Science in Brisbane
William Burns
Sunday, 25 May 2008 23:00 UTC
Every weekend I go shopping in Toowong Village – and every weekend I bump into scientists from the University of Queensland who are also out doing their shopping.
If this is a representative sample, there must be a lot of scientists in Brisbane, and what’s more a very high concentration of scientists per capita.
Sure, there are more scientists in London or Boston, but I think we’d beat them if we divided the number of scientists by the total number of people.
So that’s the reason why I created this forum. Perhaps we’ll even get enough members for Nature to give us a local hub.
Updated 25 May 2008 23:00 UTC
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Replies
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Thanks for creating the forum. A Brisbane hub would be great: if not, I’d settle for an Australia, or even an Asia-Pacific hub.
It’ll be interesting to see how many of those QLD scientists are active on NN or at other networks. -
Neil, thanks for commenting. I see from your blog that you’re something of an expert user of social networks in biology, so please feel free to post forum topics on anything that comes to mind.
I’m planning to create a new forum topic myself every week, but these will inevitably be focussed on the issues that interest me, so please pitch in with your own.
I say every week, that’s the plan (!) I’ll try to stick with, in the hope that the more forum topics, the more likely people will want to join and comment.
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Haha. I think Toowong’s proximity to St Lucia might explain it.
That said through my job searching back in 2007 – it did seem Brisbane has quite a good life science community – particularly when it comes to home-grown university research (i think Sydney and Melbourne is more industry and internationals)
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If people wish to stay more up to date with national and international developments in Science and Engineering, I would suggest they join one of the many national bodies (including Standards Committees) and become actively involved in the national dissemination of information.
Persons of competence in various fields are much sought after by various conference providers, providing not only invaluable networking opportunities but exposure to other experts in related fields. International persons in many fields either attend or present at such conferences.
As to costs of articles, a paltry $30 to $50 dollars for recent papers from notable sources cannot be seen as an overly onerous ask. If this presents a difficulty for some, they (1) need to network through vehicles like this and (2) perhaps review their committment to their chosen field.
It is the mark of a professional in any science or engineering field that they maintain the currency of their knowledge. No one owes us this. It is our responsibility to do this for not only our benefit, but the benefit of the community at large (should we still be practicing).
One has to be proactive. It is easy to highlight problems, but it is more to the point to offer solutions as well.
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