Call for Nominations for the RST Doctoral (PhD) Awards 2023

Nominations for the annual RST Doctoral Awards open on 1 October 2023. Two awards are offered for recent PhD graduates who have made significant advances in the course of their doctoral research.

One Doctoral Award is reserved for nominations from disciplines other than STEMM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Medicine). The other Award is open.

The value of each award is $1,000 (AUD). Awardees may be invited to present a lecture to the Society.

Conditions of the Doctoral Awards

The awards shall be made to nominees who are no more than three years, or three years equivalent-full-time, after their PhD graduation.

The awards are intended to recognise significant advances based on the PhD research, as shown by published or in press peer-reviewed papers in national/international journals or equivalent outputs in fields where publications are not the norm.

The research should have been largely carried out in Tasmania or under the aegis of an organization based in Tasmania.

Nominations may be made by anyone although no self-nominations will be accepted.

Nominations must be received before COB, 15 November 2023. Nomination guidelines are given at https://rst.org.au/guidelines-for-annual-doctoral-awards/.

A flyer for the 2023 Doctoral awards is available via this link.

Richard Coleman, on behalf of the RST Honours and Awards Committee.

View a recording of the lecture by Dr David Harris – June 2023

The presentation will explore opportunities and technologies to facilitate decarbonisation of industrial systems through integration of renewable energy supply, storage and utilisation in practical commercial and industrial value chains.

Dr David Harris is a Chief Research Consultant with CSIRO Energy, based in Brisbane, and led CSIRO’s national low emissions and hydrogen-based energy research programs for more than 25 years. He now leads the development of major industrial-scale programs and projects across multi-sector energy value and supply chains, focusing on supporting demonstration and deployment of practical energy technologies that enable large scale renewable energy production, storage, transport, and utilisation.

UTas PhD Candidates – “Downhill Walking: A Way Forward in Blood Glucose Management” and “Using AI to Improve Safety at Sea”

The Northern Branch of the Royal Society of Tasmania, invites you to two public lectures by PhD candidates Misha Anstari and Stan Kaine, at 1.30pm on Sunday 22 October 2023. The lecture will be held in the Meeting Room, QVMAG, Inveresk, Launceston.

Admission is free for members of the Royal Society of Tasmania. General admission – $6. Students, QVMAG or TMAG Friends, and members of the Launceston Historical Society – $4. Full Covid vaccination and the wearing of face masks are highly desirable.

Misha Anstari will discuss how regular exercise is key to preventing and managing type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) as it improves blood glucose control. However compliance to exercise is poor. Eccentric exercise, which involves the muscle lengthening under load is less metabolically demanding on the body, and may be an attractive alternative to conventional exercise. This research investigates the use of downhill walking (eccentric exercise) on the management of blood glucose control and other health-related parameters.

Misha Anstari

Misha is a professional physiotherapist who is currently pursuing her Ph.D. at the University of Tasmania. Her research is centered around the use of eccentric exercise to manage blood glucose levels in individuals with type 2 Diabetes mellitus. She earned her Bachelor’s and Post-professional Physiotherapy degrees in Pakistan, where she also worked as a clinical therapist and taught before starting her Ph.D. program at UTAS.

Stan Kaine will discuss how, in a data driven world, access to up-to-date sea state information that could affect vessel safety is paramount. Research is being undertaken to convert the six degrees of vessel accelerations into sea state to allow unsafe situations to be avoided by both the vessel capturing the data and other ships transiting the area via AIS transmissions or the internet. Machine Learning is a key component in making this information available in near real time.

Stan Kaine

Stan founded a software development company, Point Duty, in 2004 with an initial mission to help track the flow of child abuse material over the internet and assist Law Enforcement to find the perpetrators. The company now has a broader data capture and analytics function.

Stan’s degree is in Computer Science, which when coupled to a Diploma in Mechanical Engineering and a Diesel Fitting Apprenticeship gives him a unique insight into boundaries between IT and the “Real World”.

View a recording of the lecture by Professor Nick Shakel – April 2023

Recent advances in the treatment of liver disease have seen previously incurable conditions effectively treated. However, the number of cases of fatty liver disease, hepatitis and liver cancer are increasing and predicted to do so for decades. Despite recent breakthroughs in diagnosis and treatment we are seeing increasingly more Australians die from liver disease especially in disadvantaged groups.

Professor Nicholas Shackel is a specialized hepatologist managing all aspects of adult liver disease. He has both a medical degree and a PhD with a track record in both basic and applied research, having trained at both the Australian National Liver Transplant Unit and Duke University in the USA. Prof Shackel has interests in the diagnosis and management of liver cancer, importance of nutrition in cirrhosis and the noninvasive assessment of liver disease severity.

‘An Evening with Louisa’ – Fundraising Reception at Government House

Bookings are now closed.

Royal Society of Tasmania members and supporters are invited to attend ‘An Evening with Louisa’, a fundraising reception for The Royal Society of Tasmania Art Collection at Government House, Hobart on Thursday 28 September 2023 commencing at 6:00 pm.

Louisa Anne Meredith was one of Australia’s leading 19^th century artists and a highly respected member of the Royal Society of Tasmania. The RST Art Collection (940 artworks) contains the largest and most significant group of works by Louisa: 252 works. All proceeds from the evening will go to the conservation and exhibition of artworks in the RST Collection.

“Cape Raoul in 1856” by Louisa Anne Meredith. RST Art Collection. (Click to enlarge image).

“A Cool Debate” by Louisa Anne Meredith, one of the artworks in the RST Art Collection in need of conservation. (Click to enlarge image).

The evening will include entertainment, refreshments, and the auction of an original framed watercolour painting of Tasmanian waratah donated by noted botanical artist and RST member Lynne Uptin OAM. Hospitality is provided courtesy of the Office of the Governor.

Tickets are $85 per person, and the ticket price is a direct contribution to the Royal Society of Tasmania Art Fund.

Please RSVP by 5.00 pm on 14 September 2023 by filling out the form included in the invitation and emailing or posting it to the Royal Society of Tasmania.

Your Government House TryBooking entry ticket will then be emailed/posted to you. Please present the TryBooking ticket at the door to gain entry on the night.

Numbers are limited, and an early RSVP is recommended.

View a recording of the lecture by Kerry Sculthorpe – July 2023

The presentation will reflect on some of the key moments which preceded the Uluru Statement and offer insights into the wider context in which it was formulated. It will advance some ideas about what a Voice might look like and how it might operate. It will offer a personal view of the consequences of a ‘yes’ and a ‘no’ win in the referendum.

Kerry Sculthorpe is a senior member of the Palawa community. Her involvement in community affairs has spanned more than forty years. She has experience in policy and administration. Kerry has held elected and appointed positions at the community level and has been a strong advocate for Aboriginal rights. She is a former senior executive of the Australian Public Service and more recently has served on the government’s Voice co-design committee considering local and regional arrangements. In her retirement Kerry tries to get her opinions on Aboriginal issues published in the newspapers.

Secondary and senior secondary Tasmanian students invited to apply for RST bursaries

The Royal Society of Tasmania invites secondary school students to apply for bursaries

Open to Tasmanian secondary and senior secondary students who have been selected through a competitive process to represent Australia at an international event, including those held in Australia.
Bursaries may also be awarded for national events held interstate.
Offered in the fields of science, mathematics, engineering, as well as the arts, humanities and social sciences.
No closing date for applications.
Students selected for Youth ANZAAS are eligible to apply.

Events attended by previous recipients include:

Science Summer Experience in London.
Physics Challenge in Beijing.
Science Challenge at NASA, Cape Kennedy USA.
RoboCup International Competition in Sydney.

To apply, students should send a written application, including:

Name and contact details of the applicant, the name of the school attended by the applicant, and the name of the event.
A brief description of the summer school or event they have been selected to attend, including location, dates and costs.
A copy of the recommendation from the Australian selectors for the event or activity they were chosen to attend.
A concise statement (<200 words), written by the student, about their goals and aspirations, and a short CV (maximum 2 pages).
A signed statement endorsing the application by a senior staff member of their school, including their contact details (email and phone).

Send applications to: Professor Jocelyn McPhie, Acting Chair, RST Bursaries Committee, j.mcphie@utas.edu.au

Expressions of Interest: Excursion to the Tasman Monument

This year is the hundredth anniversary of the erection of a monument on Forestier Peninsula in 1923 by the RST. The monument commemorates the landing of the Abel Tasman Expedition in Tasmania on 3 December 1642.

The Tasmanian Historical Research Association (THRA) is organizing an excursion to the monument and has offered 15 places to RST members.

Date: Sunday 3 December 2023.

Itinerary: Participants make their way to “Bangor” independently. The excursion will start at the Bangor Shed, just south of Dunalley, at 10am. After morning tea and a brief introduction, we will take a bus through “Bangor” to the start of the track, arriving there at 11.30am. A hilly walk of around 15-20 minutes will take us to Tasman Bay and the Tasman Monument where participants can have lunch (BYO). For the more energetic, there will be an option for a 45-60 minute return walk to North Bay where Tasman and later Marion du Fresne (in 1772) anchored their vessels. Participants will return to the bus by 2pm and then to their cars at the Bangor Shed at around 3pm. The Shed offers wine-tastings for those who would like to indulge! THRA member Tom Dunbabin farmed “Bangor” for many years and will provide commentary during the tour.

Cost: $30 per person, includes morning tea and bus transport between the Bangor Shed and the start of the walk to the monument.

To secure a place on this excursion, please send a short message before 30 September to admin@rst.org.au with the subject line “Tasman Monument excursion”. Payment will be due 1 November 2023.

Below is a photo of the plaque on Tasman Monument at Bangor. Click on the image for an enlarged view.

“At this spot the Expedition under Abel Jansz Tasman being the first white people to set foot on Tasmanian soil planted the Dutch flag on December 3rd 1642 as a memorial to posterity and to the inhabitants of the country. This stone was erected by the Royal Society of Tasmania 1923.”
Transcription from plaque.

Announcing the release of the Royal Society of Tasmania’s 2024 calendar

Trash Talk: The Plastic Peril in our Oceans

The Royal Society of Tasmania, in conjunction with marine science presenters, Beer Aquatic, invite you to a lecture by Marine Biologist, Dr Peter Puskic, on Thursday 31 August 2023. The lecture will be held at the Hobart Brewing Company, 16 Evans Street, Hobart.

No prior registration is required to attend – just come along to a fun and informative presentation. Bar food and drinks available.

Admission is free, and everyone is welcome to attend.

The message-in-a-bottle is a longstanding romantic trope. But what message are we sending when that’s a plastic bottle, rotting its way into the ocean’s foodweb? Dr Peter Puskic, a marine biologist with expertise on the impacts of plastic pollution on marine wildlife, will guide us through the lifecycle of a bottle adrift at sea, from humble beginnings to the belly of seabirds, to remote tropical beaches and to its final resting place at the bottom of the ocean

Dr Peter Puskic is an interdisciplinary marine scientist with expertise in understanding the impacts of Anthropogenic stressors on environments, wildlife, and human communities. A highly experienced field biologist, he focuses mostly on marine wildlife physiology and population monitoring (turtles, seabirds, marine mammals), plastic monitoring and clean ups. He has conducted fieldwork in remote and challenging environments.