Director's Report

Published in the RSAA Lunations
Vol1 Issue2 1–31 March 2020

Folks,

Many of you will (like me) have been sweating over ARC Discovery Projects and LIEF grant applications. I wish all grant proposers good luck, acknowledging that luck is a significant factor in winning grants. Keep in mind the three golden rules of the grants process: (1) you have to be in it to win it; (2) success means you wrote a good proposal - well done; (3) lack of success means nothing - few proposals are not worthy of funding and many good proposals are not funded. Persistence and practice are key - as Charles Darwin was fond of saying, “It’s dogged as does it!” (Of course, Darwin was a rich gentleman scientist and never had to write a grant proposal in his life - so what would he know?)

More seriously, I would like to thank all members of the School for the way you rose to the occasion of the recent visit by Rychard Bouwens. As we are all aware, the culture of science, and of academia, faces significant challenges in dealing with power, with bullying, and with privilege. Despite real improvements in recent years, we still have a long way to go towards achieving our goals in relation to inclusion, diversity, equity and access - and in just behaving professionally and decently to our colleagues and students. I was therefore heartened by reports from many participants about the serious and thoughtful discussions that Rychard’s visit produced. We will be taking advantage of the momentum this has generated, so look out for further discussions and calls to action in the next few weeks.   

Finally, COVID-19 is causing increasing problems for everyone. Please follow the advice being given by the medical authorities in terms of safeguarding your health, and, with respect to academic impacts of the virus, the advice given by the ANU. Take care of yourselves and each other.

Best wishes, Matthew.