The lecture on productive learning (7 November 2021), by Dr Lila Landowski, is now available on the RST YouTube channel. Read more about the lecture here.
A Double Devil Dilemma
The Royal Society of Tasmania, Northern Branch, invites you to a public lecture on Sunday 28 November 2021 at 1.30 pm, by Emeritus Professor Greg Woods.
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.
Transmissible cancers are rare. However, Tasmanian devils are dying from two transmissible cancers that comprise Devil Facial Tumour Disease (DFTD). Both cancers arose from Schwann cells that avoided immune elimination. Research is revealing why devils appear to be susceptible to these transmissible cancers. Promising vaccine research and field observations that some devils can recover from DFTD provide hope for the devil population’s future.
Greg Woods’ (PhD, FFSc [RCPA]) lifelong interest in immunology has led to studies of T cells, leukaemia, UV irradiation, tumour immunology, dendritic cells and Devil Facial Tumour Disease in laboratories in Hobart, Toronto, London and Scotland. Awards include a “Eureka Award for Environmental Science” and the “ASMR Research award in Recognition of Distinguished Service to Medicine, Science and Community”.
Generously supported by
View recording of the lecture by Associate Professor Rebecca Carey – October 2021
The lecture on October 3, 2021, by Associate Professor Rebecca Carey, is now available on the RST YouTube channel. Read more about the lecture here.
Brain hack: Sharing the secrets to productive learning, backed by neuroscience
The Royal Society of Tasmania invites all members and supporters to a lecture on 7 November 2021, at 3 pm by Dr Lila Landowski.
Photo courtesy of Reg Ashman
The lecture will be presented in person at the RST Lecture Room in TMAG (Hobart) and as a Zoom webinar.
If you wish to attend in person: Register using Eventbrite before Saturday 6 November using this link. The password is RST. Attendance in person is limited by current pandemic restrictions to 20.
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.
If you wish to attend via ZOOM: Follow this link to register for the Zoom webinar. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.
Attendance is free for members of the Royal Society of Tasmania. Non-members are welcome and donations are appreciated through our website. Suggested donation $6; $4 for students and Friends of TMAG.
Our brains change as we age, making it significantly harder to learn – but it doesn’t mean an old dog can’t learn new tricks!
There are smarter ways to learn than whatever it is you are doing right now. Lila will take you on a journey through the brain, examining some of the existing research on learning, and empower you with tools that help you learn faster and more effectively.
Dr Lila Landowski is a multi-award-winning neuroscientist and lecturer at the University of Tasmania, an Executive Director of the Australian Society for Medical Research, a Director of Epilepsy Tasmania, as well as a regular guest expert science communicator for the ABC. Her research background spans across stroke, nanotechnology, fatigue, dementia, axon guidance and peripheral nerve regeneration.
As a thought leader in science and science advocacy, her honorary titles include being a “Superstar of STEM,” an ambassador for public school education, a patron of National Science week, and being named a “Science superhero” by Australia’s Chief Scientist.
The Royal Society of Tasmania 2021 Christmas Function
The President and Council of The Royal Society of Tasmania warmly invite members and friends to a lecture by Professor Greg Lehman followed by dinner on Thursday 9 December 2021, at the Royal Yacht Club of Tasmania.
“Terra nullius in Tasmanian colonial art”
The idea of Australia as an ‘empty land’ was dismissed by The Australian High Court in 1992. However, the implication of terra nullius as a rationale for British occupation of Aboriginal territory persists, largely unrecognised, in our colonial archive. Art Historian Greg Lehman will illustrate a dramatic example of this in the visual history of Van Diemen’s Land.
The address presented by Professor Greg Lehman (Pro Vice-Chancellor Aboriginal Leadership, UTas) will be followed by a two-course plated meal ($65 per person). Wine and beer will be available for purchase. If you have special dietary requirements, please contact the office at admin@rst.org.au
Those wishing to attend must register using the registration form. Download the fillable PDF form here and follow the instructions. Attendance without dinner is permitted at no cost but registration is still required.
The Royal Society of Tasmania Annual Doctoral (PhD) Awards 2021
Nominations are now open for the RST annual Doctoral awards. Two awards are made for excellence in research by recent PhD graduates. In 2021, one award will be reserved for nominations in non-Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Medicine (STEMM) disciplines. The other award will be open.
The value of each award is $1,000 (AUD). Nominations will close on 15th November, 2021. Click here for the guidelines to the awards.
Volcanic eruptions in the deep submarine environment: Are the dynamics and products the same as on land?
The Royal Society of Tasmania invites all members and supporters to a lecture on 3 October 2021, at 3 pm by Associate Professor Rebecca Carey.
The lecture will be presented in person at the RST Lecture Room in TMAG (Hobart) and as a Zoom webinar.
If you wish to attend in person: Register using Eventbrite before Saturday 2 October using this link. The password is RST. Attendance in person is limited by current pandemic restrictions to 20.
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.
If you wish to attend via ZOOM: Follow this link to register for the Zoom webinar. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.
Attendance is free for members of the Royal Society of Tasmania. Non-members are welcome and donations are appreciated through our website. Suggested donation $6; $4 for students and Friends of TMAG.
Volcanic eruptions on land are spectacular events for scientists and the public alike. Eruptions on the sea floor are probably no less spectacular, but they are rarely observed.
The lack of observational opportunity has severely hindered the scientific understanding of submarine volcanism. The deep-sea eruption of Havre submarine volcano north of New Zealand in 2012 was an exceptionally powerful event that produced a gigantic 400m2 raft of floating pumice which alerted scientists to the eruption. Ship and robotic vehicle surveys of the volcano in 2015 provided an unprecedented dataset from which to discover the similarities and differences between eruptions and their products on land versus in deep submarine settings. Our team-based studies of this event have elucidated the special complications that arise for eruption into water versus air. Our insights can be used by science teams for future submarine eruptions.
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 is interested in volcanic processes and environments, geological hazards, and indigenous cultural narratives around volcanic events. She leads the volcanology group at the University of Tasmania which includes two postdoctoral researchers, five PhD students and other students at Honours and undergraduate levels. Her current projects range from microanalytical studies of products from single eruptions to volcanology, the geochemistry of hot-spot volcanoes offshore Australia and the role of mantle plume volcanism in tectonics, and field studies of ancient mineralised volcanic terrains in Australia.
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
Beer Aquatic – RST joint event Thursday 26 August, 2021
The first joint Royal Society of Tasmania-Beer Aquatic event held on Thursday 26 August was a resounding success. To a packed house at the Hobart Brewing Company, Professor Pete Strutton gave a great talk, ‘Dusty with a chance of phytoplankton’, on the link between land and ocean ecosystems.
RST Council and Events Committee member Shasta Henry spoke briefly about the work of the RST and presented the speaker with a copy of the RST publication “Charles Darwin in Hobart Town”.
Membership Secretary Roxanne Steenbergen had membership forms and information about the Society at the ready.
Many thanks to the speaker, organisers Dr Will Hobbs and Dr Christina Schellenberg, and the RST Councillors and other members who supported the event by attending. We hope that this will become an annual event on the RST calendar to celebrate National Science Week.
