Earlier this year (March 2010), an Expert Working Group presented to the Prime Minister and other members of the Prime Minister’s Science Engineering and Innovation Council (PMSEIC) a report on the science of learning titled: Transforming Learning and the Transmission of Knowledge: Preparing a learning society for the future.

The Chief Scientist for Australia, Professor Penny D Sackett, has today called for nominations for the annual Prime Minister’s Prizes for Science.

My Office is full steam ahead at the moment. Following the successful visit of Professor Elizabeth Blackburn, we have being preparing for the latest convening of the Prime Minister’s Science, Engineering and Innovation Council (PMSEIC) meeting, which took place on Thursday 18 March 2010.

The Prime Minister’s Science, Engineering and Innovation Council (PMSEIC) was today advised by an Expert Working Group that breakthroughs in the science of learning, including brain function, motivation and the practice of teaching, have the potential to transform how individual Australians acquire and retain knowledge throughout their lives.

The 2009 presentation ceremony for the Prime Minister’s Prizes for Science was held in the Great Hall, Parliament House in Canberra on 28th October 2009.

PMSEIC was established under the former Government in 1997 as the Government’s principal source of independent advice on issues in science, engineering and innovation and relevant aspects of education and training.