sciencecentre

Address by HE Ann Harrap to the
Australian-government funded Science Centres Managers Training Program
27 February 2007
Protea Hotel, Midrand


Dr Thomas Auf der Heyde, Group Executive International Cooperation and Resources (DST)
Professor Yonah Seleti: Acting Group Executive, Human Capital and Knowledge Systems (DST)
Ms Beverly Damonse, Executive Director of the South African Agency for Science and Technology Advancement (SAASTA)
Professor Mike Gore, Adjunct Professor, Australian National University
Professor Susan M. Stocklmayer, Associate Professor, Australian National University

 I have a confession to make. I’m a humanities graduate – which is probably not the thing to admit to an audience of science professionals – but it comes with a second confession. And that is, that having visited a science centre in Canberra called Questacon with my godson a few years ago I am a science convert.
 Because what I discovered at that science centre and from my own research afterwards (prompted by that visit) was extraordinary.
 I discovered that in 1947, following years of drought, scientists at Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Organisation (CSIRO) conducted the first successful cloud seeding experiments making rain fall near Bathurst in New South Wales.
 I discovered that in 1970 an Australian by the name of Professor Earl Owen from Sydney pioneered microsurgery techniques by performing the first microsurgery operation when he rejoined an amputated index finger.
 And I learned that in 1997 the Australian designed hybrid toilet, a lightweight, fully-enclosed toilet system which requires no water and minimal maintenance was released for sale.
 In other words, I started to discover Australia’s scientific heritage.
 It took 40 years but I now have a much greater awareness and understanding of the contribution of science and technology to Australia’s development as a nation. And I have a much better appreciation of the link between innovation, productivity and economic growth – for the implication of many of those ground-breaking innovations and inventions that I just mentioned was that Australia and Australian manufactures became more productive and competitive on global markets. And that increased competitiveness had direct implications for Australian jobs and standard of living.
 These are the messages that I suggest to you – from a science novice to science professionals - are important to be conveying to your audiences, visitors and practitioners at your science centres – and I understand that public diplomacy, consciousness-raising, outreach activities and making science accessible to the public will be an element of your training program over the coming days.
 I am very proud that the Australian Government, through AusAID and in collaboration with the Australian National University, is able to deliver this Science Centre Managers training program, designed to assist existing Centre managers to improve the operation and organization of their businesses but also designed to introduce new and potential managers to best practice in terms of structure, business organization, visitor management, and the like.
 Australia has a solid history of cooperation with South Africa in science and technology. Our connection with Lesotho in that specific area has been less strong. But with both countries, Australia has made a determined effort to assist with human capital development goals through scholarships, technical assistance and training such as this.
 With South Africa
 Australia is very conscious of the goals of South Africa’s Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative (ASGISA) and its importance for all South Africans
 Australia is assisting in a number of ways to help achieve these goals in the field of science and technology.

First, through our Australian Tertiary Education Institutions
 Australia has a global reputation for the high quality and integrity of our education and training and is well-equipped to help developing countries overcome a number of skills shortages
 Australia has an innovation- and research-intensive culture
 our universities are top-class with a reputation for excellence in many disciplines, including S&T
 academic staff are recruited from around the world and are often leading experts in their field
 International engagement has been an important aspect of Australian education and training for many years
 According to the Australian Vice-Chancellor’s Committee over 80% of Australian universities are engaged with South African institutions
 the highest level of engagement in Africa and among the highest in any part of the world
 Indeed the number of South African students coming to Australia to study has been growing, particularly over the last two years
 on average, over the last 5 years, around 500 South African students have enrolled in Australia per year.

Secondly, we are determined to assist in meeting the goals of AGSISA through the provision of Scholarships to study in Australia
 In the S&T field, for the past three years, Australia has offered DST and other nominated science institutions two scholarships per year for masters-level study in Australia

Thirdly, we have provided Technical assistance in science
 In 2007-08, through the African Governance Facility, the aid program funded technical assistance to DST of close to R161,000

 To assist the University of Pretoria to support an eight-month ‘Occupational Traineeship’ at the ANU for a PhD student looking at techniques involved in identifying new antimalarial drugs
 And to assist six members of SANERI (SA National Energy Research Institute) to visit Australia to get first-hand insight into the governance and financing of publicly funded energy and research development programs. One expected outcome of this visit is that it will further enhance the links with Australian institutions – something, of course, that that this training workshop over the next few days will also do.

And fourthly, through Institutional Collaboration
 Australia and South Africa have enjoyed a good collaborative research relationship for many years between government agencies, universities and industry.
 The Australian CSIRO in particular has strong linkages with research institutions in South Africa
 in fact, over the period 2003-2005, collaboration with South Africa ranked ninth in order of importance of CSIRO’s international collaborations.
 Australia and South Africa also collaborate on multilateral initiatives:
 in 2003, CSIRO joined with CSIR South Africa and seven other leading international science and technology research institutions to form the Global Research Alliance.
 Another Australian agency, the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), through a partnership with the Agricultural Research Council, has also assisted South Africa to build skills in science.

All of these collaborations and areas of assistance have been designed to assist the necessary development in human capital. These efforts have been strengthened in more recent times through the signing of a Science and Technology Agreement between Australia and South Africa that aims to build cooperation through a range of mechanisms, such as
 exchange of scientists, scholars and other experts
 exchange of scientific and technological information
 organization of bilateral scientific and technological seminars

And next month, the Australian Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research will visit South Africa to help put some meat on the bones of this agreement with practical suggestions of how these exchanges can take place

- his visit is another signal of the strong cooperation between our two countries and Australia’s desire to grow those relations where practical.

With Lesotho

For many years Australia has contributed to meeting the development objectives in Lesotho – which has been one of nine target countries under Australia’s development assistance program with Africa. In 2008, we provided eight scholarships to Lesotho in the fields of agriculture, environment, computer science, engineering and public health. A further eight scholarships have been offered to Lesotho for 2009 and candidates have been selected in the fields of agriculture, public health, education, trade and public administration. This will bring the number students from Lesotho who have studied in Australia and Australian institutions with Australian Government support since the 1970s to over 120.

What you will appreciate, therefore, is that we have focussed our cooperation on a range of targeted programs aimed at skills development and I’m delighted to see that continuing with the participation of our Basotho colleagues in this week’s workshop.

Conclusion

L&G – I wanted to take some time to give the details of the types of cooperation that exist between Australia and Africa to demonstrate the connections that already exist. But I also want to tell you tonight that my government is determined that those connections should grow. My foreign minister Mr Smith is currently in Addis Ababa at the AU summit – the first Australian foreign minister to attend such a summit. This is because Australia takes Africa seriously, we want to build our engagement with countries in the region in a way that means we all develop our full potential.

You guys are part of that effort to unlock potential – I wish you the best of luck for the course and for those who will be undertaking further study in Australia, I encourage you to work hard at building your networks and making contacts so that through strong people-to-people and better institutional links, you can be building your own skills while at the same time be contributing to the development of a true knowledge-based society in both South Africa and Lesotho.