Message from Society President – Dr Brent Clothier
Dr Brent Clothier shares his foreword as President of Royal Society Te Apārangi.
Kia ora Ngā Ahurei
Spring is with us, as is El Niño. It will be interesting to see what changes this brings to our upcoming summer’s weather, especially after a triple-dip La Niña.
Change has also happened on the Council of Te Apārangi. We welcome onto Council Distinguished Professor Geoff Chase as the new Chair of the Academy Executive Committee (AEC), along with Professor Susy Frankel as the incoming Deputy-Chair of the AEC. Geoff is with the Mechanical Engineering Department of the University of Canterbury. Susy is in the Faculty of Law, Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington.
On behalf of the Council, I thank Professor Charlotte Macdonald for her three years of tremendous work as the Chair of the AEC and as a Council Member. Tēnā koe, Charlotte.
We also welcome onto the Council of Te Apārangi, Dr Erena Wikaire (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Hine, Te Hikutu, Te Kapotai) representing the Māori Electoral College. Nau mai, Erena. Erena is in the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences at University of Auckland.
As noted in the last Fellows’ newsletter, in May Paul Atkins and I visited the Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE), en route to the mid-session meeting of the International Science Council in Paris. Subsequently we were asked by the RSE to provide a brief synopsis of our visit for their quarterly magazine ReSourcE. I provide a link below, not only to show what we said about the historically close link we have with the RSE, but also for you to see what another Academy, that is much like ours, is doing: ReSourcE Summer (Page 17) or read article provided to RSE by myself and Paul on our website.
On 12 July, along with many kaimahi from Te Apārangi and a host of VIPs, I attended a celebration at Parliament of the signing of New Zealand’s entry into Horizon Europe. Our Prime Minister, Rt Hon Chris Hipkins, and the EU President Ursula von der Leyen had signed the Horizon Europe Association agreement in Brussels two days earlier. The Prime Minister said “… the agreement gives access for New Zealand researchers to Europe’s largest ever science collaboration platform, and creates opportunities for New Zealand’s interests and expertise to be demonstrated on the world stage”. More details can be found on MBIE’s website at Horizon Europe.
Since 2003, the Speaker’s Science Forum has been held at Parliament during the evening dinner recess to present a series of topical research findings to MPs and decision makers in a non-partisan setting, and to inform the issues being addressed in Parliament. This year’s presentations have just finished, a little earlier than normal because of the upcoming election. The topics are selected in collaboration with Forum partners of Royal Society Te Apārangi: Science New Zealand, Universities New Zealand, and the Independent Research Association of New Zealand. Over the last few months, the series of topics discussed in five fora have been:
- food security in the face of global changes,
- climate change and water,
- data sovereignty,
- genetic technology and healthcare, plus
- space research.
Details of this year’s, and previous years’ programmes can be found at: Speaker's Science Forum 2023.
The Society passes on our heartiest congratulations to Distinguished Professor Dame Margaret Brimble FRS FRSNZ of the University of Auckland who has been awarded the Davy Medal by The Royal Society (London). The Davy Medal is named after the famous chemist Sir Humphrey Davy and is awarded for outstanding contributions in the field of chemistry. Margaret’s award is for her “outstanding contributions to organic chemistry with wide-ranging applications across the life sciences”. The Medal will be presented to Margaret in London in late November.
Ngā mihi
Dr Brent Clothier FRSNZ
President, Royal Society Te Apārangi