Royal Society of NSW News & Events

Most face-to-face events and all online events conducted by the Royal Society of New South Wales are recorded and made available for subsequent viewing on our YouTube channel: youtube.com/royalsocnsw. On 11 February, an audience of more than 30 people attended the second meeting of the Hunter Branch's program of events for 2024 at the Newcastl...

At the Society's 157th Annual General Meeting, held on 17 April 2023, the results of the 2024 Council elections were announced. The election was conducted by electronic ballot over three weeks from noon on 25 March until noon on 15 April.  Some 200 ballots were submitted by 691 eligible voters, corresponding to a return rate of 29%. Proce...

On April 8, a column in the New York Times contained a live link to a 2016 paper in the Journal & Proceedings of the RSNSW. The linked paper was “The Curious Economist: William Stanley Jevons in Sydney,” by Ian Castles. The column (which requires subscription access) was “The Economic Luminary Who Loved Solar Eclipses. Inspired by science,...

Society Member, Maria MacNamara MRSN, has been appointed as the Chief Executive Officer of the Space Industry Association of Australia (SIAA) — the national peak body for the Australian space industry. The SIAA, formed in 1992, works closely with Australian governments, international partners, academia, and industry to advance Australia’s space ind...

The Society’s 2023 Awards for Students and Early Career Researchers were presented at a ceremony held at the Whitlam Institute at Western Sydney University on 13 March 2024. Each of the award winners was introduced and interviewed by the renowned ABC science journalist and presenter of the ABC Science Show, Robyn Williams AM FRSN FAA, on their rese...

Professor Anthony Weiss AM FRSN FTSE, the McCaughey Chair in Biochemistry and Molecular Biotechnology of the University of Sydney, and Professor Anita Ho Baillie FRSN, the John Hooke Chair in Nanoscience, also at the University of Sydney,  have been named as winners in the Academy of Science (AAS) Honorific Awards for 2024.  Professor Ant...

The Council of the Society was delighted to learn that Fellow, Professor Johannes le Coutre FRSN, of the UNSW School of Chemical Engineering, was recently elected as a Fellow of the International Academy of Food Science and Technology (IAFoST) for his outstanding accomplishments and contributions to the global food industry. At UNSW Sydney, where P...

Voting in the RSNSW Council Elections for 2024 will commence on Monday 25 March at noon and will continue for three weeks, closing at noon on Monday 15 April. This precedes the Society's Annual General Meeting, to be held in the Metcalfe Theatre of the State Library of NSW, commencing at 6.00 pm AEDT on 17 April. Full members of the Society, i.e., ...

The Society’s 2023 Awards for Students and Early Career Researchers were presented at a ceremony kindly hosted by Western Sydney University (WSU) at its Parramatta South Campus in Rydalmere on the evening of Wednesday 13 March 2024. The evening was introduced by Professor Clare Pollock, Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Provost of WSU, with the awa...

Most face-to-face events and all online events conducted by the Royal Society of New South Wales are recorded and made available for subsequent viewing on our YouTube channel: youtube.com/royalsocnsw. Three events have been posted to YouTube from late February into early March 2024. On 21 February, an audience of more than 60 people attended t...

The ninth in the series of Ideas@theHouse events — joint presentations of Her Excellency the Honourable Margaret Beazley AC QC, Governor of New South Wales, and the Royal Society of New South Wales — was held on the evening of Wednesday 6 March 2024 in the Ballroom of Government House Sydney. Acclaimed actor and theatre director, John Bell AO OBE, ...

The Society's  2024 Annual Dinner and Awards Presentation was held in the Strangers' Room of Parliament House Sydney on the evening of 1 March 2024.  It was a wonderful occasion attended by over 200 members, the 2023 Award winners (shown in the adjacent image), and guests. Dr Saul Griffith FRSN, a renowned engineer and entrepreneur specia...

The audience of more than approximately 60 people who attended the 2024 Annual Meeting of the Four Societies (Australian Institute of Energy, the Australian Nuclear Association, Engineers Australia, and the Royal Society of NSW) in the Metcalfe Theatre of the State Library of NSW on 21 February 2024, enjoyed an outstanding presentation and a lively...

The Sydney Morning Herald of Monday, 19 February 2024 led with the headline ‘We made the wrong decisions: COVID-era mass school closures condemned’. The SMH had convened a panel of Australian experts to examine the impacts that school closures had on students’ education and well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic. Included in the panel was Society ...

Most face-to-face events and all online events conducted by the Royal Society of New South Wales are recorded and made available for subsequent viewing on our YouTube channel: youtube.com/royalsocnsw. The first event of 2024 was the 1319th Ordinary General Meeting held at the State Library of NSW on Wednesday, 7 February.  Following the OGM, a...

An audience of more than 70 people, who attended the Society's 1319th Ordinary General Meeting held in the Metcalfe Theatre of the State Library of NSW on 7 February 2024, enjoyed an outstanding presentation and a lively discussion on “Productivity: what is it, and why it matters” by Emeritus Professor Roy Green AM FRSN, Special Innovation Advisor ...

On 10 February 2024, the Minister for Skills and Training, The Hon. Brendan O’Connor MP, announced the appointment of Professor Barney Glover AO FRSN FTSE, the current Vice-Chancellor of Western Sydney University (WSU), as the new Commissioner of Jobs and Skills Australia. The role of Jobs and Skills Australia, a statutory authority established in ...

The Society is delighted to learn of the awards to the following Society Fellows and Members whose names appear in the 2024 Australia Day Honours List. Please note that since the original news item was published, the Society has been notified of additional members who were honoured in the Australia Day Honours List. These people are identified in t...

The Society was delighted to learn that one of its Fellows, and also the Librarian of the Society, Professor Stephen Garton AM FRSN FAHA FASSA, was elected by the Australian Academy of the Humanities as its twentieth President. Professor Garton will serve a three-year term commencing in 2024. Professor Garton’s research expertise is Australian hist...

The Society was deeply saddened to learn of the peaceful passing of Professor Ian Metcalfe MRSN, in Sydney, on 21 December 2023. Ian was a devoted husband to Amarjit Kaur, an incredible father to Noreen and David, and a beloved grandfather to John and James. He was a globally recognised and accomplished professor, researcher, lecturer, and author i...