Academy of Social Sciences in Australia
President's Report
Professor Leon Mann
In April members of the Executive Committee assembled in Canberra for the year's first meeting and talked informally about their personal 'wish list' for the Academy. Some expressed the hope that the Academy would achieve greater influence and impact on government and policy makers. Others hoped that the Academy would achieve a higher profile in universities and gain greater recognition from the other learned academies. Others (including myself) wished for an Academy in which the numbers and levels of participation in Academy meetings, committees, workshops and related activities increased substantially so that the active core was the majority, not the minority of Fellows. The year has been marked by a number of initiatives and achievements consistent with the wish for a more active Fellowship and an Academy with a higher profile.
Download the Annual Report [PDF:
454.70 kB]
In April members of the Executive Committee assembled in Canberra for the year's first meeting and talked informally about their personal 'wish list' for the Academy. Some expressed the hope that the Academy would achieve greater influence and impact on government and policy makers. Others hoped that the Academy would achieve a higher profile in universities and gain greater recognition from the other learned academies. Others (including myself) wished for an Academy in which the numbers and levels of participation in Academy meetings, committees, workshops and related activities increased substantially so that the active core was the majority, not the minority of Fellows. The year has been marked by a number of initiatives and achievements consistent with the wish for a more active Fellowship and an Academy with a higher profile.
I am pleased to report that the Academy has been successful in two applications for Australian Research Council (ARC) funding for 2002 under the Learned Academies Special Projects. The two projects are: 'Rethinking Wellbeing: Policy and Program Issues in Disability, Disadvantage and Community Development', coordinated by Professor Lenore Manderson on behalf of the Academy; and, 'Social Impacts of Changing Water Regimes in Australia' led by Professors Ian Rae (Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering), Graeme Hugo and myself on behalf of the National Academies Forum, the umbrella body of the four learned Academies. The 'Social Impacts' project is noteworthy because it is, to my knowledge, the first research project in which all four Academies are partners. Increasingly, this kind of inter- Academy research collaboration will be needed to understand the complex social, environmental, and technological issues of concern to Australia.
It is also pleasing to report an Academy initiative, the introduction of a residential workshop program for indigenous postgraduate research students and their supervisors in the social sciences. The five day program will be held in Melbourne 4-8 February 2002 with 20 participants from universities across Australia. The workshop will be led by Professor Marcia Langton, a newly elected Fellow. She and a team of leading indigenous scholars and Fellows from the Academy will offer sessions in such key areas as research ethics in studying indigenous communities, working together in research teams, creating new research ideas and approaches, working with supervisors and preparing for a career in research, teaching and practice. The Colonial Philanthropy Committee has provided a generous grant to support the first research workshop program. We look forward to a continuation of the program and hope that 'alumni' of the program will be among those who go on to become leaders in social science research and teaching in Australia and, in time, Fellows of the Academy.
During this year our Academy has developed a strong and successful working partnership with the Australian Academy of the Humanities (AAH). Professor Malcolm Gillies, President of AAH, generously shared with us the time allotted by the Senate Inquiry into Universities when hearings were held in Adelaide on 4 July. The two Academies were the major hosts of the Humanities-Social Sciences Summit held in Canberra on 26-27 July. While the Summit failed to attract attendance by the business community, it did serve to demonstrate to the academic and research communities the many important and innovative ways in which the social sciences and humanities are making their contribution to the knowledge economy. The two Academies also worked in partnership to develop the joint symposium 'Alternative Australias', the centre-piece of this year's annual meetings in Canberra on 11-13 November.
Outreach and partnership are now essential aspects of the way the Academy sees its mission. ASSA, together with the other learned Academies, spearheaded the successful application for research support for 'The Social Impacts of Changing Water Regimes' project mentioned above. We have been involved in joint Academy workshops on sustainability and discussions are in progress with other Academies to study the effects of climate change on communities.
A persistent problem is the marginal position of the social sciences (and humanities) in the advisory structures that exist in Australia to help shape government and agency policy on research and innovation. I have argued elsewhere that a government which sidelines the social sciences when setting policy in science, research and innovation risks hearing only partial and narrow advice. A small, but hopeful breakthrough occurred in August this year when a working group was established by the Prime Minister's Science Engineering and Innovation Council (PMSEIC) to recommend national research priority areas to the Prime Minister and Cabinet. I was invited, as President of the Academy of the Social Sciences, to join the working party. On my wish list for 2002 is the hope that if the Coalition wins this year's federal election PMSEIC will be broaden its scope and membership to include the social sciences, and that if Labor wins office that the Knowledge Nation Council will indeed include social sciences representation.
The Research Projects Committee under the leadership of Professor Sue Richardson, has continued its active program, with many important research projects funded and coming to fruition. The Workshop Program Committee led by Professor Peter Saunders had another busy and successful year, not only supporting but also helping to shape a series of interesting and challenging workshops. The International Relations Committee under Professor Fay Gale's stewardship reviewed the Academy's international programs and moved to end several agreements. Others were given tightened requirements to ensure that the Academy benefits fully from its participation in international exchange programs. Full reports of the activities of each of these major committees are published elsewhere in this Annual Report.
Dr John Beaton, the new Executive Director, took up appointment in April and has been instrumental in creating a more efficient Academy office. He has led the upgrading of the computer and information systems and has improved the Academy's record keeping, website accessibility and dissemination of information. Importantly, he has moulded the Secretariat into a high performance team who carry out their work with commitment and dedication. John has also been active in many of the Academy's outreach activities (management types call it 'boundary-spanning'' and 'networking') which are essential for coordinating and cooperating with other Academies.
Ian Castles, Vice President, has been a valuable source of advice and an indefatigable writer of position papers and letters. Ian has given sterling support to three Presidents - Paul Bourke, Fay Gale and myself - and has been a tireless champion of the Academy since elected to Fellowship in 1989. Ian was appointed Executive Director 1996-1997 and Vice President 1998-2000 and generously agreed to stay on through 2001 to assist the new Executive Director, John Beaton. The Academy is indebted to Ian for his many years of dedicated service.
I have valued the support of the Executive and especially the Standing Committee (Ian Castles, Sue Richardson and Gavin Jones) who are always available for consultation and advice. To those Fellows who are stepping down from standing committees and other positions of responsibility at the end of their terms of office I offer my thanks for their contributions on behalf of the Fellowship. To those Fellows who are continuing and those joining as new members of committees I also offer my gratitude and pledge of support. To the 20 newly elected Fellows I extend congratulations and best wishes on behalf of the entire Fellowship and express the hope that your association with the Academy will be long and rewarding and that you will participate fully in its life and activities.
I am writing this Report two weeks after the shocking terrorist attack on New York and Washington on 11 September, which has changed the way we all feel about international security. This has been a tumultuous year nationally and internationally. As social scientists, we hold basic tenets about the essential dignity and value of human life, the integrity of institutions that are the bastions of a well-ordered society, the belief that communication between and acceptance of other people, societies and religions brings progress toward a more peaceful and tolerant world. Many of our assumptions about the inevitability of progress toward a more tolerant society have been challenged by Australia's failure to adopt a more humane policy to asylum seekers and to secure a dignified reconciliation with our indigenous people. The terrorist attack on New York and Washington brought home the chilling reality that peace is fragile and that the world can easily be plunged into a new dark age of fear, suspicion and callousness by the madness of extremists with no regard for the sanctity of life.
'Wish lists' must now include the hope that the ingenuity and creativity of our best minds will be directed to the riddle of unmitigated evil, how to understand it and what can be done to prevent and combat it. The social sciences together with the humanities have a special role to play in this respect, especially to ensure that opinion about the causes of extremism and terrorism and the way to respond are grounded in fact and reality, and not dominated by hysteria, ignorance and prejudice.
Leon Mann
President, 2001
Last modified: 2 November 2009.