Australian science has never been carried out in isolation. However, the growth of the scale of science and spectacular improvements in communication require that our international engagement needs to increase.  This has happened, but not at a rate where Australia can be complacent about its position in the future as a leader in many fields of science.  Nor can we be assured that we will have timely access to the large part of the world’s science and technology base that is not produced here.  The Australian Academy of Science has played an important role in fostering science and technology relations between countries and many of the established links have had their origins in Academy programs.  In this National Pres Club Address, the Academy will present the case for enhancing Australia’s participation in the global science effort; the benefits from doing this; the opportunities lost by not being fully involved; and what needs to be done if the Nation is to benefit fully from the advances that will occur in science and technology in the years ahead. 

Kurt Lambeck is President of the Australian Academy of Science.  The Academy is an independent organization of Australia’s most distinguished research scientists from the universities, government research agencies and industry.  Recent past Presidents have included Dr Jim Peacock, the past Chief Scientist of Australia, and Professor Sir Gustav Nossal.  Amongst its many activities the Academy advises government on a broad range of science policy, international and educational issues.

Professor Lambeck has been distinguished Professor of Geophysics at the Australian National University since 1977, including ten years as Director of the Research School of Earth Sciences.  He has been a member of, and chaired a number of, high-level Government Committees.  Currently these include the Prime Minister’s Science, Engineering and Innovation Council, the Prime Minister’s Science Prizes Committee and the Higher Education Endowment Fund Advisory Panel.

Internationally he is active not only in his own research in areas of geophysics and climate change but also in developing linkages between Australia and other countries in all areas of science and technology.  Before 1977 he worked in the US, UK, Greece and The Netherlands and since then has also held academic and consulting positions in these countries as well as in Belgium, Finland, Norway and Sweden.  He has been a consultant on nuclear waste issues in the UK, Sweden, Finland and Switzerland, on geological issues in Norway, space issues for the European Space Agency and NASA, and sea level issues in the Netherlands.  He is a member of the Executive Committee of the InterAcademy Panel on International Issues, and President-elect of the Federation of Asian Scientific Academies and Societies.  Both of these bodies focus particularly on capacity building in developing countries through science, health and education initiatives.

Professor Lambeck has been widely recognised for his contributions to science.  This includes election to the Royal Society of the UK, the French Academy of Science, the US National Academy of Sciences and the national academies of The Netherlands and Norway.  It also includes international prizes such as the Tage Erlander Prize from the Swedish Research Council, the Prix George Lemaître from the Université catholique de Louvain (2001), and the Eminent Scientist Award from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (2004).

Website Address: http://www.science.org.au/