2013 Annual Report
2012/13 has seen ACOLA Secretariat Ltd take on a new role, initiated by Australia’s Chief Scientist, Professor Ian Chubb AO, and utilising its function as the liaison body between the four Learned Academies. Since June 2012, the company has managed a major new three-year multidisciplinary research program Securing Australia’s Future, providing evidence-based research for the Prime Minister’s Science Engineering & Innovation Council (PMSEIC).
Dr Christina Parolin, Chair, Board of Directors
ACOLA Secretariat Limited
ACOLA STRATEGIC STATEMENT
Australia’s four Learned Academies are independent organisations made up of the nation’s leading experts in all of the major fields of enquiry. More than 2000 of the nation’s most eminent scientists, researchers, scholars and practitioners contribute to this rich source of expert knowledge.
ACOLA provides the forum for the four Learned Academies to work cooperatively to develop cutting-edge thinking and integrated problem solving. ACOLA’S purpose is to harness expert knowledge from multiple disciplinary perspectives, to inform national policy and to develop innovative solutions to complex global problems and emerging national needs.
Chair’s Report
2012/13 has seen ACOLA Secretariat Ltd take on a new role, initiated by Australia’s Chief Scientist, Professor Ian Chubb AO, and utilising its function as the liaison body between the four Learned Academies. Since June 2012, the company has managed a major new three-year multidisciplinary research program Securing Australia’s Future, providing evidence-based research for the Prime Minister’s Science Engineering & Innovation Council (PMSEIC).
In order to implement and support the program, the ACOLA Secretariat Melbourne staff was increased from EFT 1.5 to EFT 3.85, and part-time project managers have been engaged in Canberra and Sydney.
In addition to the six initial projects that comprised the program Securing Australia’s Future, ACOLA Secretariat has continued to manage a 2010-2012 LASP project (Making Interdisciplinary Research Work) and completed an internally funded project run in collaboration with VicHealth (Australia’s Progress in the 21st Century).
ACOLA Secretariat staff members continue to network across the research sector through participation in numerous public events.
The variety of activities being undertaken through the Secretariat has brought the organisation into a collaborative relationship with a wide variety of research organisations, Academy Fellows and individual research contractors. The rapid expansion in the number, variety and scope of research programs being managed by the Secretariat has also presented many challenges, and it is a credit to a very hard working Secretariat team that the company has fulfilled its obligations to its many and varied stakeholders.
Dr Christina Parolin
Chair, Board of Directors
ACOLA Secretariat Ltd
