Link Group Report Summaries
more details on state newsletter page
ACT
In 2002, WISENET ACT was convened by Gail Kelly. We continued with our bi-monthly lunchtime meets which were well attended (different groups of 8 – 14 people) at the As You Like It Café. A highlight of the year was lunch with guest, Senator Natasha Stott Despoja at Vivaldi’s restaurant in October with 22 women attending. This event was described in J61 and our thanks go to Gail Kelly for initiating the meeting and to Anna Robinson for completing its organisation.
Other activities
1. Representation on the ACT Government’s Ministerial Advisory Council on Women (MACOW). Through this forum, WISENET:
Wrote the draft submission entitled Towards a Sustainable ACT: A Discussion Paper that was presented to Council, amended and then submitted to the Government. (Gail Kelly, Juliet Lloyd-Smith, Anna Robinson).
Contributed to the draft submission to the Valuing Parenthood Interim Paper (Kim Blackmore). Kim also attended the function associated with the submission and had the chance to meet with Pru Goward.
Attended the Beijing Cultural Festival Concert as special guests (Gail Kelly, Marian Heard, Anna Robinson)
Received a special invitation to sit on the ACT Radiation Council which was seeking to increase women’s participation (no-one nominated for this position.
Invited to many of the MACOW assisted functions such as seminars on how to get on Boards.
2. Attended various FASTS events – a launch of the FASTS Policy Document, presentation of Occasional Papers, Council Meetings, Press Club lunches (Hilary Cadman, Miriam Baltuck, Anna Robinson)
3.Represented National WISENET at Science Meets Parliament Day (Juliet Lloyd-Smith, Jenny Graves) and the Prime Minister’s Science Prizes Dinner (Haley Jones, Janet Salisbury, Anna Robinson)
4. Invited to participate in the Schools Engineering Workshop being held by the National Institution of Engineering and Information Sciences – convened by new member, Heather Slater, and accepted by Haley Jones.
NSW - SYDNEY
Sydney WISENET members celebrated our ten years of responsibility for running WISENET, which in 2002 passed to the Canberra group, headed by Anna Robinson. The former Central Link team thanked Rosemary Sutton for her sterling work as National Convenor, Julie Evans as Editor of the WISENET Journal, Sarah Miller as Treasurer since 1991, Margaret Hartley who managed the PO Box for many years and all other volunteer workers. At this social meeting, plans for 2003 were discussed over drinks, and members went to dinner at a local Asian restaurant. A meeting was also held on May 5. This was held again at the impressive meeting room of NICNAS at Marrickville, made available by Margaret Hartley, who is NICNAS Director. Wild weather and mishaps, and a new grandchild for one of us, caused some last minute dropouts but a significant core of members made it, for drinks, discussion and dinner at a Thai restaurant. The meeting was in part a send-off for Sarah Miller, Treasurer of WISENET for the past ten years, who is being uprooted from Sydney by a CSIRO transfer. Sarah, with occasional assistance with banking, carried the financial problems of the network efficiently through most of the 1990s and beyond. We wish her well. We were also able to congratulate another former Central-Link member, Julianne Crowley, on the award of a long-sought PhD.
University of Sydney Postgraduate Association
Women’s Meeting on Careers. WISENET
was represented at this meeting on May 15, 2003 by Meloni Muir, a Postdoctoral
Fellow in the Physiology Department at Sydney University. About 50 women,
mostly PhD students, were present. Meloni addressed the meeting about women’s
careers in science. Meloni reports that she was able to publicise WISENET, and
received several enquiries about it.
Congratulations to Cathy Foley -- Eureka Prize-winner
Dr Cathy Foley has won the prestigious Education, Science & Training Eureka Prize for the Promotion of Science for 2003 ($10,000). Cathy is a significant member of WISENET (see Journal 56). She has given hundreds of talks to schools and community groups, television appearances and regular radio segments; all while pursuing her day job as leader of a team in high temperature superconductivity research, and responsibility for her three children. “In fact, Cathy Foley’s scientific career has been one continuous science communication program,” said Brian Sherman, President of the Australian Museum Trust, at the award ceremony in Sydney in August 2003. “For her many years of commitment to science promotion, she is awarded the 2003 Education, Science & Training Eureka Prize for the Promotion of Science.” Cathy is a role model to all scientists on how to both maintain a science career and engage the wider community in her.
TASMANIA
The Tasmanian Link Group of WISENET was re-launched on Thursday 22nd May 2003 at the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) in Kingston just south of Hobart. Dr Nan Bray, the former Chief of CSIRO Marine in Hobart helped us launch the group with about 60 people in attendance. Following the launch Dr Dana Bergstrom, an ecologist with the AAD, ran a workshop on CV writing and job application skills. The feedback from the launch and workshop has been very positive, and through some media attention our existence is off to a good start! The launch was made possible by strong support from many AAD staff that provided assistance with media and administration tasks. (I thank them deeply for their commitment. Ed.)
VICTORIA
The monthly meetings at the Clayton Campus have been going well. Thanks to Alena and Jenny for their organising. Meetings are being held in the first week of each month. The week day changes each month to allow those with fixed commitments to attend. If you are interested in attending these meetings please contact Alena — Alena.Glaister@sci.mona sh.edu.au, phone 9905 5658 or 9905 5643. There is interest in setting up a subgroup similar to the Clayton group in the Alfred hospital area (AMREP, Monash, Baker, Burnet, Alfred etc). If anyone is interested in meeting with me please let me know
— diane@burnet.edu.au, or 9282 2279.
OTHER LINK GROUPS
Convenors from other Link Groups advised that activities were restricted essentially to email distribution but hoped to include some more interactive meetings in 2003.