Personalised medicine uses very specific and unique health information from an individual to make informed therapy choices. To that end, the latest advances in human genomics, microbiome analysis and other advanced biomarker tools will assist in individualising therapy. A/Prof Raj Eri will describe in detail with examples how such advanced research will shape personalised medicine.

Raj is a passionate scientist who leads a research team investigating gut diseases such as Inflammatory Bowel Disease and colorectal cancer. He has published over 125 peer-reviewed research papers, received research grants from NHMRC and multiple philanthropic sources, and has been commended by the Australian Government for excellence and innovation in teaching.

The Royal Society of Tasmania invites you to a lecture on Sunday 16 October 2022 by Associate Professor Rebecca Carey.

You may attend the lecture in person ​at the RST Lecture Room, TMAG, Hobart. If attending in person, please register before 2pm Saturday 15 October.  Attendance is free for members of the Royal Society of Tasmania.

Non-members are welcome to attend and donations are appreciated at the door or through our website. Suggested donation $6; $4 for students and Friends of TMAG.

Alternatively, you may view the lecture remotely via Zoom. Click here to register for Zoom. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

Volcanic eruptions are fascinating for scientists and the public alike. Visual observations of eruption on land have been central to the scientific understanding and development of various models used in hazard forecasting.

However, in a submarine setting the interaction between hot magma and seawater is hidden and therefore not well understood. Recent submarine eruptions like the Hunga Tonga eruption in 2022 are extraordinary and can be devastating. International scientific teams with innovative robotic technologies have responded to these events to characterise and further understand submarine eruptions. These well characterised events underpin step changes in our understanding of how magmas and volcanoes interact with the ocean. In this presentation, I will describe case studies of recent submarine eruptions and underwater exploration of the eruption products to highlight advances and remaining challenges in the study of underwater volcanoes.

Associate Professor Rebecca Carey is a former Australian Research Council DECRA Fellow, Tasmanian Tall Poppy Scientist of the Year, and the 2020 winner of the Australian Academy of Science Dorothy Hill Medal. Rebecca won the RST MR Banks Medal for an outstanding mid-career researchers in 2021. Rebecca is interested in volcanic processes and environments, geological hazards, and indigenous cultural narratives around volcanic events. Her research focuses on understanding volcanic eruptive histories, mechanisms and drivers of volcanic eruptions, explosive eruption plumes, submarine volcanoes and eruption dynamics, and volcanic hazards.

The Royal Society of Tasmania, in association with marine research group Beer Aquatic, invites you to an entertaining lecture by Dr Julie McInnes, on the lifestyles of Southern Ocean seabirds on Macquarie Island. Dr McInnes is an ecologist who specializes in subantarctic ecosystems, with a particular emphasis on seabirds and their diets.

Join us at the Hobart Brewing Company, at 16 Evans Street, Hobart on Thursday 25th August 2022, 6.30pm. No prior registration is required to attend, however as seating is limited, early arrival is recommended.

Dr Julie McInnes is the first female recipient of the esteemed RJL Hawke Postdoctoral Fellowship, awarded by the Australian Antarctic Division.

At Beer Aquatic, she will share her latest insights into the ecology of Southern Ocean seabirds – with a focus on work done on Macquarie Island – and talk about the innovative methods she uses to untangle the complicated food webs around these top-level predators. Julie has worked extensively on the ecology of Southern Ocean seabirds and mammals, with a focus on applied research to create better conservation and management outcomes.

The Royal Society of Tasmania invites you to a program featuring three talks by current PhD candidates – Grace Martini (Human Geography), Brenda Mooney (Environmental Chemistry), and Mars Buttfield-Addison (Engineering and data science).

The lectures will be presented in-person at 3 pm on Sunday 4 September 2022 at the Royal Society of Tasmania Lecture Room in TMAG (entrance off Dunn Place, Hobart). If you wish to attend, please register in advance using this Eventbrite link to ensure seating.

Attendance is free for members of the Royal Society of Tasmania. Non-members are welcome to attend and donations are appreciated at the door or through our website . Suggested donation $6; $4 for students and Friends of TMAG.

The event will also be streamed online. Follow this link to register for the Zoom webinar. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

Grace Martini is a PhD candidate and Research Assistant in Human Geography at the University of Tasmania, in Hobart, Australia. Her research is centered around textiles and clothing within the charity and waste management sectors in Tasmania. Her PhD project seeks to understand practices of textile and clothing consumption, the resulting environmental impacts, and the transition of objects from valued to waste.

At this event, her talk will focus on “Why we can’t simply recycle our way out of the clothing waste problem“. Rather, to develop solutions that are actually sustainable we need to better understand people’s complex relationships with clothing.

Brenda Mooney is an Environmental Chemist who collaborates across disciplines to understand complex chemical cocktails and seek ways to transform waste into useful products. Her current PhD research project explores the composition and properties of iron and metal oxides in acidic metalliferous drainage precipitates. With a focus on community and collaboration, Brenda has held various professional scientific roles under the environmental health banners including 10 years of applied environmental management and wastewater treatments in southern Tasmania, and 15 years in scientific support consultancy for both industry and Arts organisations.

At this event she will talk about her PhD research ‘Sludge to Pigments: a multidisciplinary approach to understanding precipitates in the Queen River, Tasmania.’

Iron oxides transformed from problematic sludges make striking pigments, but how magnetic or red they are may give us clues as to their compositions before hitting the analytical instruments. Problematic sludges associated with mining activities are made up of nano-minerals that disrupt ecosystems and industrial operations, and are tricky to characterise. The approach to induce crystallisation, and integrate scientific and artistic techniques makes for a visually stunning read of the Queen River, Tasmania, with and without instruments.

Mars Buttfield-Addison is a PhD candidate at the University of Tasmania and CSIRO, working to adapt astronomical radio telescopes to detect and track spacecraft and debris during astronomical observations. Prior to this, her work in novel sensor utilisation and machine intelligence has spanned domains from computer vision and social trend analysis, to public health and visual design. On the side, Mars writes books about machine learning, tutors data science (privately and for UTAS), runs and speaks at developer events, and freelances as a software engineer and creator of STEM educational materials.

At this event, Mars will be presenting “One Eye On The Sky: Why You Should Care About Space Junk“. This talk will discuss satellite use, deployment and tracking through the decades since Sputnik—and why the ways we have adjusted to managing the orbital environment simply won’t cut it any more.

Australia’s marine territory is vast, pristine and protected. It harbours the next generation of environmentally responsible resources and products – think bioplastics made from kelp, complementary medicines made from seaweed, beauty products extracted from fish roe. The Marine Bioproducts Cooperative Research Centre (MBCRC) and Australian biotechnology company Marinova are dedicated to growing marine resources, developing new processes that utilise those resources and creating new marine bioproducts that are market-ready.

The event will feature four short presentations followed by a panel discussion and question-and-answer session. 

• John Gunn FTSE (ATSE Chair Tasmanian Division): Introduction and global context for marine bioproducts
• Dr Justin Coombs (CEO Marine Bioproducts CRC): Scope and vision for Marine Bioproducts CRC
• Prof Catriona Macleod (Interim Executive Director IMAS): The Tasmanian context – opportunities for and from Tasmania
• Paul Garrott (Managing Director Marinova): The Marinova story: manufacturing sustainable biotechnologies

John Gunn has conducted, led, translated and communicated science focused on the sustainable use of marine ecosystems and resources for over 35 years. Senior positions held by John include Chief Executive of the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS), Chief Scientist of the Australian Antarctic Program, and Deputy Chief of CSIRO’s Marine and Atmospheric Research Division. He has worked at the interface between R&D and industry throughout his career, and currently chairs the Boards of the Marine Bioproducts Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) and Australia’s Integrated Marine Observing System. He is also a Non-Executive Director of the Great Barrier Reef Foundation.

Dr Justin Coombs is a PhD-trained scientist, biotech specialist patent attorney, and biotech enterprise leader. His areas of expertise are in company start-ups, R&D program development, intellectual property, technology transfer, and commercial strategy across a broad range of technology-focused organisations. Before taking on his most recent role as the CEO of the new Marine Bioproducts CRC, Justin was part of the founding senior management team for the Cell Therapy Manufacturing CRC and the founding CEO of its spin-out company Carina Biotech.

Professor Catriona Macleod has a PhD in Aquaculture from the University of Tasmania focused on sustainable development in marine and coastal systems, and science-based management and decision-making, with specific expertise in environmental, economic, and social sustainability. Professor Macleod has been a research leader in three CRCs (Aquaculture, Aquafin and Seafood) and is currently a research program leader in the Marine Bioproducts CRC. She is interim Executive Director at the Institute of Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS) of the University of Tasmania.

Paul Garrott has been CEO of Marinova since 2003 and through his strategic approach to innovation and commercialisation has taken the company from start-up to global success. A graduate of the University of Tasmania, Paul was a partner in a leading chartered accounting firm in Sydney before establishing Marinova.

The lecture “”A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words”” delivered on 14 July 2022 is now available on the RST YouTube channel.

Society researcher Marley Large will talk about their three years exploring the Royal Society of Tasmania Art Collection.

Researching an art collection is full of adventure and excitement: a previously undiscovered document is found hiding in the archives; the thrill of seeing an artwork for the first time – but it is also about countless hours spent trawling through old documents, minutes, letters, books, notes and receipts.

There are nearly one thousand artworks in the Society’s collection – mostly colonial works on paper and each one has its own story and what stories they can tell:

• The fascination of newly encountered fauna and flora
• The consequences of colonisation
• The extraordinary landscapes
• Convict days
• The early settlers

Dr Anita Hansen

Anita Hansen (Honorary Curator, the Royal Society of Tasmania Art Collection) has been an artist all her life, working in Tasmania, interstate and overseas. She holds a PhD (UTAS) Nineteenth Century Natural History Art and Belonging in Tasmania, a MFA (UTAS) The Illustrations and Work of William Archer, a Graduate Diploma in Plant and Wildlife Illustration (University of Newcastle) and a BFA (UTAS). Anita co-edited The Royal Society of Tasmania’s book The Library at the End of the World: Natural Science and Its Illustrators and Poles Apart, and has published a number of journal articles. Anita has been a committee member of the Plimsoll Gallery and has curated exhibitions in Tasmania and interstate. Anita continues to serve on the Society’s Art Committee.

Marley Large

Marley Large (Honorary Secretary of the Royal Society of Tasmania), has completed research projects for the Royal Society including an investigation of their records to support their Apology to the Tasmanian Aboriginal People and a major project investigating records relating to the RST artworks. Marley, along with Dr Anita Hansen, was a member of the Joint RST-TMAG Artworks Committee, researching the provenance of the Society’s Art Collection. Marley and Anita were fortunate to examine each of over nine hundred items in the Collection during their research. Through the years of research, they were able to connect most of the artworks to records about them held in the Society’s Library at the Special and Rare Collection at UTAS. Marley’s interest in art developed when studying for a history degree; she was exposed to and came to understand some of the many subtleties, sensitivities, crude statements and areas in between, in the relationship between art and history. Marley continues to serve on the Society’s Art Committee.