Professor Peter Dyson is Head of the Department of Physics at La Trobe University where he developed the B. Space Science degree. He has over thirty years experience in ionospheric research using HF radar, optical and satellite techniques. His specific research interests include the study of ionospheric irregularities, modelling ionospheric propagation, and observations of thermospheric winds using airglow and auroral emissions. In recent years he has concentrated on studies of the impact of the solar wind and associated space weather phenomena on the high latitude ionosphere and thermosphere and the coupling between these regions and the magnetosphere. He is a principle investigator of the Super Dual Auroral Radar Network (SuperDARN) which continues to develop and operate networks of oblique incidence HF radars ringing both the northern and southern auroral regions. He leads the Tasman International Geospace Environment Radar (TIGER) consortium that established a SuperDARN radar in Tasmania in 1999 and is now installing a second radar in New Zealand. In addition his research group operates Fabry-Perot interferometers in Antarctica and near Melbourne, and conducts ionospheric studies using GPS with both ground-based receivers and with a receiver onboard the Australian satellite FedSat. He is a member of various national and international committees that promote collaboration to study the global effects of space weather.

The Earth in Space: The Aurora and other Impacts of the Solar Wind

The Earth does not sit in empty space but in the tenuous solar wind that flows past at supersonic speed, creating a bow shock where the interplanetary and terrestrial magnetic fields meet. The impact of the solar wind on the Earth?s environment is significant, producing many effects including the spectacular aurora. The solar wind is ever changing due to varying processes on the Sun, and there are consequential changes in the Earth?s ?space weather? environment. Extreme changes, in the form of solar storms occur periodically, when huge amounts of material are ejected from the Sun. Solar flares are an example, and a series of very large flares occurred in October and November 2003, leading to aurora occurring at low latitudes and many radio communication and navigation systems, and satellite operations, being seriously disrupted.

The Space Physics Research Group at La Trobe University studies space weather phenomena using optical and radio techniques. Our major facility is the Tasman International Geospace Environment Radar (TIGER) which consists of two HF radars, one in Tasmania and a second, new radar in New Zealand. Many space weather processes, including aurora, produce signatures in the high latitude ionosphere and TIGER looks over the horizon tracking these features as they develop and decay in the region between Australia-New Zealand and Antarctica.

This lecture will describe the basic features of the solar wind interaction with the Earth, and the phenomena, such as aurora that are produced. The techniques used by TIGER and other instruments to study these phenomena will be presented and directions for future research will be discussed.

The move towards sustainability encompasses more than just the environment, as it also influences the philosophy of management, the way in which markets behave, the development of technology, and the recruitment and education of people. In the past the resource industries, especially the minerals industry, have been blamed to a large extent for unsustainable practices and environmental damage to our eco-system. Although the minerals industry has been guilty in the past, the resource industries cannot accept the full blame for global environmental damage. Nevertheless, it is counter-productive for the resource industries to shift the blame and to maintain a defensive attitude. Unfortunately, the poor image of the present is a result of the sins of the past. More creative strategies are required to deal with this dilemma. In essence, the resource industries require a ?Social Licence? to operate and to be sustainable financially. Often local solutions are linked to global solutions, and technology and education could be used by industry and management to develop long-term sustainable practices.

The main item on the global environmental agenda for the next decade will be global warming. There are two opposing views that we need to consider. On the one hand, there is a general view that atmospheric temperatures are on the increase, which implies changing climatic conditions, rising sea levels, threats to large parts of the population and extinction of the species. On the other hand, geologists often say that 80% of all time planet Earth has been a warm, wet greenhouse, polar caps are rare, plants have been here only 10% of the time, 99.9% of all life that has existed is extinct, and O2 has been in the atmosphere only 50% of the time. This means that whatever we observe in climatic changes are merely short-term perturbations. In many ways these facts are irrelevant to the resource industries, in the sense that it remains the perceptions and views of the community that determine whether a ?Social Licence? is granted.

In 1998 the CEOs of many of the world?s largest mining companies formed the Global Mining Initiative (GMI), which in turn formed the International Council on Metals and Mining (ICMM) in 2001. Moreover, in 1999 the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) formed the Mining, Minerals and Sustainable Development (MMSD). These networks all aim to turn words into action, and hence to change the culture of decision-making in companies, and at the same time to liaise with the public and governments, and to deal with mis- and disinformation.

Increasingly, the industry accepts social and environmental responsibility instead of fighting it. There is a recognition that ?Social Licence? costs are up-front in any project development, which means that it stretches weak balance sheets, so that the size of a resources company does matter. Unfortunately, accounting standards for the extractive industries are not well developed. Methodology is lacking to estimate overall liability, and better co-operation between technical specialists and accountants is required to account for sustainability measures. It has been stated before that ?? if the financial markets do not understand and correctly value companies that more than others move towards sustainable development, the process will be very slow. And here we have a long way to go, even if there are signs that things are beginning to happen.? In essence, a business case must be argued for sustainable development. We shall never achieve a universal paradigm for sustainable development in any industry based on philanthropy and ?do good? arguments. Efficiency, reputation and ?Social Licence? are all linked to the business case. When company boards encourage only low capital cost projects, unrealistic cases are often presented. This leads to poor feasibility studies, inadequate pilot testing, and unrealistic expectations. Boards have to consider the long-term liability of poorly studied projects. In the end it is a question of the culture instilled by the board throughout the rest of the company.

In general, the resource and process industries are on the right track in terms of community involvement, emphasis on sustainability and importance of ?Social Licence.? However, the industry should consider the full materials cycle, not just technically but market-wise. Only in this way will profitability be optimized in a sustainable manner. Furthermore, for an industry to flourish it is imperative that the best young people are recruited and retained. It is questionable whether the process and resource industries are succeeding in this goal, and herein lies an educational opportunity if approached correctly.

Resume: Peter Robinson gained his PhD in the theory of plasma waves from the University of Sydney in 1987, subsequently doing a postdoc in this area at the University of Colorado at Boulder. He returned to Australia in 1990 on a QEII Fellowship and was appointed to the permanent Physics staff of the University of Sydney in 1993, obtained a Chair in 2000, and a Federation Fellowship in 2003. During this period, his work in wave physics has diversified to include space and astrophysical applications, photonics, and brain dynamics. When brain cells (neurons) are active, small voltage changes occur and tiny electrical currents flow as a result of movement of ions in and out ofthe cells. This electrical activity of the brain has been observed for over a century, starting with the work of British physiologist William Caton in 1875, but the detailed relationships between it and what the brain is actually doing remain quite poorly understood.

Despite the cryptic links between activity and function, electrical activity has been widely used as a probe of brain function and malfunction for 75 years. This has chiefly been done using the electroencephalogram, or EEG, which is recorded by electrodes on the scalp. Often, wave-like voltage changes are seen to travel across the scalp, somehow encoding information about the underlying brain function. Shelves of thick books exist that describe the resulting zoo of observed correlations between EEG features and aspects of brain function, information processing, and disease, for example. However, until very recently, there has been no unifying framework within which to understand these phenomenological results.

Since 1996 the Brain Dynamics Group at Sydney University has been developing a quantitative model that spans the huge range of physiological and anatomical scales from synapses (microscopic contacts between neurons) to the whole brain. Our aim is to understand the link between functioning of the brain and the observed EEG activity, based on realistic approximations to known physiology, and significant progress toward that goal has been made.

The parameters of our model measure quantities such as synaptic strengths, signal delays in traveling within cells, and neural sizes. These parameters are all constrained by independent physiological measurements, so detailed comparisons with experiment are possible.

Application of standard techniques from mathematical physics has allowed successful predictions to be made of a wide range of phenomena, including EEGs, stimulus responses, epileptic seizure dynamics, and effects on functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). This is the first time that such a wide range of large-scale brain phenomena have been described by a single theory. New projects under way include attempts to better understand the development and response of visual systems, and deeper investigation of the dynamics of epilepsy and other disorders.

Working in the reverse direction, the fitting of theoretical predictions to experimental data enables one to infer physiological parameters. This gives a new noninvasive window into brain function at short timescales, complementing slower, finer spatial-resolution techniques such as fMRI. It opens the way to monitor and map these parameters in various states of arousal, during cognitive tasks, in disorders, and in contexts such as drug trials, and is currently being commercialized via a spinoff company.

The record eight year drought that much of Australia is experiencing is highlighting the significant water issues confronting Australia. Although Australia has experienced severe droughts in the past, this current drought is the first one to occur with the spectre of climate change looming large. The uncertainty created by climate change has put fear into the community that the climatic conditions we are currently experiencing will be the norm for the future. Even if the drought breaks there will be no returning to past practices where we were often very wasteful in our use of water.

Virtually every capital city in Australia and many rural towns are experiencing water restrictions of varying degrees of harshness and many irrigators have either received no water or have had their entitlements cut back severely as a result of the drought. There is little doubt that if Australia is to continue to grow and prosper as a nation, profound changes in the way we manage our precious water resources are required.

The Council of Australian Governments (COAG) recently agreed to the National Water Initiative which is a package of water reform measures, primarily aimed at the irrigation sector. Urban water reform is covered in the agreement but is minor in the scheme of things.

The Victorian Government recently released its White Paper - Securing Our Water Future Together which contains a range of reform measures covering water for agriculture, smarter urban water use and healthy waterways.

The key drivers for change in water resource management are as follows:
* Increased variability of rainfall and climate
* The need to improve the health of our degraded rivers
* Water resources are fully allocated
* Population growth in our cities
* The need to improve the efficiency and economic output of irrigated agriculture
* Ensuring water resources are managed in a sustainable manner

The recently released ABS Water Account 2000-01 shows that 67% of all water extracted in Australia is used for agriculture and households only consume 9%. This does not mean that the major cities can be complacent about the water shortage as they are predicted to increase in population by 25% by 2030. Furthermore, they may be unable to physically access alternative sources of water and will need to further reduce per capita consumption if the liveability of our cities is to be maintained.

The over allocation of water throughout much of Australia has resulted in a decline in the health of our rivers. The environmental health of our rivers is now of concern to many Australians and additional releases of water from storages will be required to restore our river ecosystems. As our water resources are generally fully allocated in south eastern Australia it is likely that rural and urban users will have to contribute water to improve our rivers, thus placing additional pressure on existing water resources.

In Melbourne the average household consumes 240 kilolitres per annum with 20% being used to flush toilets, 15% used in the laundry, 26% used in the bathroom, 5% in the kitchen and 35% in the garden. Per capita consumption has fallen quite significantly in cities over the last 20 years due to the introduction of a range of measures such as dual flush toilets, user pays pricing and a greater awareness in the community of the need to conserve water to protect the environment. Programs to further reduce demand for water are ongoing however the easy options for reducing demand have already been adopted and further reductions in demand will be more difficult and expensive to achieve.

In irrigated agriculture areas there will be a strong push to increase water trading so that scarce water resources are applied to the highest value use. This will introduce a number of social issues in rural Australia and painful adjustment will be required if we are to maximise the value of our water resources.

In the cities there will be a need to diversify the range of water sources to minimise the risks associated with increased variability in our climate. Rather than relying solely on surface water, the cities will need to start using recycled water for non-potable purposes, utilise storm water and rain water tanks and install desalination plants.

Per capita consumption of water will need to reduce further through a range of measures such as community education, pricing water to encourage conservation, more water efficient appliances and the adoption of water sensitive design for new suburbs and re-developments.

As Australia's water resources are fully allocated in those parts of the country where the majority of people live, there are no easy solutions to our water problems. In the face of the increasing unreliability of our rainfall and the continuing increase in our population a reform program for water, regardless of the pain involved must proceed. It is important that both the rural and urban water sectors work together to attain the optimal water resource outcomes for our country.

It is widely accepted that nano- and biotechnology are key technologies of the 21st century. This presentation will focus on our recent nanoscience-related research in the construction of nanoengineered materials with potential applications in areas such as drug delivery, biological assays and separations. Emphasis will be placed on lipid bilayer systems derived from both naturally occurring phospholipids and inorganic-based synthetic lipids. The properties (thickness, permeability and stability) of the Si-lipid based films can be tailored, making them attractive films both in the form of coatings and as spherical drug delivery vehicles. It will also be shown that through the introduction of metal nanoparticles to capsules, optically addressable materials with unique properties can be prepared. The resonant absorption of these capsules can be tuned to the near infrared region, where most drugs and tissue do not show strong light absorption. These studies are aimed at our strategy toward the construction of nanoengineered artificial cells.

DR J PATRICK GREENE, Chief Executive Officer, Museum Victoria             

          "THE MUSEUM HAS COME A LONG WAY ON 150 YEARS
- SO WHERE TO NEXT?"

2004 is a notable year for both The Royal Society of Victoria and Museum Victoria.  Both organisations celebrate their sesquicentenary which they share with a number of other notable institutions in Melbourne.  The histories of the Society and the Museum have intertwined throughout 150 years and that close relationship continues today.  Members of staff of the Museum are to be found in the ranks of the membership of the Society and on its Council.  The Society has recently published a number of important books authored by Museum staff.  The Melbourne Museum is a short (and very pleasant!) walk across Carlton Gardens from the Society’s headquarters on Victoria Street.  Both may find themselves in a World Heritage Precinct if UNESCO approves the current bid for THE Gardens and Royal Exhibition Building to be inscribed on the register. 

Anniversaries provide excellent opportunities for reviewing the past and looking to the future.  In my paper I will examine the motivations of the founders of the museums that now constitute Museum Victoria and assess how relevant they are today.  I will also discuss the opportunities that the Museum can grasp to build on the collections, which exceed 16 million items, and the research that gives them value.  I will place this discussion in the context of developments in the field of museums internationally, drawing in particular on my experience with the European Museums Forum.  Museum Victoria has adopted the theme Exploring Victoria; Discovering the World to inform its future development.  The theme should strike a chord with the Royal Society of Victoria and I will welcome feedback from members.

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DR J PATRICK GREENE

Chief Executive Officer, Museum Victoria

Biographical Notes

 Patrick Greene was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Museum Victoria in August 2002.  The Museum comprises the Melbourne Museum, Scienceworks and the Immigration Museum, as well as the Royal Exhibition Building (nominated as a candidate for World Heritage site status).  He is a member of the Council of Australian Museum Directors and the National Collections Advisory Forum.

He is past President of the Museums Association (UK) and was until August 2002 the Chairman of the European Museum Forum.  He was also Chair of the UK Expert Panel of the Heritage Lottery Fund: Museums, Archives and Libraries and a member of the English Heritage Industrial Archaeology Panel.  He is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London, of the Museums Association and of the Tourism Society.  He received an OBE in 1991 and an honorary Doctor of Science degree from Salford University in 1997.

Patrick Greene lectured at international conferences on topics such as museum management, science museums and contemporary technology, and tourism in urban regeneration. He has published numerous papers on these subjects as well as monastic archaeology and the nineteenth-century trade in Baltic timber.  He has contributed chapters to the Manual of Museum Planning and the Manual of Museum Management.

From 1971, he directed the excavations of Norton Priory in Cheshire which became the largest archaeological investigation of a medieval monastic site in Europe.  Norton Priory developed as a popular museum, winning one of the ‘Museum of the Year’ categories in 1983. The excavation formed the basis of his PhD thesis, awarded by Leeds University in 1986, and a book published by Cambridge University Press in 1989.  Another book Medieval Monasteries was published in May 1992.

On 1 January 1983 Patrick Greene took up the new post of Director of the embryonic Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester which grew extremely rapidly to become one of the largest of its kind in the world, winning over 50 awards including ‘Museum of the Year’ in 1990.  It developed a commitment to training, a team-work approach, and a high level of customer care, resulting in recognition as an Investor in People in 1993 (re-accredited in 1996 and 2001) and Charter Mark in 1994, 1997 and 2000.

DR KEN WINKEL, Director, Australian Venom Research, Department of Pharmacology, The University of Melbourne

          "VENOM RESEARCH"

From the majestic waters of the Great Barrier Reef to the high snow capped rugged mountain ranges, we live with some of the most venomous creatures in the world. Fortunately, deaths from these injuries has been considerably reduced by improved first-aid methods, the availability of specific antidotes (antivenoms), and modern medical treatment, fatalities continue to occur whilst many of these deaths were potentially preventable.  This presentation will review the major types of venomous creatures in Australia, the epidemiology of their bites and stings and discuss some of the fascinating toxins underlying these potentially lethal, but uniquely Australian, injuries.

PROFESSOR NEIL W. ARCHBOLD, Immediate Past President, The Royal Society of Victoria, School of Ecology and Environment, Deakin University presented a Lecture entitled

"GLOBAL CHANGE; PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE -
A Palaeontologist's Perspective "

The Earth is very much a dynamic planet.  Change is continuous.  Different components of the Earth’s physical and biological systems may undergo fast catastrophic change or slow gradual change.  We hear much about global change from the media – it is generally portrayed as being ‘bad’ or undesirable and much space is given to climate change, carbon dioxide and changes to weather patterns.  Indeed, the mantra ‘stop global change’ is perhaps a reflection on the lack of knowledge in the community about the planet they are a part of and, of course, may impact on.

What can palaeontology reveal to us in regard to global change?  It gives us the record of evolution, it informs us on the rates of change of species and it provides us with the story of the interaction of the Biological Realm with Earth’s physical systems.  That series of interactions has involved a vast array of chance events.  A ‘roller coaster’ of evolutionary survivals has resulted in mammals temporarily being the top crown species, while insects and molluscs dominate the invertebrates, and the bacteria are the great survivors.

This presentation will utilise the work of many who have helped to unravel a knowledge of the Earth and will end with a discussion on the future for humanity and the ‘post human’ Earth.