View recording of the lecture by Dr Alessandro Silvano on September 5, 2021

The lecture on September 5, 2021, by Dr Alessandro Silvano, is now available on the RST YouTube channel. Read more about the lecture here.

Breathing New Life

The Royal Society of Tasmania, Northern Branch, invites you to a public lecture entitled “Breathing New Life” on Sunday October 24, 2021, at 1.30pm, by Tim Smallbon.

You may, if you wish, attend the lecture in person at the Meeting Room, QVMAG at Inveresk, Please register your intention to attend in person by calling Chris Beswick on 0417 330 118 or sending an email to apcachris@gmail.com.

Admission is free for members of the Royal Society of Tasmania. The charge is $4 for students, QVMAG Friends, TMAG Friends, and members of Launceston Historical Society. General admission is $6.

Alternatively, you may view the lecture remotely via ZOOM. In this case you must register in advance to ensure that you receive an email containing instructions for joining the webinar on the day of the talk. Click here to register for ZOOM.

Click here to view the latest flyer for the event and print if necessary.

Breathing New Life outlines the journey of the Cressy Research Station, founded in 1937 and becoming a Land Army training centre through the war, then a farmer training facility, and then a centre of excellence for Tasmanian agriculture. But what has become of the Cressy Research Station today, and can it be revitalized with a new breath of life and scientific purpose?

Tim Smallbon has enjoyed a career in Tasmanian agriculture spanning almost 40 years. Always having a passion for applied science, detail and technical skill led him to train as a seed and vegetable crop agronomist. Embracing the challenge of lifelong learning, he completed a Master’s degree by research within the last 5 years and was appointed Research Manager for Upper Murray Seeds to breathe new life into the Cressy Research Station.

Generously supported by

My Life in Slime

The Royal Society of Tasmania, Northern Branch, invites you to a public lecture entitled “My Life in Slime” on Sunday September 26, 2021, at 1.30pm, by Sarah Lloyd OAM.

You may, if you wish, attend the lecture in person at the Meeting Room, QVMAG at Inveresk, No prior registration or notification is necessary. Normal COVID rules will apply.

Admission is free for members of the Royal Society of Tasmania. The charge is $4 for students, QVMAG Friends, TMAG Friends, and members of Launceston Historical Society. General admission is $6.

Click here to view the latest flyer for the event and print if necessary.

‘My Life in Slime’ will outline the life cycle of slime moulds (myxomycetes) and describe why the several completely different stages of development have confused scientists and naturalists for centuries. It will also describe the process of collecting and storing slime mould fruiting bodies and the difficulties identifying some of the 120 different species found so far in northern Tasmania.

Sarah Lloyd is a naturalist, writer and photographer who has written extensively about all aspects of Tasmania’s natural history, especially birds. Ten years after starting her study of slime moulds in the forest that surrounds her home, Sarah presented her work at a February 2020 conference in Costa Rica where participants were eager to learn about species found in Tasmania.

Generously supported by

Dusty with a chance of phytoplankton – how the land feeds the remote ocean, and how we know about it

Joint RST and Beer Aquatic event featuring Professor Pete Strutton

Date: Thursday 26 August, 6:30 pm – No registrations or tickets, but arrive early to secure a seat.

Venue: Hobart Brewing Company, 16 Evans St, Hobart

We all know that two-thirds of the Earth’s surface is ocean, but did you know that land-derived particles can have a huge impact on the marine ecosystem? Marine life that lives thousands of kilometres from any land mass depends on land surface processes for key nutrients, and in the ocean-dominated Southern Hemisphere some of those processes are pretty surprising. In this special event, co-hosted with the Royal Society of Tasmania, Prof Pete Strutton will talk us through those processes, and the important business of how we can track this land-sea connection in the remote oceans of the world.

Professor Pete Strutton is a biological oceanographer at the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies. His field of research is the interaction between physical and biological processes in the ocean, and the consequences for ocean productivity and air-sea CO₂ exchange. He has a PhD in Marine Science from the Flinders University of South Australia and has held positions at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, Stony Brook University and Oregon State University before joining UTAS as an ARC Future Fellow in 2010. He is a Chief Investigator in the ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes.

The global influence of ice-ocean interaction in Antarctica

The Royal Society of Tasmania invites all members and supporters to a Zoom webinar on September 5, 2021 at 5 pm in which Dr Alessandro Silvano will present his RST Doctoral Award Lecture. Note the unusual time 5 pm.

This webinar will be presented from the UK so it will not be possible to attend in person.

To view the webinar on your own device, you must register in advance. Use this link to register. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

Dr Silvano will explore the oceanic processes that drive melting of the Antarctic Ice Sheet. Different processes lead to certain areas of the Antarctic Ice Sheet being more susceptible to rapid ocean-driven melting, while other areas are more resilient. He will describe the emergence of feedback between the ice sheet and Southern Ocean. Increased ice melting leads to warming of the oceanic waters surrounding Antarctica and has consequences for future sea level rise. Furthermore, increased melting of the Antarctic Ice Sheet affects the global ocean and its ability to store anthropogenic heat and carbon.

Alessandro Silvano

Alessandro Silvano is a post-doctoral research fellow at the University of Southampton (UK), investigating how currents in the Southern Ocean regulate the oceanic heat transport toward the Antarctic Ice Sheet, causing ice melting and sea level rise. Alessandro has recently completed a PhD at the University of Tasmania and CSIRO, where he worked on ice-ocean interaction in East Antarctica, with a focus on the Totten Glacier. Dr Silvano won one of the 2020 RST Doctoral Awards.

View recording of the lecture by Dr Adam Abersteiner – August 2021

The lecture on August 1, 2021, by Dr Adam Abersteiner, is now available on the RST YouTube channel. Read more about the lecture here.

Kimberlites – Volcanic insights into Earth’s deep interior

The Royal Society of Tasmania invites all members and supporters to a Zoom webinar on August 1, 2021 at 5 pm in which Dr Adam Abersteiner will present his RST Doctoral Award Lecture. Note the unusual time 5 pm.

This webinar will be presented from interstate so it will not be possible to attend in person.

Kimberlites are rare igneous rocks that originate from the deepest-derived magmas on Earth. Despite their rarity, they have attracted an almost disproportionate amount of attention in geoscience as they entrain fragments of mantle rocks (i.e. xenoliths) and are the major source of diamonds. Thus, kimberlites present unparalleled insights into the composition and nature of the Earth’s deep mantle. However, one of the greatest challenges in understanding how kimberlites form is deciphering what the original composition of magma was in the source, as by the time the magma reaches the surface and solidifies, it has undergone extensive alteration.

This presentation will highlight research advances developed during the course of Adam’s PhD. The focus will be on the systematic study of melt/fluid inclusions in kimberlite minerals and the novel insights they present, contrary to classic models, into the composition and evolution of kimberlite magmas.

Dr Adam Abersteiner is a Postdoctoral Researcher in geochemistry and melt inclusions at the University of Helsinki, Finland. He completed his PhD in 2020 from the University of Tasmania under the supervision of Professor Dima Kamenetsky. Adam received his undergraduate Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Melbourne and pursued his Honour’s Degree at the University of Tasmania.

During Adam’s time as a student, his research focused on understanding the composition of kimberlite magmas (i.e. the deepest derived magmas known) and how they evolve during their ascent through the Earth’s mantle and crust. His research focused on analysing melt and fluid inclusions entrapped in kimberlite minerals in order to reconstruct the original composition(s) of kimberlite melts prior to alteration processes. Adam’s research interests have now branched into understanding different topics in petrology, such as chromite geochemistry and various alkaline magmas.

Breaking New Ground – public presentations by University of Tasmania PhD Candidates

Breaking New Ground
Public presentations by University of Tasmania PhD Candidates to celebrate Science Week

The Royal Society of Tasmania, Northern Branch, invites you to public presentations by three UTas PhD candidates, on August 22, 2021 at 1.30pm.

You may, if you wish, attend the lecture in person at the Meeting Room, QVMAG at Inveresk, No prior registration or notification is necessary.

Alternatively you may view the lecture remotely via ZOOM. In this case you must register in advance in ZOOM. This has nothing to do with COVID. It simply ensures that you receive an email containing instructions for joining the webinar on the day of the talk. Click here to register for ZOOM.

Click here to view the latest flyer for the event and print if necessary.

Priyadarshni Bindal

Impact of oral health on overall well-being of community-dwelling seniors

The onset of severe oral diseases appears to occur in many older Australians when they are homebound, possibly due to barriers in oral health care access. A research team at UTAS aims to design a strategy to improve and maintain the oral health of community-dwelling seniors.

Priya is an oral health professional, clinical academic and researcher who has practiced dentistry in Malaysia and worked as a visiting researcher at Swinburne University, Victoria. She has undertaken projects with the Ministry of Health, Malaysia, published book chapters and journal articles, and won the best presenter award at Federation Dental Internationale in Poland in 2016. Currently, she is teaching in and is undertaking a doctoral project on Improving “Oral Health-Related Quality of Life in Community-Dwelling Older Adults in Rural Tasmania.” at the University of Tasmania.

Eric Gubesch

Generating renewable energy from ocean waves.

Eric is investigating the effect mooring systems have on the performance and survivability of a floating offshore wave energy converter. He will introduce different types of wave energy converters with a focus on the oscillating water column type, and address the challenge of designing a device that consistently generates power while surviving extreme waves.

Eric’s qualifications include Bachelor of Ocean Engineering and Bachelor of Education and he is currently a PhD candidate at the Australian Maritime College.

Kate Edwards

Exercise induced gut damage and the estrobolome: does periodisation matter

Gut function is of critical importance to athletes. Mechanistic data indicates oestrogen impacts upon intestinal function and integrity but there is a paucity of data relating to female athletes. This research investigates the connection between exercise induced gut damage, oestrogen and the gut microbiome and how it may impact female health and performance.

Kate completed her MSc in Sport and Exercise Nutrition at the University of Westminster in London and is currently a PhD candidate at the University of Tasmania. Her current research focuses on the interactions between exercise induced gut damage, the microbiome and oestrogen in endurance athletes.

Generously supported by

View recording of Climate challenges and paths to mitigation – June 2021

The RST – ATSE public forum featuring Nathan Bindoff, Mary O’Kane and Andrew Catchpole, on Wednesday 23 June 2021 is now available on the RST YouTube channel. Read more about the lecture here.