The rebirthing of a science advocacy

Philip Poronnik says he assumed the role of secretary of the Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science in late 2009 as part of a concerted effort at “rebirthing” the former powerhouse of science advocacy. He saw in ANZAAS an ideal vehicle for his mission of reconnecting science and the community. ANZAAS was founded in 1888 and enjoyed prominence and authority until the 1990s. Its annual congresses were attended by fine scientists and distinguished public figures, and widely reported. But membership and interest have been falling steadily since then. ANZAAS chair Mike Murray says there were several factors which lead to decline. “The learned academies creamed off many of our members. And our flagship congresses started to go out of fashion. The concept of a science festival lost favour as science became more insular and silo-like. “With limited funds and the rapid growth of specialist scientific associations, scientists found attendance at generalist congresses much harder to justify over conferences and the like devoted to their specialist fields of work. But fashions move in cycles, and multidisciplinary science is coming back into favour.” The last ANZAAS congress was in 1997, and although attendance was still quite strong, it lost money. That same year, a motion to wind ANZAAS up was only narrowly defeated. It chugged on, but as a shadow of its former self. Murray, formerly chief of the CSIRO’s materials science and technology division, had taken up a corporate executive role with responsibility for improving CSIRO’s relations with industry. He was also the driving force behind the establishment of the Australian Synchroton in Melbourne, and took on the job of explaining the synchrotron and its benefits to the community, which drew him into ANZAAS. “Back in 2002 it was very low-key and lacked any strategic thinking,” he says. “The only program that was still going strong was youth ANZAAS [an annual residential conference of 60 Year 10 to 12 science students]. The organisation’s future was anything but assured. “It needed to find its own place in the continuum of scientific advocacy, and it seemed to me to be staring us in the face. At one extreme are the public, who need to engage with science if democracy is to function as it should. At the other extreme are the academies, with a closed membership of very smart people who don’t relate directly to the public.” Murray wants ANZAAS, whose membership is open, to plug the gap. Under his chairmanship, it has built new connections with universities, institutes, schools, business and government. New projects are happening, and others – such as a rural ‘scientists to the country’ outreach program – are planned. Sponsorship is increasing and membership is growing again. JG Go to anzaas.org.au