1995 to 2010
The National Academies Forum (NAF) was established in 1995 as the peak organisation for the four Australian Learned Academies. It was succeeded in 2010 by the Australian Council of Learned Academies. NAF engaged in a series of symposia and produced interdisciplinary reports and workshops on issues of key importance to Australia.
This study seeks to understand the development of Australian attitudes towards the use of nuclear energy for the large-scale generation of electricity. The topic has become more relevant as Australians are now well aware of the risks attributed to a continued dependence on fossil fuels for the nation’s energy demands. Recently there has been a growth in public investment in the new technologies associated with low-emission generation and in developing public education strategies for more efficient use of existing energy supplies. An investment in new technologies means that public acceptance of such technologies will be at the forefront of their development and long term utilisation.
Overview
Full Report (PDF 2010) | Media release
The green paper (Cutler report) on innovation, Venturous Australia, states that innovation is the imaginative response to opportunities, and identifies that the system requires renewal, refurbishment, recasting and where necessary, re-imagining. It notes the integral links between innovation and research, and the need to establish a culture that brings together the whole of the research community with industry to deliver benefits to the community. The green paper calls on government to integrate research across sectors, to commit to funding the full cost of research, to broaden and reinvigorate the CRC system, and to raise Australia’s research commitment at least to the OECD average over the coming decade. We are proud of the high quality of Australian research, and we agree that our future prosperity, sustainable employment and our standing as a nation in our region and the world depends upon achieving the aims outlined in the green paper. The National Academies Forum welcomes in particular two major initiatives proposed in the green paper.
Full Report (PDF 2008)
Beautiful Recherche Bay, in southwest Tasmania, came to prominence only recently, buts its significant for Australians goes back more than two centuries. It was there in 1791-1793 that many of Australia’s unique plants were collected by botanists for the first time; a joyous encounter occurred between visiting French explorers and the Tasmanian people; and critical experiments on the earth’s magnetic field were conducted by French scientists.
Our modern world is undergoing change at a much greater rate than ever before. In a single lifetime a person might experience many technological changes that alter their life dramatically. Most of these changes are beneficial, but some are not — whether through accident or by deliberate intent. The level of risk in modern life is thus also greatly increased, and new patterns and parameters of risk require new strategies to address them.
This report considers the important factors that influence risk assessment in a modern Australian context, and analyses five case studies of different types of risk that have become practical problems or disasters: drought, bushfire, industrial disease, unknown and possibly hazardous substances, and terrorist bombings. The case studies demonstrate the preparations and responses that were successful and the problems that arose, giving leads that can be used by risk managers at all levels in the future. The Academy hopes that the report will thus be a useful tool for many risk managers in many public and private sector organisations.
Full Report (PDF 2006)
In March 2005 the Prime Minister’s Science, Engineering and Innovation Council received a comprehensive report on nanotechnology. Following the acceptance of the PMSEIC Report, the Australian Department of Industry Tourism and Resources established a National Nanotechnology Strategy Taskforce to develop options for a National Nanotechnology Strategy. In the present study, the National Nanotechnology Strategy Taskforce commissioned the National Academies Forum (through the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering) to provide their expert opinions on the environmental, social, legal and ethical issues associated with nanotechnologies and to scope a strategic framework for analysis of real and perceived risks.
Overview
Full Report (PDF 2006)
In 2000 and 2001 the Business Council of Australia entered into discussions with Australia’s four learned academies about societal change. The academies – Australian Academy of Science (AAS), Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (ATSE), Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia (ASSA), and Australian Academy of Humanities (AHA) – saw the need for a joint approach and agreed to work together to study selected aspects of this fascinating topic.
Full Report (PDF 2005)
Recent technological advances have enabled assembly of a wide range of data about an individual’s genetic and biochemical makeup, as formed by their genes, environment and lifestyle. While medicine has always had personal and predictive aspects, precision medicine allows health and disease to be viewed at an increasingly fine-grained resolution, attuned to the complexities of both the biology of each individual, and the variation among the population.
There is a crisis of public faith in science and scientists. Recent research shows concern over scientific ethics, transparency and who benefits from R&D, exemplified in the GMO debate. Scientific discussion of the polio vaccine hypothesis for the origin of AIDS has been systematically suppressed for more than twelve years. The author calls for an international multidisciplinary inquiry into the origin of AIDS, arguing it is essential to human health, prevention of new pandemics, and to protect the integrity of science in the eyes of the public.
Full Report (PDF 2000)