Academy of Social Sciences in Australia
President's Report
Professor Barry McGaw, AO
The Annual Report documents the important activities with which the Academy is engaged and the productivity of its committees in bringing a multidisciplinary perspective to significant research questions and policy issues.
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Public Forums
The Annual Symposium is the major public forum conducted by the Academy each year. The theme for the 2010 Forum was 'Family fortunes and the global financial crisis: The consequences of the global downturn for work, families and children'. The other major activities are the Academy's named lectures.
The winner of the Academy's Paul Bourke Early Career Research Award delivers the Paul Bourke Lecture each year. The 2010 winner, Dr Christy Newman, delivered the 2011 lecture on 'Workforce Worries: The changing worlds of HIV medicine and the general practitioners who provide it' at the University of New South Wales on 10 August 2011. The winner of the 2011 Paul Bourke Early Career Research Award is Dr Linda Graham, an ARC Discovery Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Centre for Research on Social Inclusion and the School of Education at Macquarie University.
The Fay Gale Lecture, named in honour of the Academy's first female president, is delivered biennially by a distinguished female social scientist. Associate Professor Denise Doiron delivered the second lecture in the series on the topic 'Trends and recent developments in income inequality in Australia' in Sydney on 20 September 2011. She will also deliver the lecture in Hobart and Perth. Further details are provided in the report of the Public Forums Committee elsewhere in this Annual Report.
Workshops
The Workshops Committee maintained its impressive level of activity in the past year, with the final workshop in its 2010-11 series and the final two workshops in the International Science Linkages program. It received 18 applications for support in 2011-12 and was able to support eight of them on an wide range of interesting topics. Further details are provided in the report of the Workshops Committee elsewhere in this Annual Report.
Research
The Academy disestablished its Research Committee in 2009 since the Learned Academies Special Projects (LASP) scheme of the Australian Research Council (ARC) switched to funding a single three-year project and removed the need for an annual round of applications and selections.
The three-year project, 'Children of the recession: the social consequences of economic downturn', was officially awarded its LASP grant in late April 2010, with funding becoming available in May. An interdisciplinary team is studying the effects of the severity of the downturn on several categories of economic and social wellbeing, most particularly family income and employment, non-market production, family functioning and child wellbeing in Australia, the US and the UK. The project is using newly available longitudinal data sources.
The project's team has presented at national and international conferences and published in an array of professional journals. Further updates and developments will be communicated to the Academy throughout the project's three-year cycle.
An earlier Academy LASP project culminated recently in the publication of the book, Multiculturalism and Integration: A Harmonious Relationship. The project was led by Fellows Dr James Jupp and Professor Michael Clyne. Although Professor Clyne died before the publication was released, his significant contribution is evident in both the direction of the research project and his contributions to the publication itself.
Multiculturalism and Integration promises to be an authoritative text on multiculturalism in Australia for many years to come. It reflects the disciplinary areas that were focused on over the three years of this project: linguistics, sociology, demography, political science, history and psychology. The authors maintain that, since its inception as the official policy of all governments in Australia in the 1970s, multiculturalism has been one of the most important promoters of social harmony in this country. They propose that integration, promoted recently as a better policy both in Australia and overseas, can best be understood as simply one facet of a more comprehensive concept of multiculturalism.
Multiculturalism and Integration was launched in July 2011 at the Crawford School of Government, at the ANU, by Dr James Fox, representing Minister Chris Bowen and the Department of Immigration and Citizenship.
Policy and Advocacy
The Policy and Advocacy Committee brings the research expertise and knowledge of the Academy's Fellows to the review and development of public policy. It has recently sought to extend its work by engaging in partnerships with other leading players, viz the Institute for Public Administration Australia, Skills Australia and the National Health and Medical Research Council. Further details are provided in the report of the Policy and Advocacy Committee elsewhere in this Annual Report.
International Activities
The Academy has connections with sibling Academies in China and the Netherlands and with partners in Canada, France and Taiwan through which joint programs are developed most particularly for early career researchers.
The Commonwealth's International Science Linkages program continued to support a substantial set of international collaborations established under the management of the International Committee. Unfortunately, that program has not been continued for 2012. Further details are provided in the report of the International Committee elsewhere in this Annual Report.
Publications
With the retirement of Dr Peg Job, who founded the Academy journal and was its editor for over a decade, Dialogue has passed into the hands of an Editorial Board, chaired by Stuart Macintyre, and editor Catherine Armitage. The first edition for the year had two themes: 'Challenges for the Social Sciences in Australia' and 'Families and the Global Financial Crisis'; the second was titled 'A Healthy Society: How to get it? How to keep it? A third edition will appear in December 2011.
Occasional Papers also underwent a restructure. Papers that have been peer- reviewed will continue to be published as Occasional Papers, while those that for reasons of timeliness or author preference do not pass through this process will be part of a new Academy Proceedings series.
Academy Proceedings papers were the 2010 Cunningham Lecture, 'What if Mainstream Science is Right? The Rout of Knowledge and Analysis in Australian Climate Change Policy (and a Chance of Recovery?), delivered by Professor Ross Garnaut (1/2010); 'Critical Issues Facing Australia to 2025. Summary of a Scenario Development Forum' by Michael Keating and Caroline Smith (1/2011); and 'Sustainable Population Strategy: Public Policy and Implementation Strategies' by Liz Allen, (2/2011).
The sole Occasional Paper arising from an Academy Roundtable and published this year was International Student Futures in Australia: A Human Rights Perspective on Moving Forward to Real Action by Andrew Jakubowicz with Devaki Monani, (6/2010).
As mentioned above, Multiculturalism and Integration: A harmonious relationship, edited by Dr James Jupp and Professor Michael Clyne, was published in July 2011 by ANU E Press in partnership with the Academy and is available as Print-on-Demand.
Copies can be ordered from: http://epress.anu.edu.au/multiculturalism_citation.html
Election of Fellows
In 2011, twenty-six new Fellows were elected to membership of the Academy, bringing the present Fellowship to 528 members.
Deaths
The following Fellows died during the year: Michael Clyne AM (Linguistics), Alfred Hagger (Economics), Jamie Mackie (Political Science), Bruce Miller (Political Science), Peter Musgrave (Education), Harry Rigby (Political Science), John Turner (Psychology), Roger Wales (Psychology) and John Western (Sociology).
We extend condolences to their families, colleagues and friends. Obituaries appear elsewhere in this volume. Obituaries for two Fellows who died last year, John Barnes (Sociology), and Robert Brown (Philosophy), are also published in this report.
Donations
We thank those who have made donations to the Academy this year: Professor Michael Clyne, Professor Joseph Isaac and Emeritus Professor Keith Hancock.
Acknowledgements
The Academy is exceptionally well served by its staff in the national office. The Executive Director, Dr John Beaton, provides wise counsel and he and the other able and committed group of staff ensure that the Academy's programs are well supported in a timely manner.
Barry McGaw
President, 2011
Last modified: 11 October 2011.