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Dear All,<br><br>
Below is a media release from FASTS, issued on Saturday November 22, that
may be of interest.<br><br>
<br>
<b>Cautious response to proposed ARC changes<br><br>
</b>Australia's peak Council for scientists and technologists has
responded <br>
cautiously to proposals to change the way research funding is handled in
<br>
Australia.<br><br>
Education Minister Brendan Nelson Minister flagged possible changes to
the <br>
processes of the Australian Research Council (ARC). The proposal includes
<br>
replacing the present expert advisory committees with a 'college of
<br>
experts'.<br><br>
The Minister has also suggested that there should be 'broad community
<br>
representation on the new body that will be assessing future grant <br>
proposals'.<br><br>
His proposals were contained in a media release issued on Friday. See:
<br>
<font color="#0000FF"><u><a href="http://www.dest.gov.au/Ministers/Media/Nelson/2003/11/n533211103.asp" eudora="autourl">http://www.dest.gov.au/Ministers/Media/Nelson/2003/11/n533211103.asp<br>
</a></u></font>Professor Snow Barlow, President of FASTS, said scientists
can see <br>
advantages in using a multi-disciplinary panel to choose projects for
<br>
funding.<br><br>
"Many advances come from multi-disciplinary approaches, and may for
instance <br>
involve chemistry and biology working together to solve a problem,"
he said.<br>
"But we would be concerned if people without the necessary technical
<br>
knowledge were involved in a panel to choose which science projects
should <br>
be funded."<br><br>
He said that Australia has a world-beating system of peer review, and
<br>
underlined the importance of encouraging excellence across a broad base
from <br>
mathematics to humanities.<br><br>
"FASTS is warmly supportive of involving the broad community in
Australia's <br>
science programs," he said.<br><br>
"The Australian public should be involved in selecting our national
research <br>
priorities, and needs to be confident in the broad directions of
scientific <br>
research. But we are puzzled about the role non-experts might play in
choosing <br>
between often highly technical science proposals." Professor Barlow
said he would be writing to the Minister to seek clarification about the
suggestion.<br><br>
For interview: Professor Snow Barlow ph (03) 5833 9255; 0407 251
574<br>
For information: Toss Gascoigne 0408 704 442<br>
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