New Zealand plays host to top scientific minds
Andrew Mackintosh, Deputy Director of the Antarctic Research Centre and from the School of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences, was part of a strong academic contingent from Victoria which attended last week’s International Council for Science (ICSU) General Assembly in Auckland.
Andrew Mackintosh, Deputy Director of the Antarctic Research Centre and from the School of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences, was part of a strong academic contingent from Victoria which attended last week’s International Council for Science (ICSU) General Assembly in Auckland.
Andrew was representing the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics at ICSU in his role as Secretary General of the International Association of Cryospheric Sciences.
A particular highlight for Andrew was the talk given by Professor Bruce Alberts, former President of the National Academy of Sciences.
“It was inspiring to hear a leader of the highest standing who believes that scientific education needs to be recast into a more hands-on style, and who thinks that the world can be changed by encouraging more evidence-based ways of thinking.”
Only three previous assemblies of the ICSU had been held in the southern hemisphere and this was the first in the South Pacific. The event brings together representatives of the scientific community to make key decisions that define the direction of international science for the coming years.
New Zealand Prime Minister Rt Hon John Key opened the 31st ICSU and emphasised New Zealand’s unique environmental challenges and its contributions to international research.
The outgoing ICSU President, Nobel Prize laureate Professor Yuan-Tseh Lee, who gave a talk at Victoria last week, paid tribute in his speech to the achievements of the global environmental change research programmes which will soon merge into Future Earth.
“Without them, we would hardly understand so much about our changing earth.”