The RST Doctoral Award is intended to recognise recent PhD graduates who have made significant advances in the course of their doctoral research. The value of the award is $1,000 (AUD).

Dr Zhen Zhou has been selected as the winner of the 2022 RST Doctoral Award. Dr Zhou is a medical scientist and completed her PhD at the Menzies Institute of Medical Research, University of Tasmania in 2021. The focus of her PhD research was primary prevention of cardiovascular disease and the use of lipid-lowering medications (known as statins) for elderly people.

Cardiovascular disease is the top killer at the state, national and global levels. Tasmania has scored poorly in heart health, and the risk factors for developing heart problems are among the highest in Australia.

Dr Zhou’s PhD results supported widespread use of statins for the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease in older adults, given that this treatment is relatively safe and widely tolerated. However, statin use does not have a mortality benefit and many questions remain. Large, randomised trials over several years are required to fully understand the role of statins. In the meantime, Dr Zhou’s research will inform clinicians making judgments on the appropriateness of prescribing statins to their older patients.

Since graduating, Dr Zhou has taken up a National Heart Foundation Post-Doctoral Fellowship at the Menzies Institute of Medical Research.

The Royal Society of Tasmania’s Clive Lord Memorial Medal has been awarded to Emeritus Professor Stefan Petrow (pictured below). Professor Petrow has made an outstanding contribution to diverse aspects of Tasmanian history through prolific research, teaching, post-graduate supervision and public engagement sustained for more than 30 years.

Stefan completed an undergraduate degree and Masters at University of Tasmania followed by a PhD at University of Cambridge. He was appointed to the School of History and Classics at the University of Tasmania in 2000, and revitalised the teaching of Australian history, inspiring many students to take on Tasmanian topics. He has supervised 37 PhD and MA students. Professor Petrow served as Director of the Centre for Tasmanian Historical Studies (2013-19) at the University of Tasmania and two terms as President of the Tasmanian Historical Research Association.

Professor Petrow has published on public health, urban planning, juvenile delinquency, technical education, libraries, religious sectarianism, wild life conservation, animal cruelty and military service. His 1997 paper on the events surrounding the mutilation of the body of William Lanne in 1869 has informed many during the recent discussion over the future of the statue of William Crowther.

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The Clive Lord Memorial Medal was established in 1930. It is awarded every four years to a scholar distinguished for research in, alternatively, Tasmanian science or as in 2022, Tasmanian history, with the awardee giving the Clive Lord Memorial Lecture.

Clive Errol Lord, a naturalist and museum director, became Tasmania’s leading ornithologist, and was instrumental in the inception of Tasmania’s first national park in 1916. He successfully campaigned for the protection of land and sea animals that led to the Animals and Birds Protection Act of 1936, and also for the preservation of penguins and seals of Macquarie Island that resulted in the island being proclaimed a wildlife reserve. He was Secretary of the Royal Botanical Gardens for many years, and Secretary of the Royal Society of Tasmania from 1918-1933.

Successful Community Heritage Grants – RST Art Collection

The Royal Society of Tasmania has been successful in gaining funding through the National Library of Australia Community Heritage Grants (CHG) program. The CHG program is an Australia-wide plan helping community organisations preserve locally owned, but nationally significant, Australian cultural heritage collections. The application involved a significant amount of work from the RST Art Fundraising Committee, Honorary Curator and Art Committee.

Gaining a grant from the CHG of $6500 represents an acknowledgement that our collection is of national significance. The grant will be specifically used for a significance assessment, preservation needs assessment, and the purchase of cataloguing software, to help in the management of the collection.

The services of qualified experts in the fields of significance assessment and art conservation have so far been successfully secured, and we look forward to pursuing further opportunities to advance the preservation of the collection using the CHG grant.

The Art Fundraising Committee has also been successful in gaining a $2000 grant from the Community Underwriting Small Grants Program, a yearly initiative of Community Underwriting, an Australian insurance provider for not-for-profit organisations. The grant will provide further contribution to the restoration of the RST Art Collection. Honorary Curator Dr Anita Hansen will work alongside the recently appointed Art Conservator, Amy Bartlett, to identify appropriate works for restoration. Warm appreciation is expressed to both the CHG program and Community Underwriting for their support.

The bulk of the Royal Society of Tasmania Art Collection was assembled from the 1890s, through donation, purchase and exchange, in a deliberate effort by the Society to acquire important Tasmanian cultural items. A recent valuation confirmed the unique nature and importance of many works in the collection. Learn more about the collection here.

See below an example of an artwork needing conservation assessment. At some time, the card mount was pasted to the artwork. Click on the image to see more detail.

Congratulations to long-standing Royal Society of Tasmania member, Professor Trevor McDougall AC, on winning the Prime Minister’s Prize for Science, 2022, for his research into the ocean’s role in climate and climate change. This prize recognises outstanding achievements in scientific research and is awarded annually by the Department of Industry, Science and Resources. The Prime Minister’s Prize for Science is regarded as the most prestigious national award for the advancement of knowledge through science.

Professor McDougall, a global leader in oceanography, is recognised for his discoveries of new ocean mixing processes and his work to redefine the thermodynamic definition of seawater. He has developed a specific temperature variable to track heat transference that has now been adopted internationally, by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission, as the new standard for representing heat in marine science.

Professor McDougall has been a Scientia Professor in the School of Mathematics and Statistics at UNSW in Sydney since 2012. His undergraduate degree at the University of Adelaide was followed by a PhD at the University of Cambridge. He held an appointment as a physical oceanographer with CSIRO in Hobart for almost thirty years before joining UNSW in 2012. During that period in Hobart, Professor McDougall became a member of the Royal Society of Tasmania. He has previously been awarded both the MR Banks Medal (1998), being an outstanding mid-career researcher, and the Royal Society of Tasmania Medal (2013), being an outstanding scholar who was also an active member of the Society.

The Royal Society of Tasmania owns a large and valuable Art Collection of over 900 artworks. The majority of the collection was acquired by the Society at the end of the nineteenth century in a campaign to collect items reflecting Tasmanian cultural identity. The collection includes works from many famous convict and colonial artists such as Simpkinson de Wesselow, John Skinner Prout, Benjamin Duterrau, Owen Stanley, W.C. Pigeunit and Louisa Anne Meredith. The RST Art Collection is currently housed in the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery in Hobart. This collection is of national cultural significance, containing many rare and unique works.

This short video presents an interview with Prof Ross Large, Chair of the RST Art Committee. We extend very warm thanks to film maker Anthos Simon for producing this video.

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More information about the RST Art Collection and its significance is available here.

The Royal Society of Tasmania is proud of its role as the custodian of one of the most significant collections of colonial works on paper in Australia. It is also our responsibility to make sure that these works are repaired, conserved and finally exhibited, and this requires considerable funding. The Gala Fundraising event at Government House on Tuesday 6 September – our most significant fundraiser yet – drew much interest from a large group of those who appreciate the quality of the collection and are supportive of our efforts. A feature of the evening was a commissioned work “Echoes of Van Diemen’s Land” from composer Thomas Rimes which was written as a direct response to a selection of exceptional Tasmanian landscape paintings by Francis Simpkinson de Wesselow – 1819-1906.

We are pleased to provide a short film recording of the event and express our gratitude to film maker Anthos Simon for capturing the evening for us to enjoy and share more widely. Click below to start the video.

Nominations for both medals open on the 30 June and close on 31 August, 2022.

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Jocelyn McPhie
Chair, RST Honours Committee

National Reconciliation Week 2022

The National Reconciliation Week 2022 theme, “Be Brave – Make Change” is a challenge to all Australians to tackle the unfinished business of reconciliation for the benefit of all Australians.

Reconciliation Tasmania – https://rectas.com.au/ – is the statewide body promoting reconciliation for all Tasmanians. Reconciliation Tasmania will play a major role in organising and running events during National Reconciliation Week – 27 May to 3 June, 2022.

These events include a lunchtime forum in Hobart (27 May) and breakfasts in Hobart (1 June), Devonport (2 June) and Launceston (3 June).

Uluru Statement Custodian, Thomas Mayor, and 2022 Tasmanian Young Australian of the Year, Kaytlyn Johnson, will be guest speakers at the breakfast events.

For more details and bookings, go to https://rectas.com.au/national-reconciliation-week .