The Royal Society of Tasmania’s 2018 Christmas dinner was held in the CSIRO dinning room at Battery Point on Tuesday 4th of December.

The lecture and dinner were attended by Her Excellency Professor the Honourable Kate Warner AC, the Governor of Tasmania and Mr Richard Warner. The Governor is patron of the Royal Society of Tasmania and the Society has been really spoilt this year by the Governor’s support in both hosting and attending our events.

The Christmas lecture was delivered by Professor Rufus Black.

Rufus Black is the Vice Chancellor and President at the University of Tasmania. Previously, he was Master of Melbourne University’s Ormond College and an Enterprise Professor in the Department of Management and Marketing and a Principal Fellow in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Melbourne. Rufus’ private sector experience includes nine years as a partner at McKinsey and Company, serving clients in Australia and Asia, and as a Director for national law firm Corrs Chambers Westgarth. His educational and social sector experience includes being the President of Museums Victoria, the Deputy Chancellor of Victoria University, the founding Chair of the Board of the Teach for Australia Board, a Director of the New York based Teach for All and a Director of the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research.

Rufus worked extensively for government at Federal and State levels. He was a Board Member of Innovation Science Australia, conducted the Black Review into the Department of Defence and the Prime Minister’s Independent Review of the Australian Intelligence Community and was the Strategic Advisor to the Secretary of Education in Victoria. Rufus holds degrees in law, politics, economics, ethics and theology from the University of Melbourne and Oxford University, where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar.

A Symposium: Dinosaurs and Evolution of Life.

Hobart, Tasmania

23-24^thMarch 2019

Supported by The Royal Society of Tasmania, Geological Society of Australia (Tas. Div.) and  The University of Tasmania

Click here for link to Symposium registration @ Purchase Events

Abstract submission deadline

12 January 2019

First circular: Call for abstracts

The Organizing and Scientific Committee of DEL2019, invites you to participate in a 2 day symposium to highlight recent advances in understanding the evolution of life on Earth, with a focus on Dinosaurs.

The conference is organized by The Royal Society of Tasmania as part of their 175^thAnniversary celebrations, with support from the Tasmanian Division of the Geological Society of Australia and the University of Tasmania. The venue is the Stanley Burbury Theatre, University of Tasmania, Churchill Avenue, Hobart. The Symposium will run in parallel with an exhibition at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery (TMAG) called “Dinosaur rEvolution; Secrets of Survival” prepared by Gondwana Studios.

Participants will benefit from hearing Plenary Session Keynote talks by several distinguished scientists on dinosaurs, evolution and mass extinction.

• Professor John Long – Flinders University, will give an overview on the origin of the species, including dinosaurs.
• Dr Steve Salisbury – University of Queensland Dinosaur Lab, will talk about the recent discovery of dinosaur tracks in northwest Western Australia.
• Dr Stephen Poropat – Swinburne University of Technology will talk about Australian dinosaurs through the Mesozoic period and the Triassic fossils found in the Hobart area – _are they dinosaurs?
• Dr Phil Bell – University of New England, will talk on recent opalized dinosaur discoveries from Lightning Ridge, NSW.
• Professor Ross Large – University of Tasmania, will talk about research on past ocean chemistry, evolution and mass extinctions over the last 600 million years.
• Peter Norton – Gondwana Studios, is the creator of the Dinosaur rEvolution exhibition at TMAG. He will talk about bringing dinosaurs to life by exhibition.
• John Pickell – a well-known author who has published several books on dinosaurs will run a Q & A session on dinosaurs, fielding questions from the audience

Calendar of main events

• September 1, 2018: Abstract submission launching
• January 12, 2019: Abstract submission deadline
• March 23-24 Symposium

Themes of Symposium

• Recent research on dinosaurs
• Evolution of dinosaurs and birds
• Proterozoic evolution of life
• Phanerozoic evolution of life
• Mass extinction events

Submission of Abstract

Abstracts should be a maximum of 250 words in Times 12 font, headed by the title, authors and affiliations. Please email to: royal.society@tmag.tas.gov.au before the deadline of 12 January 2019.