KEY POINTS
- On 30 September 2008, Senator Carr announced the appointment of Professor Penny Sackett as Australia’s new, full-time Chief Scientist for Australia. Professor Sackett began her five year term as Chief Scientist on 3 November 2008.
- The Chief Scientist provides high-level advice to Government, fosters relationships with science organisations and industry groups and stimulates community thinking on the big scientific issues of our time.
- Boosting the role from part-time to full-time demonstrates the importance the Government places in high-calibre and independent scientific advice.
- Another important role for Professor Sackett is to raise awareness of emerging issues in science, engineering and innovation, and encouraging young Australians to see science as an exciting career option.
- In this capacity Professor Sackett has initiated the Young Ambassadors for Science, who will communicate to their communities how important science is to our daily lives and help to spread their enthusiasm for science. The inaugural Young Ambassadors for Science were all participants of the 2010 National Youth Science Forum.
- Professor Sackett is also the Executive Officer for the Prime Minister's Science, Engineering and Innovation Council (PMSEIC). The Council is the Government's principal source of independent advice on issues in science, engineering and innovation.
- Professor Sacket has initiated and implemented a new foresighting approach for PMSEIC. The essence of this approach is to anticipate potential futures (over the 20-50 year horizon), identifying associated key challenges and opportunities. A number of these require scientific action in the near term in order to ensure Australia addresses them. Expert working groups are tasked with reporting on specific challenges and opportunities, recommending action that could be implemented in the short term.
- The 21st meeting of PMSEIC was held on 18 March 2010 during which an expert working group report on Transforming Learning and the Transmission of Knowledge was presented as well as a Thematic Foresight issue on National Health, Well-being and Security.
- Professor Sackett came to the position with a long list of professional achievements and credibility in the innovation, science, engineering and technology communities.
- Science advocacy has been an important priority for Professor Sackett and she has advanced this through her visits to both international and domestic prominent industry and research agencies.
- A new website has been created to promote the role of the Cheif Scientist for Australia and the Office of the Cheif Scientist www.chiefscientist.gov.au. Connected to this, Professor Sackett has also joined facebook to further promote science and her work www.facebook.com/chiefscientist.
- Professor Sackett is supported by the Office of the Chief Scientist located in the Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research. The Office supports the Chief Scientist for Australia in her role of providing independent advice to Government on a wide range of scientific and technological issues and her engagement with the research and industry communities, learned societies, and other portfolios and governments.
- On Tuesday 16 February, the Chief Scientist hosted a successful day of activities in Canberra to celebrate and congratulate Professor Elizabeth Blackburn on her achievement of becoming Australia’s first female Nobel Laureate. Professor Blackburn won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with two other colleagues for the discovery of telomeres, telomerase and its function; capping the ends of chromosomes with telomeres to prevent them from unravelling.
FACTS AND FIGURES
The role of Chief Scientist was established in 1989 following the recommendations of the then Government’s Science and Technology Statement, Science and Technology for Australia.
Australia's Chief Scientist:
- Is a specialist full-time advisory appointment within the Innovation, Industry, Science and Research portfolio and operates on a whole of government basis
- Provides advice to the Prime Minister, the portfolio Minister and other areas of government as requested
- Raises awareness of emerging issues in science, engineering and innovation in the broader Australian community
- Acts as an advocate for science, promoting science education, skills development, and career information across the education and research sectors through participation in education initiatives
- Assists in the coordination of government activities and fosters collaborative relationships with key stakeholders, including scientific and research institutions, industry and state and territory governments
- Plays a key role in relevant governance bodies
- Supports the Government to strengthen Australia's scientific profile internationally.
Further information can be found on the Chief Scientist's website at http://www.chiefscientist.gov.au.
Professor Sackett's Curriculum Vitae
Professor Penny D Sackett was appointed Chief Scientist for Australia on 30 September 2008. Professor Sackett is an accomplished cross-disciplinary scientist with a record of academic excellence on three continents. She is highly respected in the national and international communities of science and technology, both for her research and her proven experience in research management.
Professor Sackett was Director of the ANU Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics and Mount Stromlo and Siding Spring Observatories (2002 – 2007) and remains a Professor in the School.
She is a member of the Australian and American Astronomical Societies, the International Astronomical Union, and the Association for Women in Science. In 2003, Professor Sackett was elected an International Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society for her leadership and enabling activities. She serves on the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) Board of Directors, which governs several international facilities including the Gemini Observatory and the Hubble Space Telescope Institute.
A physicist by training and an astronomer by profession, Professor Sackett considers herself an educator by inclination. She holds a PhD in theoretical physics and has received certification to teach science and mathematics at primary and secondary school levels. In addition to research on three continents, her career includes science journalism and service on Australian, Dutch, European, and US science advisory panels.
Professor Sackett has extensive experience in managing large and complex science projects involving broad international partnerships. Her work was some of the first to observationally demonstrate that dark matter in galaxies is aligned with, though more broadly distributed than, the visible stars in galaxies. Dark matter is believed to make up most of gravitational mass of the cosmos. Professor Sackett was also instrumental in the innovative use of microlensing, a phenomenon predicted by Albert Einstein, to search for planets orbiting distant stars in our Galaxy. This led to the discovery of some of the lowest-mass extrasolar planets known, and the first indication that small planets such as Earth may be much more common than large, massive Jupiter-like planets.
Professor Sackett’s previous appointments include the J. Seward Johnson Fellow at the Institute of Advanced Study in Princeton (USA), Program Director at the US National Science Foundation, and Chaired Professor at the University of Groningen (NL). Professor Sackett was the Director of the ANU Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics, and the Mount Stromlo and Siding Spring Observatories from 2002, serving a five-year term. During this tenure she co-founded the cross-disciplinary Planetary Science Institute at the ANU, and strengthened the bonds between astronomy, astro-engineering, and Australian industrial sector, as well as raising the international profile of Australian astronomy.
Mentoring excellent young researchers has formed an integral part of Professor Sackett’s work, and she is a strong advocate for increasing the number of young people contributing to the future health and wealth of Australia through science, engineering, technology and innovation. A winner of teaching awards, Professor Sackett was recognised as a national role model by the Australian Government Office of the Status of Women, who selected her as one of seven Australian women in science to highlight science as a career to secondary school students.