WISENET AGM Reports

Report from the National Convenor

WISENET was involved in a diverse range of activities with a number of events in Canberra, Melbourne and Sydney. Canberra and Melbourne flourished under the leadership and enthusiasm of Anna Robinson and Jo O’Neil, while Sydney activities centred largely on the Journal and central link group activities. Sadly there have not been meetings at other centres and I would encourage members everywhere to get involved and at least volunteer to organize one get together of a few local members to enable some networking, which is what WISENET is all about. I have had a very busy year myself with less time than I would have liked to devote to WISENET and I have particularly valued the wonderful support and backup from others including Diana Temple, Julie Evans, Rebecca Mason, Heather Rossiter and Margaret.Hartley locally and from Anna Robinson and Jo O’Neil in representing WISENET in government forums.

Roundtables and affiliations
Janet Salisbury, Jo O’Neil and then Pru Bonham have represented WISENET through Pamela’s list, so that we can keep in touch with what happening in other women’s Non Government Organisations (NGO’s). Pamela’s list is an email network run by the National Coalition for Women’s Justice. Unfortunately the viruses are almost as prolific as the emails so Pru has resigned. If anyone is brave enough to take it up please let Rosemary or Anna know.

We are affiliated with FASTS which provides scope for representing issues of interest to women to government and the other scientific societies. Having WISENET members Jan Thomas as Vice President and Sue Serjeantson at the Academy of Science creates the opportunity to have our voices heard.  For the past 3 years FASTS has organised the highly successful Science Meets Parliament day – and again we had WISENET represented, this time by Anna Robinson and Carolann Wolfgang.  The day is so popular that numbers are limited and restricted by FASTS to financial members of member societies so if you are interested in being nominated by WISENET, please contact Anna Robinson about this year’s SMP.

See also Anna and Jo’s reports on their representations to Government, including Anna’s successful nomination of herself and WISENET to the ACT Ministerial Advisory Council for Women.

Networking and Communication with Members
We have produced the WISENET Journal 3 times a year, since it provides the major point of contact with many members. Julie Evans has done a great job as Editor over the last 6 years and I’d like to thank her for all her hard work.  Email broadcasting was a problem for me for a while, recently solved, which made me realize how invaluable it is. If you are on line and haven’t received emails from WISENET recently and just let us know your correct email address.  I hope to restore the information flow on what’s happening at least in Sydney by forwarding notices notably from the NSW branch of the Australian Science communicators and The Australia Museum. The web site http://www.usyd.edu.au/WISENET/ allows us to communicate with would-be members and the world at large and is provided gratis by the University of Sydney and Graham Johnson. Jean Weber has again giving generously of her time to keep the site updated and putting more journals on the web.

Rosemary Sutton

---

Website Report

During the past year I've done some minor updates to the WISENET Web site, including adding a few colour photos that I found at the US Dept of Agriculture site and getting a few more back issues of the Journal online. I remain committed to the principle of a fast-loading site that meets accessibility guidelines; the site is fast-loading but needs work to improve both its visual appeal and its accessibility. The site is also too static; new information isn't added often enough, even though I do receive news and other items that could be posted. 

Despite my interest in the website, I have had little time to spend on it. I have received some very good suggestions for improvements and have several ideas of my own, but no time to implement them (mainly because I'm so often travelling, with limited access to computer and internet). For those reasons, I urge someone to come forward to take over the Website Editor's position. I'm willing to stay on as the nominal Editor, but I will have even less opportunity to work on the website for the rest of this year.

Jean Weber

---

Sydney Activities

The Sydney group got together on 7 occasions (unless I’ve forgotten any – let me know!)  Putting the Journal in envelopes provided the incentive for 3 of these meetings and Julie Evans and Diana Temple generously provided their homes as venues. The first of our other meetings was an informal evening kindly hosted by Diana at the end of July, so that active Sydney members could meet Jo O'Neil who came up from Melbourne. WISENET is affiliated with Women into Politics and a WISENET group attended the annual WIP Sydney dinner again in October. Members in other capital cities should look out for these dinners - they are an enjoyable night out with women politicians from Liberal, Labor and Democrat parties giving entertaining brief speeches. Our Christmas get-together was held at a restaurant in Hunters Hill called Cuneo’s which we walked to after a pre-dinner drink at Diana’s.

Rebecca Mason and Meloni Muir organized a very interesting evening last August for the Sydney group on Women’s health with 4 speakers - Joanna McMillan on nutritional guidelines for women; Dr Bronwyn Crawford on hormone replacement therapy; Dr Meloni Muir on phytoestrogens and Dr Rebecca Mason on bone turnover and osteoporosis which was reported in the November journal.

On November 11 (check date), WISENET co-hosted a forum on Women in Science and Engineering held at the University of Sydney. The leading speaker was Professor Julia Higgins, Professor of Polymer Science at the Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine in London, and chair of the Athena Project which promotes the advancement of women in science, engineering and technology in higher education in the UK. The discussion panel comprised Emeritus Professor Ann Sefton (representing WISENET), Professor Beryl Hesketh (Dean of Science), Professor Judy Raper, (Dean of Engineering) and Professor Helen Garnett (Executive Director of the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation).

A special thank you to Diana Temple for all her contributions as Sydney Convenor, Journal team member, support on the WAIS and lots more.  I would hope that this coming year that someone new will step forward as Sydney convenor and organise a few get-togethers for members in Sydney. If not, then perhaps several people would each agree to organise one event.

Rosemary Sutton

---

Melbourne activities

Victorian WISENET members got together twice in 2001. While not a lot of meetings we met twice more than in 2000.

The first get together was in June 2001 at the University of Melbourne and the second a lunch with Dame Julia Higgins in November at University House at the University of Melbourne. Both meetings were reported in the WISENET journals. Special thanks are due to Sandra Rees for organising the venue for the first meeting and to Pauline Gallagher for reporting on lunch with Julia. An informal lunch of some WISENET members at Monash was also held in September.

So far this year WISENET members have not met this year- my fault- but I look forward to organising some get togethers after July in conjunction with WISENET members who have agreed to be part of a WISENET reference group. 

As Victorian WISENET convenor, I attended in April 2001 a Melbourne Roundtable meeting with  Carmen Lawrence at which there were some 60 women representing NGO groups: I have reported on that meeting previously. I also attended the Victoria Prize awards in November last year at Government House.This scheme also provides fellowship for young researchers. I posted a brochure to Diana Temple and this is the time to nominate potential candidates. Victorian WISENET members were also advised about the scholarship schemes made available through AFUW (Australian Federation of University Women).

2002 is proving a very busy year indeed for two WISENET members, Pauline Gallagher and Jan Thomas are very involved in the organisation of WAIS-2, to be held in Sydney in July (now November, Editor). Both Pauline and Jan were key members of the organizing committee of the highly successful WAIS-1 meeting in Melbourne, and bring a wealth of experience to the next meeting.

WISENET has just been asked to provide some speakers for a Science Breakfast at Strathcona - a girls' school in Canterbury- and last year I gave a talk to year 3 primary school girls and boys in Clifton Hill on how scientists discover and develop new medicines. That was great fun.  I hope that WISENET members will, whenever possible, make themselves available to schools to enthuse youngsters about science.

Jo O’Neil

---

Journal Report

In 2001, the March and July editions were issued from Sydney and the November edition originated in Canberra.  Congratulations to Anna Robinson and her team in Canberra for the lively, election Journal 58. 

As I’m leaving the journal team, it seems a good time to briefly relate the journal’s roving history to date.  The first 25 issues were created between 1984 and 1991 in Canberra. In 1991 the central administration of WISENET and the journal moved to Sydney. Since then, of the 34 journals issued, 28 have originated in Sydney, with Canberra (Nov 2001), Wollongong (July 1998 & April 2000), Perth (Nov 2000) and Northern NSW/QLD (March & July 1994) taking on special issues. Currently we are planning for J60 & J61 later this year to be Sydney based, with the Canberra and Melbourne groups contributing in 2003. 

I strongly believe that mobility of the journal is healthy for WISENET.  Each centre can elect the focus of ‘their’ journal and provide a focus for their group. It also helps to avoid any Sydney bias that might otherwise creep in.  With the marvelous flexibility offered by email and desktop publishing, the task of editor has become easier and the editorial team does not even have to be in the one city.  All the recent journals have been created electronically and the layouts have been the work of Andrew Netherwood in Wollongong.  To assist future editors with the intricacies of file compatibility, image requirements and other electronic niceties, Andrew and I have compiled the WISENET Editors Guide.  Hopefully the guide will evolve with each edition and be useful to all involved. Many thanks to Andrew for all his help.

Thanks also to the members who have contributed to the journal fund or have recently offered their time.  The journal donation fund now stands at $1675, so we are in a position to fund part of the administrative load.

We welcome Margaret Wyrill, Gaby Young , Alex Reisner and to the journal team. 

As always Diana Temple deserves special mention for her ongoing contribution to the journal, as does Heather Rossiter who heroically carried the recent March edition, with the help of Nicola Elliot and Margaret Wyrill, when Diana was out of action.

As a coordinator of the journal, I have valued the interaction with so many dedicated and talented people and recommend the job to all.

Julie Evans

---

 

Membership Report

 

At 31/12/2001, membership totaled 209, comprising:

The breakdown by location was:

 

In 2001 there were 29 new members:

Congratulations especially to the Canberra and Melbourne Links for their boost in membership.  Remember that the membership list is available to members who would like to get in touch with other members.

Thanks are due to Margaret Hartley for her invaluable contribution at the post office and, through Margaret, to Kerrie Macdonald for her help with the labels at Journal time.  Thank you also to Nicola Elliott who will be taking over as membership secretary.

Julie Evans

---