Academy of Social Sciences in Australia
President's Report
Professor Stuart Macintyre
The Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia is a learned society that advances the social sciences. Through a range of activities it promotes research and teaching, provides expert advice, fosters greater appreciation of the social sciences and represents them in national and international settings.
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The Academy is also an autonomous, non- governmental organisation. While most of the Fellows hold academic posts, the membership extends beyond the universities. The Fellows are elected to the Academy on the basis of their scholarly distinction in one or more of the social sciences, and comprise an unusual breadth of expertise. The advice and the assistance that the Academy provides to government and to the public is valued because of its independence.
From its formation the Academy has worked with a modest budget and the annual grant-in-aid from the Australian Government has been its principal source of income. The chief asset has always been the expertise of the Fellows. Their willingness to contribute time and energy for no recompense has allowed the Academy to serve its objectives; but in order for this resource to be mobilised effectively the Academy depends on an appropriate infrastructure of professional staff and operational support.
In 2008 the Academy benefited from a substantial increase in government funding, which has enabled it to expand its activity. The reports of the individual programs presented elsewhere in this Annual Report give a systematic account of our work in 2008-2009, and here I shall concentrate on some particular highlights.
Public Forums
The annual Colloquium, Symposium and Cunningham Lecture are longstanding features of the Academy's activity, and for some years the convenor of the Symposium Committee worked with the President and the Secretariat to plan these events. The responsibility has expanded with the establishment of three new public lectures, and the erstwhile Symposium Committee also expanded with the addition of Anna Yeatman and Tim Rowse to assist James Walter and a change of name to reflect its responsibilities more accurately.
Details of all these events are given elsewhere in the Report, but we were delighted with the quality and success of the inaugural Keith Hancock and Paul Bourke lectures. Professor Thomas Lemieux delivered a stimulating Hancock lecture at Flinders on a subject close to the interests of its namesake, while Dr Murat Yäcel addressed a very large audience at the University of Melbourne. It was gratifying that Helen Bourke was in that audience for the first Paul Bourke Lecture. We expect that the inaugural Fay Gale lecture will be delivered early in 2010.
Workshops
The workshop program is another regular activity of the Academy, one that capitalises on its capacity to bring together scholars for an intensive discussion of a timely subject of common interest. For all the enthusiasm for inter-disciplinary approaches to the advancement of knowledge, the institutional funding arrangements for academic research make it difficult to mount such exercises, although a relatively small amount of money can yield a substantial intellectual return. The Academy has supported well over a hundred workshops in the past two decades; most have led directly to publications and indirectly to important new collaborations. The current program reveals the diversity and flexibility of the scheme.
At the end of 2008 Mary Lucsz completed a term as chair of the Workshop Program Committee, and Robert Wood succeeded her.
Research
From its inception in 1952, the Social Science Research Council assisted and promoted research spanning the social sciences, and from 1971 the Academy has maintained a commitment to research projects that involve disciplinary and institutional collaboration on important topics. In recent years these projects have been supported by the Learned Academies Special Projects scheme administered by the Australian Research Council. The report provides an account of recent and planned projects. The Australian Research Council has also recently proposed changes to the operation of the scheme, which are likely to increase its flexibility and effectiveness.
The report also relates a research partnership with the Australian Bureau of Statistics whereby leading social scientists have used 2006 census data to create thematic presentations of social change. With Jeff Borland, I was at present at the launch of the first three publications last November and we look forward to the launch of three more before the end of 2009. We are indebted to Anne Edwards for her leadership.
Policy and Advocacy
In 2004 the Academy was provided with temporary additional funding to augment the contribution of the social sciences to public policy, and that made possible the establishment of a Policy and Advocacy Committee. Under the leadership of Michael Keating, Meredith Edwards and now Glenn Withers, the Committee developed a program that brought together social science researchers, social science practitioners and senior public officials.
One of the most effective devices has been the policy roundtable, organised around timely issues and topics. This year's program has benefited from partnerships with a number of other organisations, from the willingness of Fellows to bring their knowledge to workshops, and from the assiduity of the Policy and Advocacy Committee in creating such opportunities.
International activities
The international programs of the Academy include participation in international bodies such as the Asian Association for Social Science Research Councils, representation of the social sciences in international settings and exchange programs with individual countries. The last of these have waxed and waned with the availability of funds to support exchange visits, and we have felt particularly our exclusion - for reasons that go back to the separation of the education and science portfolios - from the International Sciences Linkages scheme operated by the Commonwealth government. The decision by the Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research that the social sciences and humanities should participate is greatly welcome, while the increase in the government's grant to the Academy has enabled us to augment our exchange scheme.
The working out of these arrangements has exercised the International Committee, along with the Secretariat, and I am grateful to Pal Ahluwalia for his leadership.
ASSA Summer School for Indigenous Postgraduate Students
The 7th Summer School was held at the University of Melbourne in February 2009. Twelve students participated along with nine supervisors and a large number of presenters (senior academics) directed by Marcia Langton and Ian Anderson. The postgraduate students came from Alice Springs, Newcastle, Perth, Townsville and Melbourne.
The students present material both at the start and end of the week highlighting any change to their thesis form, research tools and methods they have made through participation in the School. The presenters lead the students through workshops on the PhD calendar, marking criteria and examiners, the supervisory relationship, archival research and research grants, library search skills and bibliography, methodology and data, the literature review, thesis structure and writing, intellectual property and copyright, ethics and, finally, postdoctoral opportunities.
This outreach program has enjoyed great success over the years, and makes a serious contribution to the long-term education of Indigenous scholars. The Academy thanks all those involved.
Publications
Two editions of Dialogue, the Academy's journal, were published. The usual third lapsed, since the editor was on long service leave for 3 months May-August, spending time in Central Australia commissioning the next two editions of Dialogue. Besides reporting on Academy activities, the journal explores a topical issue in each edition, and the two publications discussed 'The Gender Balance; or whatever happened to feminism?' (27, 3/2008) and 'Australia's Oceans' (28, 1/2009)
.The first three essays from the collaboration between the Academy and the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) to explore the data gathered in the 2006 Census were published as Occasional Papers (Census Series), on Creative Australia (Census Series # 1), Housing (# 2) and Indigenous Australia (# 3). The essay on Living Alone (# 4) is in press, and two more will be published before the end of 2009.
An Occasional Paper (Policy Series) on 'The labour market, skills demand and skills formation', based on a roundtable as part of the Policy and Advocacy Program, was also published (Occasional Paper 3/2008).
All Academy publications are available online.
Election of Fellows
In 2009 nineteen new Fellows were elected to membership of the Academy. They will be introduced and welcomed at the Academy Annual Dinner in November. They bring the present Fellowship to 499 members, an increase of 115 in the course of the present decade.
The Paul Bourke Award for Early Career Research for 2009 has been won by Associate Professor Mark Bellgrove, who currently leads a multi-disciplinary group of ten researchers at the Queensland Brain Institute at the University of Queensland.
I congratulate all new Fellows and the Early Career Award recipient on their success.
Deaths
Six Fellows have died during the year: Peter Karmel (President of the Academy 1987- 1990), Patricia Crawford, Ernest (Fred) Fisk, Charles Price, George Singer and Jerzy (George) Zubrzycki. We extend condolences to their families, colleagues and friends. Obituaries appear elsewhere in this volume.
Donations
I thank all those who made donations to the Academy during the past year: JDB (Bruce) Miller, Don Spearritt, Anna Yeatman, Issy Pilowsky, John Legge, Michael Clyne, Chin-Liew Ten, Mary Luszcz, Allan Borowski, Staniforth (Sam) Ricketson, Richard Waterhouse, Stephen Castles, Bob Tonkinson, Heather Goodall, Ronald Gates, Margaret Jolly, Keith Hancock and Bruce Kapferer.
Policy frameworks
In the course of 2008 the government undertook a number of major reviews into higher education and research. The final report of the Review of Australian Higher Education chaired by Professor Denise Bradley appeared at the end of that year and its principal recommendations have been accepted by the government. They have major implications for participation, student choice, accreditation, support and funding. As the report noted, Australia is the only OECD country in which the public contribution to higher education remained at the same level in 2005 as it had been in 1995. It will take some time for the benefits of a ten per cent increase in base grants for teaching to flow to universities, but the additional funding is vital.
VenturousAustralia, the report of the review of the national innovation system chaired by Terry Cutler, appeared at the end of August 2008, and some of its recommendations have been implemented. We welcome the move towards funding the full cost of research and the increase in provision for postgraduate research and stipends. The Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research had already created the Future Fellowship scheme for mid-career researchers and 2009 budget also brought new programs under the banner of Super Science. The Academy is working with its counterpart, the Australian Academy of Humanities, to create similar opportunities for our fields of knowledge.
The Academy has been involved in the consultation process for the national assessment exercise, Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA), to ensure that it captures the full range of research activity in the social sciences and evaluates the social science disciplines with appropriate measures. In September if this year we joined with our fellow Academies in a National Academies Forum on ERA, which enabled us to share our expectations with other interested parties. We particularly appreciate the willingness of the Minister to hear our views.
Acknowledgements
This is my final report as president of the Academy. It has been a privilege to serve in the office and a pleasure to work closely with the program and panel chairs, the other members of the Executive, the panel convenors and Fellows who make time to assist our work. I am especially grateful to John Beaton, our Executive Director, and the staff who make the Secretariat so effective. Working in the Balmain Street premises, as I have during the past three years while completing my research in our archives, I have had occasion to notice the level of their commitment. They begin well before 9 and the lights are burning well after 5. The particular demands of an organisation such as ours, with a variety of functions and limited resources, require both a detail of understanding and a level of flexibility. We are fortunate it is provided so cheerfully.
Working on the history of the Academy has also given me an understanding of how its activities have developed, and a respect for those who developed them. The Academy has frequently adapted to changing circumstances, opportunities and expectations. I am convinced that we are entering - and perhaps have already begun - another period of renewal. We have increased resources. We have a government that both seeks and expects the Academy to play a role in the formulation and execution of research policy, and we have Fellows capable of doing so. We are an independent organisation and should not compromise our independence. But having sought so long to gain entry to the deliberations that determine research policy, having argued so long that the social sciences should have a seat at the table, we need to ensure that we use it.
Stuart Macintyre
President, 2009
Last modified: 2 November 2009.