I hope you have been exploring and enjoying my website. As you read this, I will be on my way to Europe to attend the World Science Forum in Budapest, Hungary.

• 02 November 2009

I hope you have been exploring and enjoying my website.  As you read this, I will be on my way to Europe to attend the World Science Forum in Budapest, Hungary. 

The Fourth World Science Forum will focus on “Knowledge and Future,” and will be a global platform where scientists and science policy makers can discuss global issues and possible solutions.  Attending will be many of my international counterparts,  and leading scientists in their respective fields from around the globe.

I have been invited to make two presentations at the Forum, one on Women in Science and the other on Australia’s foresight activities and the Prime Minister’s Science, Engineering and Innovation Council.  After I have delivered these speeches, you will be able to find them under the media section on this site. 

The forum will also provide me with a chance to meet individually with key international scientists and science policy makers.  These meetings have the dual purpose of advancing the interests of Australian Science internationally and developing the relevant networks that enable me to provide the most up-to-date and scientifically robust advice to the Australian Government.  

Some of the people I will be meeting with in Budapest include:

• Chuan Poh Lim, Chairman, Agency for Science Technology and Research , Singapore;
• Vaughan Tureikian, Chief International Officer for the American Association for the Advancement of Science ; and
• Dong Pil-Min, Chairman, Korea Research Council of Fundamental Science and Technology .

Following the World Science Forum, I will travel to China for a few days to visit a number of leading research institutes including the National Centre for Nanoscience and Technology , the Institute of Biophysics , and the Guangzhou Institute of Energy Conversion .  I will also meet with Professor Tan Tieniu, the Deputy Secretary General of the Chinese Academy of Science.

While I am overseas, my office will continue preparations for the next meeting of the Prime Minister’s Science, Engineering and Innovation Council, which will take place on 2 December 2009.  At that meeting an expert report will be delivered to the Prime Minister and other Council members on science that has the potential to transform learning and the transmission of knowledge.

I will check back in after I return from my overseas travel.  Until then, keep exploring the site.