The Royal Society of Tasmania

The advancement of knowledge

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What has the ocean got to do with climate? – Prof Trevor McDougall FRS- Tuesday 4 November

Trevor McDougall is the recipient of  The Royal Society of Tasmania Medal for 2013.  Trevor will be presented with his medal and will then give his presentation.

Brief bio = After a 28-year career at CSIRO Marine in Hobart, Trevor McDougall is now the Scientia Professor of Ocean Physics in the Applied Mathematics department at the University of New South Wales in Sydney where he conducts research on the physical and thermodynamical aspects of mixing processes in the ocean.
Précis = The central features of the ocean-ice-atmosphere system will be reviewed, including how we know that the warming of planet earth over the past century is caused by our pollution of the atmosphere with Greenhouse gases. In this coupled climate system the ocean plays two main roles, (i) it is a vast store of heat, acting as a large “thermal flywheel”, and (ii) it transports heat from the equatorial region to the polar regions. The ocean’s ability to perform these roles is sensitive to the amount of mixing in the ocean, and this provides the motivation for studying mixing processes and for properly following the transport of heat throughout the ocean

 

http://www.maths.unsw.edu.au/

Trevor McDougall and his wife and Britta

The First Medical Research in Australia – Professor John Pearn – 26 October 2014

The Royal Society of Tasmania – 2014 Launceston Lecture Series

Professor John Pearn Emeritus, School of Medicine, University of Queensland

will present

The First Medical Research in Australia

in the Meeting Room, QVMAG at Inveresk
2.00 pm Sunday 26th October 2014
Admission: $5 General Public, $3 Friends of the Museum, $2 Students
Free for members of The Royal Society of Tasmania

To assist us with the organization of this event
RSVP by Thursday 23rd October 2014:
Email bookings@qvmag.tas.gov.au or telephone 6323 3798

Australia has a rich heritage of medical research. For those interested in “firsts”, the first formal medical research in Australia was undertaken on the French naval Baudin expedition of 1801 – 1803, in Tasmanian waters. The French naval surgeon, Francois Peron, had constructed a strength-testing machine, a dynamometer, and used this to measure the effects of climate and nutrition on human strength. These experiments were conducted against the background of scurvy, a disease which Cook’s earlier nutritional experiments had brought under control in the Royal Navy. Maria Island holds a special place in the history of medicine and healthcare in Australia.

Professor John Pearn is a Senior Paediatrician based at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Brisbane. A Founder and Past President of the Australian and New Zealand Society of the
History of Medicine. He is also a long-serving Committee Member of the International Society of the History of Medicine. As Major General John Pearn, he is a former Surgeon
General of the ADF.

Post Graduate Night – October 7, 2014 – 8.00 pm

Three post graduates will each present a 20 minute talk on their field of study.

Tuesday 7 October 2014, 8.00pm

The Royal Society Room,  19 Davey St Hobart

 

Daniel Gregory

“The Chemical Conditions of the Late Archean Hamersley Basin Inferred from Whole Rock and Pyrite Geochemistry with Δ33S and δ34S Isotope Analyses”

Daniel Gregory graduated with a BSc in Chemistry in 2004 from the University of British Columbia and a BSc honours in Geology in 2007 from the University of British Columbia. After completion of his geology degree Dan was awarded the APEG BC gold medal for excellence in geosciences. During the summer from 2004 to 2006 he worked in mineral exploration in the Yukon Territory and British Columbia for Archer, Cathro and Associates, rising from the position of field assistant to project geologist. After graduation in 2007 Dan continued to work as project geologist for Archer Cathro until March 2010 when he began his PhD at the University of Tasmania under supervision of Ross Large. Dan’s PhD investigated that trace element content of sedimentary pyrite through geologic time and tested whether the source of gold in the St. Ives gold deposit, Western Australia, could be the shales within the host rocks. He finished his PhD in November of 2013 and is currently working on studies to develop the use of pyrite as a vectoring tool for ore deposit exploration in Western Australia and South Australia.

Lavy Ratnarajah

Bottoms up: How whale poop helps feed the ocean

Lavy graduated with a BSC in Environmental Management from Monash University and subsequently completed Honours in Zoology at the University of Tasmania. She has previously worked on species conservation projects in Australia, USA, Ecuador and Malaysia. Lavy is currently doing a PhD at the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies and the Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre at the University of Tasmania. Her research looks at how defecation by whales can influence phytoplankton growth and remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

 Aliaa Shallan

“Point-of-care Devices for Therapeutic Drug Monitoring”

Aliaa Shallan started her PhD at the University of Tasmania in 2011 under a scholarship funded by the Egyptian government. She is doing research within Professor Michael Breadmore and Dr. Rosanne Guijt’s group in the Australian Centre for Research on Separation Science (ACROSS) which is part of the Chemistry discipline in the School of Physical Sciences.
Her research is focused on developing point-of-care devices for therapeutic drug monitoring that are portable and cost effective. The outcomes are expected to improve the quality of life for many patients and empower health care providers with information that facilitate making timely decisions.
Aliaa’s research interests include analytical techniques for biological sample handling, microfluidics, sample-in/answer-out devices, and fast prototyping.
Communicating science to the public is one of her passions.

 

All welcome and admission is free

Antarctic Ocean/Ice Interactions: New Insights from Biotagging and Autonomous Platforms – Dr Guy Williams – 28 September 2014

 

The Royal Society of Tasmania – 2014 Launceston Lecture Series

Dr Guy Williams
ARC Future Fellow

will present

Antarctic Ocean/Ice Interactions: New Insights from Biotagging and Autonomous Platforms

in the Meeting Room, QVMAG at Inveresk
2.00 pm Sunday 28th September 2014
Admission: $5 General Public, $3 Friends of the Museum, $2 Students
Free for members of The Royal Society of Tasmania

To assist us with the organization of this event
RSVP by Thursday 25th September 2014:
Email bookings@qvmag.tas.gov.au or telephone 6323 3798

Antarctica’s input to the Southern Ocean is one of the major thermodynamic engines of the Earth climate system. Our understanding is formed by our observations, which act to evaluate and validate our ability to monitor the system with satellites and predict future states with numerical models. But the Antarctic margin of the Southern Ocean is a harsh environment and there are non-trivial limitations to the observational datasets we’ve struggled to achieve so far. Recent technological advances in the miniaturisation of sensors for biologging and the application of autonomous robotics are dramatically enhancing the spatial and temporal coverage of our observations. This talk will examine recent outcomes from both areas that are having a dramatic impact on polar climate science

Dr Guy Williams moved to Tasmania in 1998, translating a confused background in Aeronautical Engineering at the University of Sydney into an Honours project at UTAS, modelling the dynamics of Heard
Island glaciers. Thereafter he completed a PhD in observational physical oceanography, falling deeply in love with the production of cold, salty Antarctic Bottom Water. Completing post-doctoral positions
in Hobart, Sapporo and Paris, Guy returned to the ACE CRC in 2011 to successfully lead an ‘Autonomous Underwater Vehicle under Sea Ice’ project in October 2012. A veteran of 7 polar research voyages
and nearly a year at sea, he now resides at IMAS as an ARC Future Fellow, happy to let Elephant seals and robots collect data for him.

2014 Doctoral Award Nominations now open

THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF TASMANIA

For the Advancement of Knowledge

DOCTORAL (PHD) AWARD, 2014

The Royal Society of Tasmania has instituted an annual award for a recently-graduated doctoral (PhD) academic, who has made significant advances in the course of his/her doctoral research.

• The Award shall be in any field – sciences, medicine, arts or humanities – within the purview of the Society.
• The Award shall be made no more than three years after graduation (PhD degree).
• The work must have been largely carried out in Tasmania or under the aegis of a Tasmanian-based organisation.

The value of the award is $2000.

The conditions of the Award are:

• The Award shall be made no more than three years after graduation (PhD degree);
• To be awarded in any field – sciences, medicine, arts or humanities – within the purview of the Society;
• The Award to be for work leading to significant advances based on the PhD research as evidenced by published or in press peer-reviewed papers in national/international literature;
• The work to have been carried out largely in Tasmania or under the aegis of a Tasmanian-based organisation;
• The nationality of the recipient is not to be considered in making the Award; that is the Award is not restricted to Australian nationals;
• The nominee is developing a career in the field of study;
• The award is to be available annually, but will not be awarded if there is no candidate of sufficient quality;
• Expressions of interest are to be sought widely from all relevant institutions on an annual basis, and must include a nomination from the candidates supervisor or Head of Department;
• The recipient will be encouraged to address the Society;
• The value of the Award shall be $2000.

Nomination Process

All applications must include:

1. A letter of nomination from the candidate’s PhD supervisor or Head of Department. Nominations will not be considered without this document.
2. The letter of nomination (1) must include a statement of the new and original contribution to the field of research.
3. A full academic CV including the date of PhD graduation – which must have been after 14 November, 2011.
4. An abstract (not more than one page) of the PhD study, including the thesis title.
5. One copy of each relevant published or in press paper on which the nomination is based.
6. A copy of the candidate’s PhD thesis – this will be returned.

Note: Candidates may not nominate themselves.

Applications should be address to:

Dr John Thorne
The Convener, Honours Committee
The Royal Society of Tasmania
GPO BOX 1166
HOBART TASMANIA 7001

Applications must be received no later than 5th December 2014

 

The Library at the end of the World: Natural Science and its Illustrators – An upcoming new Royal Society publication – Editors and Authors whet your appetite! Tuesday 2nd September 2014 8.00 pm

Dr Margaret Davies, Dr Stephen Harris and Dr Anita Hansen, editors and authors of  The library at the end of the world, The Royal Society of Tasmania’s latest publication, will discuss the creation of this fascinating new book.

 

Margaret Davies retired in 2002 from the University of Adelaide after 30 years where she spent 28 years researching the Australo/Papuan frog fauna. She has discovered and named 35 species of frog and authored/co-authored/edited or coedited over 120 publications. She gained her PhD for a study on Uperoleia, a genus of small burrowing frogs that was poorly known (three recognised species when she began working on them – 27 currently named and still increasing!). She is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of South Australia and a Life Member of the Australian Society of Herpetologists. She received a Medal of the Order of Australia in 2014 for her contribution to science in the field of herpetology.

Anita Hansen has been an artist all her life, working in Tasmania, interstate and overseas. She holds a Master of Fine Arts, a Graduate Diploma in Plant and Wildlife Illustration and a Bachelor of Fine Art degree. She recently completed her PhD at the University of Tasmania, School of Art, examining the significance of nineteenth century natural history art and belonging. Examination of the collections of major museums, libraries and galleries in Tasmania provided the basis of the study. She is now concentrating on her art practice that is based on natural history and the environment.

Stephen Harris is currently the Principal Research Advisor in the Invasive Species Branch of the Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment. He was previously the department’s Senior Botanist for over twenty years. He has a Master of Science for ecological studies of Callitris tree species and was awarded a PhD in environmental policy. He has contributed to many national committees and working groups over the years. Dr Harris is also an Adjunct Associate Professor in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Queensland and has published many scientific papers and books, especially on island ecology. He has a long-standing interest in early scientific exploration and is a Fellow of the Linnean Society of London.

Tuesday 2nd September 2014, 8.00 pm
Royal Society Room, Customs House Building, TMAG,
19 Davey St. Hobart

All welcome and admission is free

 

 

 

 

The Virtues of Local History: the Case for Launceston – Dr Tom Dunning – 24 August 2014

The Royal Society of Tasmania – 2014 Launceston Lecture Series

 

Dr Tom Dunning, PhD (History, University of California) will present The Virtues of Local History: the Case for Launceston

in the Meeting Room, QVMAG at Inveresk
2.00 pm Sunday 24th August 2014
Admission: $5 General Public, $3 Friends of the Museum, $2 Students
Free for members of The Royal Society of Tasmania

To assist us with the organization of this event
RSVP by Thursday 21st August 2014:
Email bookings@qvmag.tas.gov.au or telephone 6323 3798

Local history is the basis for all historical studies, as the unique characteristics of one small place helps us to understand all places. Launceston is an excellent example of this axiom. With this in mind, Dr Tom Dunning, in collaboration with Paul Richards and Barbara Valentine, aim to facilitate and edit the first new history of Launceston since 1969. This publication, to be titled The Fabric of Launceston, will weave together thematic threads to demonstrate the diversity, difference and enterprise of the local Launceston community. The authors want this history to be owned by members of the community in a collaborative effort. This lecture will be the public launch of this project.

Dr Tom Dunning has lived in Launceston since 1985, teaching at the Newnham campus of the University of Tasmania. From 2007 to 2012, he was head of the cross campus School of
History and Classics. He retired at the end of 2013. With Paul Richards and Barbara Valentine, he has edited two previous works. He has a doctorate from the University of California.