The Royal Society of Tasmania

The advancement of knowledge

July at QVMAG – Prof Hallegraeff

2019 Launceston Lecture Series

 

The Royal Society of Tasmania 

 

INVITES YOU TO

 

Harmful Algal Blooms in the Australian Region

 

A PUBLIC LECTURE BY

 

Professor Gustaaf Hallegraeff

 

Venue: Meeting Room, QVMAG at Inveresk, Launceston
Time: 1.30 pm Sunday, 28 July 2019
Admission is free for members of the Royal Society of Tasmania*
$6 for general admission, and
$4 for students, QVMAG Friends, and members of Launceston Historical Society.

(*membership forms available at the door)

 

 

 

While microalgal blooms are natural phenomena, since the 1980s their impacts on public health, tourism and fisheries have increased in frequency, intensity and geographic distribution. Environmental agencies and aquaculture are increasingly forced to invest in improved technologies for monitoring for an increasing number of harmful algal species in water, and increasing complexity of algal toxins in seafood. Climate change is calling for increased vigilance in seafood safety.

 

Gustaaf Hallegraeff is a Professor at the Institute of Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania. He has worked on a wide range of Harmful Algal Bloom issues including shellfish toxins, climate change, ship’s ballast water and fish-killing algae. He is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Sciences and Engineering, winner of the 2004 Eureka Prize for Environmental Research, and 2014 Lifetime Achievement Award by the International Society for the Study of Harmful Algae.

 

 

 

 

Generously supported by 

Joint meeting with Geological Society at QVMAG

2019 Launceston Lecture Series

 

The Royal Society of Tasmania

  and

The Geological Society of Australia

 

INVITE YOU TO A JOINT MEETING AND PUBLIC LECTURE BY

 

Dr Claire Kain

Hazards of Flooding and Flood Modelling for Northern Tasmania

 

Venue: Meeting Room, QVMAG at Inveresk, Launceston
Time: 1.30 pm Sunday, 14 July 2019
Admission is free for members of the Royal Society of Tasmania and Geological Society of Australia
$6 for general admission, and
$4 for students, QVMAG Friends, and members of Launceston Historical Society.

 

 

The storm events of 2011 and 2016 led to severe flooding and sediment movement across northern Tasmania. During both events, the Westmorland Stream alluvial system at Caveside (near Mole Creek) was affected by debris flows and flash flooding, which threatened nearby residents and farming operations. A multidisciplinary study was undertaken to understand the hydrogeomorphic functioning of this system. The findings of this study have wider implications for the estimation of debris flow and flood hazard in Tasmania and elsewhere.

 

.Dr Kain is employed as a Natural Hazards Geologist at Mineral Resources Tasmania, working on understanding the risk and effects of hazards such as landslides, floods, debris flows and tsunamis in Tasmania. Originally from New Zealand, she has worked in the natural hazards field since 2008. After finishing her PhD at the University of New South Wales she moved to Tasmania three years ago.

 

 

 

Generously supported by

June Lecture at QVMAG – Prof. Ross Large

2019 Launceston Lecture Series

 

 

The Royal Society of Tasmania

Presents

The Rhythms of Earth and Life through Time

A Public Lecture by  

Professor Ross Large AO

 

 

Venue: Meeting Room, QVMAG at Inveresk, Launceston
Time: 1.30 pm Sunday, 23 June 2019
Admission is free for members of the Royal Society of Tasmania
$6 for general admission, and
$4 for students, QVMAG Friends, and members of Launceston Historical Society.

 

 

This talk by challenges the Darwinian concept that evolution is a random process. Professor Large outlines recent research on the trace element composition of sedimentary pyrite that demonstrates that the chemistry of the oceans and atmosphere has varied significantly through geological time in a rhythmic fashion, which has greatly influenced the course of evolution on Earth. The rhythms, which are ultimately driven by super continent cycles and mountain building events, have sped up through time, and not only control evolutionary events, but also the variation of atmosphere oxygen and mass extinction events.

 

Ross Large is an Emeritus Distinguished Professor of Geology at the University of Tasmania. He gained his BSc (Hons) from the University of Tasmania in 1969, PhD from University of New England in 1973, and an Honorary Doctor of Engineering from the University of Lulea, Sweden. Ross has published over 130 scientific papers and is internationally recognised for his research on the genesis of ore deposits and relationships to Earth evolution. He has won many awards during his career the most recent being the 2016 Eureka prize for interdisciplinary research, and the 2018 Medal of the Royal Society of Tasmania. He was awarded an Order of Australia in 2019. Ross is the current President of the Royal Society of Tasmania and the immediate past chair of the Tasmanian Division of The Academy of Technology and Engineering.

 

 

This event is generously supported by  

2018 Northern branch lectures

FEBRUARY 25 Jim Palfreyman “2016 Glitch of the Vela Pulsar” – In a world first, the only ever pulsar glitch observed in action with a large radio telescope. Right here in Tasmania.

** ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 1.15 pm March 25 **

MARCH 25 Prof Pat Quilty “Highlights of Tasmania’s Antarctic Exploration – Scott (why Scott?) and others” – Tasmania has long been a major location for Antarctica explorers. Researching their history has revealed some eye-opening surprises.

APRIL 22 Prof Hamish Maxwell-Stewart “Height, Health and History in Victoria and Tasmania 1850-1920” – How human stature can be used to explore early life disadvantage.

MAY 27 Dr Alison Alexander “Jane Franklin – the Real Founder of the Royal Society of Tasmania?” – The woman who organised, dominated, persuaded and commanded the men around her to co-operate in forming a scientific society.

JUNE 24 Dr Karin Orth “Mega Volcanic Eruptions and the Greatest Mass Extinction of All Time.” – Can Earth’s own internal heat engine driving volcanism be the harbinger of mass extinction?

JULY 22 Dr Caitlyn Vertigan “Shoot. Catalogue. Eat: Interacting with Nature at a Tasmanian Penal Station” – The early history of the Port Arthur penal station (1830-77) was filled with scientific exploration that today might be considered somewhat outside the accepted scientific regime.

** SCIENCE WEEK: AUGUST 11-19 **

AUGUST 26 Assoc Prof Jonathan Binns “Why Does an Engineer Need a PhD?” – Real problems in industry, defence and sport tackled with research and innovation, in Tasmania, Australia and the World.

SEPTEMBER 23 Dr Patsy Cameron “Voices From the Other Side of the Colonial Frontier” – A story of the social, cultural and spiritual survival of a unique people who lived on the Bass Strait islands from 1810.

OCTOBER 28 TBA “Breaking New Ground” – PhD students from the University of Tasmania will be presenting synopses and answering questions about their current research and progress. Topics TBA.

** The Annual QVMAG Staff Lecture**

NOVEMBER 25 David Maynard “Tasmania’s Forgotten Emus” – Before the thylacine there were other less well-known extinctions, including the Tasmanian emu soon after European arrival.