Grattan and Mark Evans (alongside veteran political reporter, Tim Colebatch) for a very interesting analysis of the ‘teal’ and community independent phenomenon. With several state elections having happened since independents rocked the 2022 federal contest, it is an ideal time to ask whether community populism will be a lasting feature of our politics,
or simply a flash in the pan.

A growing number of online influencers are children – yet what are the laws or the community practices that protect these young stars? Prof Crystal Abidin takes us on a fascinating dive into this potentially exploitative world.

And if Australia is to become a renewable energy superpower, then our relationship with Japan will be of critical importance. Japan is pouring billions of dollars into Australia to create a Hydrogen Supply Chain, but it is not all smooth sailing…

All that and more in this Australian Quarterly.

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2023 Tall Poppy Award Nominations Now Closed

tall poppy award campaign 2023

The annual Young Tall Poppy Science Awards were created to recognise and celebrate the achievements of Australian scientists. Recipients of the Young Tall Poppy Science Awards (referred to as ‘Tall Poppies’) promote interest in science among students in all stages of learning, teachers and peers. Our Tall Poppies also provide understanding and an appreciation of science in the broader community.

In 2022 we welcomed over 60 new Young Tall Poppies from around Australia and now in its 25th year, we hope to welcome even more.

The 2023 nominations have now closed and the Selection Panels are reviewing applications .

Find out more. 

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Tall Poppy Mentoring Sessions – 2023

Tall Poppy Mentoring Sessions – 2023

The 2023 Tall Poppy mentoring program has begun!

These 1-hour mentoring sessions are informal and conversational as we ask the presenters, experienced Tall Poppy Alumni and researchers, to talk about issues such as advice to your younger self, leadership in science and how to maintain the spark of enthusiasm from the start of their career.

You are free to attend as many mentoring sessions as you like.

Find out more and register.

Session 1

Date – Tuesday 21st March
Time – 1.00 pm – AEDT
Presenter – Associate Professor Hannah Moore
Completed

Session 2

Date – Thursday 13th April
Time – 5.00 pm – AEDT – Note later time.
Presenter – Professor Pauline Pounds

Session 3

Date – Tuesday 2nd May
Time – 1.00 pm – AEDT.
Presenter – Dr Jessica Melbourne-Thomas

Session 4

Date – Tuesday 6th June
Time – 1.00 pm – AEDT.
Presenter –Dr Niraj Lal

Session 5


Date – Tuesday 18th July
Time – 1.00 pm – AEDT.
Presenter –Professor Chris Abbiss

Session 6


Date – Tuesday 1st August
Time – 1.00 pm – AEDT.
Presenter –Associate Professor Lyndsey Collins-Praino

Session 7


Date – Tuesday 5th September
Time – 1.00 pm – AEDT.
Presenter –Professor Frank Grutzner

Session 8


Date – Tuesday 3rd October
Time – 1.00 pm – AEDT.
Presenter –Professor Kim Bennell

Session 9

Date – Tuesday 7th November
Time – 1.00 pm – AEDT.
Presenter –Professor Kevin Pfleger

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April 2023 AQ Magazine Edition

AIPS Australian Quarterly journal April edition out now

April 2023 AQ Magazine Edition

Maybe it’s age or just the ongoing compression of time people have felt over the pandemic – but it’s hard to believe that the first three months of 2023 have already evaporated.

One of the key features of the world we have built for ourselves is that technological advancements are ever accelerating – while our personal and societal systems are slower to advance.

This also means that the challenges we face are multi-valent and coming at us even faster. To deal with challenges and develop solutions we have always sought to define and compartmentalise – our knowledge production functions through faculties and subjects; likewise, our politics by discrete ministries. Yet our problems do not adhere to neat boxes.

The times where we might have been able to comprehensively assuage an issue with a single type of intervention have long passed. With so many people on the planet and so many systems pushed to their limits, the feedback
loop from one intervention could have dire, and sudden, ramifications on a different social or environmental issue. Trade-offs and unforeseen consequences make it feel like we’re in a constant game of crisis whack-a-mole. Yet the inverse is also true – how can we become better at identifying where interventions could have positive and synergistic benefits across multiple issues?

This edition is largely about rejecting simplification and rebutting binary options. For example, human health and the environment have generally been dealt with as two distinct areas of development – yet there are deep causal dynamics between them. As such it’s great to have Montira Pongsiri leading the issue on the concept of ‘Planetary Health’.

Likewise, emissions reduction has been elevated as the panacea to climate change, yet stripping the goal of its political and historical context ultimately puts it closer to failure. Kate Dooley takes us through the details of COP27.

Similarly, Steve Sharp draws our eyes to the Pacific, to discuss the structural issues that are undermining current and future initiatives for a just transition.
No person or problem is an island. If we can master the synergies at these intersections, then we might just meet the agendas we have set for ourselves.

Grant Mills – Editor AQ Magazine

Subscribe – AQ: Australian Quarterly 94.1 – Jan-Mar 2023 – AIPS

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Young Tall Poppy Mentoring Sessions – September – November 2021

About the Sessions

Our objective with this program is to provide an opportunity to network with each other and to hear from experienced researchers/mentors about their career.

The sessions are aimed at our Young Tall Poppies from 2011 although anyone is free to register.

Our plan would be to run one- two sessions each month with opportunity for an experienced Tall Poppy to be able to talk about issues such as

    • Advice to your younger self
    • Leadership in science
    • How to maintain the spark of enthusiasm the start of their career

We envisage each session taking about an hour.
All sessions commence at 5.00 pm except Monday 20th September which is at 1.00pm.

Session Details – Note – All times are Sydney times.

Some session details have been amended since initial email notification sent.

Monday 6th September 2021 5.00 pm – Presenter – Professor Angela Moles – UNSW Registration – Click here for Registration which includes Zoom Link

Monday 20th September 2021 – 1.00 pm – Presenter – Associate Professor Seth Masters – The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute Registration – Click here for Registration which includes Zoom Link

Monday 27th September 2021 – 1.00 pm – Presenter – Dr Sarah Meachem – AIPS Director and researcher. Registration – Click here for registration which includes Zoom Link –  NB Note revised presenter and new time 

Monday 18th October 2021 – 5.00 pm – Presenter – Professor Kathy Belov, Professor of Comparative Genomics and Pro Vice-Chancellor Global Engagement – University of Sydney. Registration – Click here for registration which includes Zoom Link –Note change of session presenter.

Monday 25th October 2021 – 1.00 pm – Presenter – Professor Andrew Hill – La Trobe University. Registration – Click here for registration which includes Zoom Link – NB Note new time

Monday 22nd November 2021 – 5.00 pm – Presenter – Professor Vanessa Hayes – Garvan Institute & University of Sydney. Registration – Click here for registration which includes Zoom Link

Monday 29th November 2021 – 1.00 pm – NB Note new time Presenter – Professor Elizabeth New- University of Sydney. Registration – Click here for registration which includes Zoom Link 

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March 2021 Newsbrief

Hi and welcome to 2021.

This year we are trialling sending out a short quarterly email update to all our supporters, Tall Poppy Alumni and attendees at our various functions.

Like many organisations we are now tentatively getting back to a new normal in relation to our events and we are pleased to advise that our Young Tall Poppy applications are now open, as are our bookings for our Post Budget Briefings events in May.

From Maria Kavallaris AM – Co Chair AIPS.

Welcome everyone in our AIPS community. Thank you to our sponsors and supporters who have been instrumental in allowing us to continue our work over these last 12 months.

On behalf of AIPS I acknowledge the great work done by our junior researchers through the Young Tall Poppy awards and to the support from CSL for the 2020 CSL Florey Next Generation Awards.

The work our young researchers are doing is vital to our future international growth and competitiveness. It also has the potential to change our lives in ways which we cannot yet imagine. We are pleased and proud to be part of the process of nurturing this research excellence and recognise them early in their career.

The 60 Young Tall Poppy awardees made in 2020 across every state and territory join over 800 Alumni now working in the fields of research not only in Australia but across the world.

We are now in a good position to increase our outreach and are working to build relationships throughout the scientific education and wider communities.

Don’t forget that our Young Tall Poppy award applications are open, and we look forward to receiving many high-quality applications again this year.

Young Tall Poppy Awards

Applications for the 2021 Young Tall Poppy awards are now open and close on the 6th of April. All details can be found on our webpage. Click here for link. Please feel free to forward this onto any of your colleagues.

Post Budget Health Briefings

We are pleased to announce it this year we are running our Post Budget Health Briefings. Booking links for both of these events are available below.

The 2021 Post Budget Health Briefings are generously sponsored by the Johnson and Johnson Family of Companies and Medicines Australia . The Australian Institute of Policy and Science would like to acknowledge companies for supporting these significant events in the health calendar.

Outreach Activities.

We are now focusing on our outreach activities 2021 and we’re really pleased to include some information below. If you would like to participate in any of these activities please contact us on outreach@aips.net.au

  • Tall Poppy Takeovers on Instagram: once a month a Tall Poppy takes over our AIPS Instagram account and showcases their lab and research. Commencing April 2021.
  • CSIRO STEM Professionals in schools: We’ve partnered with CSIRO STEM professionals in schools to get our Tall Poppies into schools and advance the Tall Poppy campaign.
  • Science Tall Tales: this series showcases the What, Why and Weird of the science that our Tall Poppies do. New short videos will be launched in Science Week 2021.

AQ: Australian Quarterly

Did you know that AIPS also publishes Australia’s oldest public affairs magazine? For over 90 years AQ: Australian Quarterly has provided in-depth, evidence-informed writing from the forefront of the debates shaping our country and the world. An annual subscription costs as little as $15 and supports independent, expert driven debate at a time when objective facts and the media are under attack.

In the current edition of AQ read up on the militarisation of police in Australia, the nation’s thin patchwork of human rights legislation, and the future of work in a post-COVID world. All this and more in digital and in print. See the website for a preview and to subscribe: https://aips.net.au/aq-magazine/

Sponsors

None of these activities would be possible without our many sponsors who continue to support us throughout these difficult times and we acknowledge and thank you for your support.

AIPS Staff

We thought it might be timely to introduce ourselves. The Institute has a small staff all working part-time out of our virtual offices.

  • Steve Burke – General Manager,
  • Grant Mills – Editor in Chief -Australian Quarterly,
  • Dr Julie-Anne Popple – Outreach Officer and
  • Dai Le – Marketing and Media Assistant.

More information about us can be found on our website here https://aips.net.au/about/staff/

Steve Burke

General Manager

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When cells forget how to die – a hallmark of cancer

Andreas Strasser and David Vaux win $50,000 CSL Florey Medal for lifetime achievement for identifying cell death triggers and using them to fight cancer.

Full profile and photos available at: www.scienceinpublic.com.au/floreymedal

Award presentation: 8.30pm (Canberra time), 27 November in the Great Hall, Parliament House

Past CSL Florey Medallists include Graeme Clark, Ian Frazer, and Nobel Laureates Barry Marshall and Robin Warren.

In 1988, two Melbourne scientists, Andreas Strasser and David Vaux, discovered the genetic triggers that cause billions of cells in each of us to die every day. They showed that some cancers cells can bypass the trigger and ‘forget to die’. Their findings led to powerful new treatments for leukaemia and opened a new field of research which generates 25,000 papers every year.

Professors Strasser and Vaux, both of Melbourne’s Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, have been awarded the biennial CSL Florey Medal, presented by the Australian Institute of Policy and Science (AIPS).

The two scientists provided the first insights into the molecular mechanism for cell death, and the first evidence that the failure of this mechanism can lead to cancer and autoimmune disease.

The research revealed that cancer genes don’t just trigger runaway cell growth; some of them also stop the body’s normal process of programming cells to die, known as apoptosis. Avoidance of cell death is now recognised as one of the six universally accepted “Hallmarks of Cancer”.

David Vaux is deputy director of the Institute, and Andreas Strasser is the Division Head for Blood Cells and Blood Cancer. Much of their research has centred on the discovery of a gene called Bcl-2, which can stop the normal cell dying process. After identifying it, their respective teams worked on blocking its activity. The results led to potent new treatments that are now in use against two types of leukaemia.

David Vaux says he is honoured to be the joint recipient of the award, which is named in honour of Australian Nobel laureate, the late Sir Howard Florey who brought penicillin to the clinic.

“I’m proud to share this honour with Andreas,” he says. “And there is still so much more to do. We have potential new leukaemia treatments that target the Bcl-2 gene undergoing clinical trials at the moment.”

Andreas Strasser agrees. “Although our research into cell death and cancer has been underway for decades, it remains for me a vital and exciting field,” he says.

CSL Chief Scientific Officer Professor Andrew Cuthbertson adds that the research has global ramifications.

“Their discoveries are the basis for literally thousands of journal papers every year,” he says. “It’s true to say that there isn’t an oncology researcher anywhere in the world who isn’t aware of their work.”

AIPS director Peter McMahon accords the research in the highest degree of importance in the field.

“The ‘Hallmarks of Cancer’ constitute a global research framework,” he says. “Andreas Strasser and David Vaux have played a major role in building this framework and AIPS are very pleased be able to acknowledge this achievement with the support of CSL”

Media contacts:

Niall Byrne, niall@scienceinpublic.com.au, 0433 339 141, (03) 9398 1416

Tanya Ha, tanya@scienceinpublic.com.au, 0404 083 863