Issue 69 Contents

 

 

2005 WISENET AGM

 

Minutes of the 2005 WISENET AGM held on Monday 30 May 2005, 5.30pm at CSIRO Plant Industry, Black Mountain, Canberra, ACT.

 

Present
Susan Barker (WA), Jennifer Byrne (NSW), Ines Carrin (ACT), Julie Christie (ACT), Judith Hazel (ACT), Anna Robinson (ACT), Barbara Smith (Tas), Sally Stowe (ACT), Jennifer Westrin (Tas), Rosemary White (ACT). Those outside the ACT joined via teleconference.

 

Apologies
Haley Jones, Gina Newton, Lyn Hinds, Sharon Robinson, Lyn Hunter, Alison Ord, Karen Edwards, Nancy Lane, Robyn Porter.

 

Minutes from 2004 AGM
Matters arising from the minutes: Judith Hazel’s apology to be added to the minutes. The minutes were accepted as a true and accurate record of the 2004 meeting.

 

Sally Stowe moved acceptance of the minutes, seconded by Julie Christie.

 

Reports:
 

National Convenor’s Report
2004 represented significant changes and achievements for WISENET. I’d like to thank everyone who has given their time in any capacity for WISENET – the goodwill that you all show is a great reflection of our aims and objectives and that the credibility of WISENET is sustained by its outstanding membership. There were some major achievements at organizational level –

  1. New look AGMs with ‘virtual’ and audio conferencing components bringing members to the meeting from around Australia and brings a real sense of national consolidation.

  2. An amended Constitution reflecting more contemporary aims and objectives

  3. New arrangements for membership subscription service with direct, telephone, internet and credit card payments. Mick Gould from Convention Associates has been exceptional in readily providing whatever details are required.

  4. A return to a solid credit bank balance – some organizational memberships at $200 greatly helped us; also collection of back-payments, more stringent controls on outgoings so they are related to membership only – eg smaller numbers of journals printed and sent only to members.

  5. Inclusion of our website in the PANDORA Electronic Archive at the National Library, Canberra, Australia (reported in J66)

  6. Attendance at post-budged Breakfast Meeting 2004 (Julie Christie) Science Meets Parliament Day (the 2004– needed to be shifted to 2005 because of the election – attended by Elizabeth Krenske)

  7.  Closer ties with the European 6th Framework – thanks to Lynne Hunter, Adviser to the European Commission and now a WISENET member for ending so much information our way

  8.  Invitation to the Frank Fenner Conference on Environment; Peter Doherty’s Invitational Brain Drain Workshop

  9. Attendance at FASTS AGM and Council Meeting

  10. Nomination for awards. Jenny Graves for PM’s prize; nomination of Kay Basford and Sarah Ashmore for the Qld. Smart State Women’s Awards

  11. New LISTSEVER email link with all WISENET – spectacular!

  12. Journal rotation – we have nearly rotated through all Link Groups!

  13. website: (e) New page on professional development – in progress. Need to complete.

2004 also saw changes with new Public Officer Robyn Porter and new Link Group Convenor– Sari Ruuska (ACT). Enormous thanks to outgoing Convenors, (ACT) Julie Christie and Juliet Lloyd Smith, (SA/NT) Gillian Lay. May I take this opportunity to also thank continuing Link Group Convenors for their work in 2004: Wendy Russell, Barbara Smith, Susan Barker, Diane Webster, Meloni Muir and Sarah Ashmore. There were lots of other achievements at individual level. Congratulations to

  1. Fiona Wood for producing the Brain Drain report which is on our website. The document is a credit to Fiona and an outstanding piece of reporting that is being distributed by FASTS

  2. Ann Moyal for publication of her book “The Web of Science. The Scientific Correspondence of the Rev. W.B. Clark, Australia’s Pioneer Geologist.”

  3. Di Webster – who took up her L’Oreal Fellowship in America

  4. Barbara Smith for her award for the Take Two Science Program

  5. Diana Day for publication of the Encouraging Indigenous Australian Students into University Science and Technology co-authored by Claire McLisky and Diana Day.

Acceptance moved by Sally Stowe, seconded by Rosemary White

 

Treasurer’s report
Noted change to use of Convention Associates to handle membership subscriptions at a cost of $5 per member. Bank fees have increased substantially, change to another bank will be investigated. Anna Robinson explained that having carried the one-off cost ($3,000) of producing the WAIS II journal in 2003, the WISENET account is now comfortably in the black (>$8,000). There was discussion about how to make these funds available to Link groups to support their activities. The general consensus was that groups could submit a request for funds for a particular activity.

 

Acceptance moved by Anna Robinson, seconded by Jennifer Byrne

 

Membership report
At the end of 2004 there were a total of 154 members, classified as follows (figures taken from the Jan 17th 2005 datasheet);
 

Complementary 3
Honorary 3
Ordinary 118
Organisation 8
Retired 11
Student 11

 

By State
ACT 35 (1 Comp)
NSW 49 (2 Hon, 1 Comp)
SA/NT 7 (2 Org)
QLD 11 (1 Hon, 1 Org)
TAS 10 (1 Org)
VIC 28 (3 Org)
WA 9

 

Overseas mailing addresses
USA - California 2, Penn 1 (Ord); India 1 (Comp); NZ 1 (Org)

 

The involvement of Convention Associates has been a great step forward as far as the membership database is concerned.

 

Membership appears to be steady, record keeping by Convention Associates is very good and reduces the day-to-day workload. Acceptance moved by Julie Christie, seconded by Barbara Smith.

 

Journal Manager’s report
(presented to the meeting in writing as Haley was unable to attend).

 

2004 saw another three excellent journal publications for Wisenet from WA, SA/NT and a national version. Thank you very much to the appropriate groups for doing such a great job of promoting the doings of female scientists in Australia. I would also like to give a special thank you to Sue Henderson who took on the role of journal layout and whom has done a wonderful job. The post-writing stage of the journal process has been streamlined due to the, as always, remarkable efforts of Anna Robinson. The printing and posting of journals is now undertaken through Mick Gould of Convention Associates in Melbourne. As such, the Journal Manager’s role has become more that of a Journal Coordinator.

 

Acceptance moved by Ines Carrin, seconded by Rosemary White

 

Link Group Reports:
 

Reports were submitted by Tasmania and Western Australia. No other reports were received.

 

Tasmanian Link Group
The last year has been less active than the previous with only a few meetings, but with plenty of information being shared via email - showing the real strength of the network. I have been pleased to find that several people have let me know their change in email addresses so they could continue to receive information. We currently have 10 members (9 individual and one organisation), and I have maintained my local list of over 50 non-members and have used discretion on what to send them.

 

Activities
On June 22nd 2004 I gave a talk at Women Tasmania on my recent ice drilling expedition to Antarctica as part of the Tasmanian Antarctic Mid-Winter Festival which was reasonably well attended.

 

In the first week of July when WISENET was asked to provide interest for a possible ABC George Negus Tonight program, I had a surprisingly good response. It was just sad that the ABC decided not to go ahead! I have kept those interested on file in case we are asked for something similar in the future.

 

During July I tried to get support to do something in National Science Week, but a combination of too little support, and too big ideas lead to nothing being done at all. Perhaps this year I can rally some interest and aim lower!

 

On September 25th we had a BBQ in the Waterworks Reserve in Hobart on a glorious sunny day attended by about 6 people.

 

On January 13th I had a meeting with the Tasmanian convenor of Women in Engineering. We discussed ways in which to involve people in WISENET activities but admitted that we both had enormous trouble with inertia from our members (and non-members). We agreed that having tried various meetings, the interest was not strong enough to make it worth our while, and that we should concentrate our efforts into the dissemination of information on the internet rather than encouraging people to participate in meetings that were poorly attended for the amount of effort that went into organising them. We thought that putting more profiles of local women in science on the internet would be good, but when I called for participants I only got one reply. So disheartening!

 

Barbara Smith added that we need ideas to attract people to meetings, for example, profiling local women on the web site. Jennifer Westrin suggested raising the profile of WISENET in an Australia-wide email list for school lab. technicians (who are predominantly female).

 

Acceptance moved by Jennifer Westrin, seconded by Susan Barker.
 

Western Australian Link Group
I note with dismay the optimism of last years report concerning all the recruitment and social activities I had planned for the subsequent 12 months. Instead, I found myself in a holding pattern at work and home, and WA membership has dropped further. The set up of the WISENET Emailing list also reduced my Coordinator tasks to a very minimal effort indeed – just forwarding local event news on a very occasional basis. Resurfacing gradually this year, I have been a little more proactive. Three lunches are planned over the next 6 months for an informal gathering of women in science at UWA, to which WISENET members also will be invited, and a change in State Minister for Science (now Hon. Judy Edwards) has also led to some activity of relevance (below). My incentive of course is the return of the Journal to our fair shore, not yet imminent but the way my time goes, I’d better start planning! (For those of you who have not yet read it “Momo” by Michael Ende is a thought-provoking guess at what is
happening world over when it comes to Time).

 

The science enquiry centre “SCITECH” and the Department of the Premier and Cabinet, Office of Science and Innovation in Perth have developed a web site – see http://www.sciencewa.net.au/index.asp that explores and supports various aspects of science careers. I was asked to help provide identities of successful Western Australian women in science, for potential profiling on the site, as these were proving hard to identify in any great number. I have heard subsequently from one of the WISENET members whom I nominated, that she has been invited to be an Ambassador for Science on the web site. In addition, a staff member from DPC-OSI spent a while with me last month discussing issues in recruitment and retention of women in science towards possible activities and/or policy development in WA; also asking the question – what role might WISENET take in this area. I look forward to a long-term positive outcome from these contacts, and an improved membership status this time next year.

 

Susan Barker added that Women in Mining are very successful in attracting women to meetings – with up to 200 women attending every 6 weeks. The attraction of free food and refreshments may be one way to promote WISENET meetings.

 

Acceptance moved by Rosemary White, seconded by Sally Stowe.

 

Transfer of National Link Team to Victoria in 2006

It was proposed that National Co-Convenor roles be introduced as a mechanism for continuing the momentum in Canberra while fulfilling Constitutional requirements to rotate National Link Team. Elect positions were agreed to at 2004 AGM. Rosemary White (ACT) and Di Webster (VIC) were nominated for the positions of National Co-convenors, seconded by Julie Christie. The nominations were accepted. In her absence, Di Webster’s acceptance was confirmed by Sally Stowe.

 

The ACT Link Group will complete its term this year and will hand over to the new National Link Team at the 2006 AGM (date to be set). Nominations for remaining elect Executive positions are now open.

 

Transfer of financial as well as membership administration and journal distribution to Convention Associates.

 

At present, most administrative tasks are carried out very efficiently and effectively by Convention Associates. At an additional cost of $1 per member ($6 per member in total), Mick Gould of Convention Associates has offered to carry out all administration, including handling any mail. It was noted that very little mail comes in through the GPO Box, which costs $106 per year.

 

Susan Barker wondered whether the lack of personal contact would distance the members and others from WISENET. Barbara Smith, Jennifer Westrin and Jennifer Byrne supported the proposal. Julie Christie noted that collecting mail from the GPO Box required extra physical handling, and that mail going directly to Convention Associates would provide an advantage in efficient bill-paying and other financial matters.

 

Anna Robinson proposed that the GPO Box be removed from 1 January, 2006, with notification of the change of physical address to be included in subsequent Journals and on the website.

 

Acceptance moved by Rosemary White, seconded by Judith Hazel.

 

Link Groups to accept responsibility for journals in rotation

Anna Robinson asked whether other link groups experienced any real problems in compiling journal issues. Barbara Smith noted that journal formatting was not specified very clearly, e.g. length of articles, number of pages. AR responded that the journal always has a set number of pages, either 28 or 32.

 

Susan Barker commented that there did not seem to be easy to proof the final copy of the journal before printing – a name was printed incorrectly in one issue. In future, it will be reinforced that the proof must be sent to the Link Group editor following corrections and before printing.

 

Susan Barker also wondered whether the journal counted as a publication – it has an ISSN number but it is unclear whether it is formally recognised.

 

Action: Rosemary White will ask the CSIRO Library regarding formal recognition of WISENET Journal in government categories.

 

Anna Robinson reminded the meeting that the next issue, volume 69, will be compiled by the NSW Wollongong Group, with volume 70 to be compiled by the International group, which has very few members at present. She suggested that part of the UNESCO IRSTG Report (Section 3 - Future research needs on science, technology and gender) could be included in this issue.

 

Changes to the Executive Committee
Recommend that Executive Committee be changed to comprise: National Co-Convenors (2), Treasurer, Membership Coordinator, Journal Coordinator (the latter names changed to more fairly reflect roles) Link Group and past-National Convenors. Public Officer to attend in ex-officio capacity.

 

Barbara Smith suggested that it would help to have more people in local Link Groups, and Susan Barker commented that the WA Link Group is very small, and wondered if this would make the Link Group Convenor unrepresentative.

 

Anna Robinson proposed that Link Group Convenors become part of the Executive Committee, seconded by Barbara Smith.

 

Nomination for Honorary Membership of Pam and Alex Reisner
Pam and Alex have dealt with all website matters in the last three years. Their great generosity (they paid for the ISP address) has allowed us to readily maintain an active, current and interesting website that is now part of the National Library’s PANDORA Archive.

 

Proposed by Anna Robinson, seconded by Ines Carrin.

 

Any other business

  1. Barbara Smith suggested the WISENET email list be used to exchange ideas about how to stimulate members and inform them about activities. Jennifer Byrne commented that many scientific societies are not very active, apart from organising an annual conference, and wondered what WISENET could do to raise the group’s profile. Anna Robinson noted that the ACT Link Group organised well-attended lunches, which usually have the attraction of a guest speaker. The ACT group does have the advantage that many members work within close proximity to each other and it is easy for them to get together for lunches and other events.

  2. Anna Robinson pointed out that the WISENET logo needs rejuvenation, and asked whether a new logo could be based on one of Liz Truswell’s paintings of fossils. WISENET could either purchase a painting, or commission Liz to design a new logo. Judith Hazel wondered whether a less discipline-specific (biology) logo would be more appropriate. Members to be canvassed re new logo for WISENET.

  3. Jennifer Westrin suggested convening another WAIS conference. This suggestion was supported with the caveat that the organisation and management of the conference be handled differently.

Actions arising from the AGM

The meeting adjourned at 7.00pm, with several members moving onto Da Cellini’s, Braddon, for dinner.

 

 Issue 69 Contents