STA WELCOMES REVIEW TO DRIVE SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY SECTOR DIVERSITY TUESDAY 6 SEPTEMBER 2022 Australia’s leading voice for scientists and technologists welcomes the Australian Government’s announcement of a review to drive stronger gains on diversity in the sector and its workforce.  Science & Technology Australia is a champion for equity, diversity and inclusion in the science, technology, engineering and maths sector. Science & Technology Australia CEO Misha Schubert welcomed Science Minister Ed Husic’s announcement of a review which “would help Australia to reach further into the full breadth of our diverse talent pool in this country”. The review will look at structural and cultural barriers to the participation of women and other under-represented groups to recommend change – and help identify the most effective programs at driving diversity gains in the sector so they can be scaled up to propel faster progress. “To truly prosper, Australia’s economy urgently needs to attract and retain more women, First Nations people, regional Australians, culturally and linguistically diverse people, people with a disability and Australians from low socio-economic backgrounds into science and technology careers,” Ms Schubert said. “To make major strides to address chronic gender inequity in sectors where that under-representation is most acute, you need consistent strong leadership, long-term investments at scale, strong buy-in, and a powerful resolve to drive cultural change.” “STA has a strong commitment to publish detailed evaluations on our programs to share insights on what is working – and help speed broader equity gains in the science and technology sector for women and the breadth of Australia’s diverse communities.”  “We’re pleased the review will also look at cultural and structural barriers that limit participation and retention of women and other under-represented groups in STEM professions.” “To create the “future powered by science” envisaged by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, we need to be able to draw on Australia’s full talent pool. Clear action to eliminate barriers to participation for women and under-represented groups are key to that goal.” STA runs the acclaimed Superstars of STEM program – backed by Australian Government – which builds the profile and confidence of diverse women role models to appear regularly as prominent science and technology experts in the media and speak in schools, inspiring our next generations of diverse young Australians into STEM. The program has started to stratospherically elevate the profiles of stellar women in science. In the year to June 2021 alone, our Superstars of STEM did 4000 media appearances, reached an audience of 83 million people, and inspired 21,000 students in school visits. About Science & Technology Australia Science & Technology Australia is the nation’s peak body representing more than 90,000 scientists and technologists. We’re the leading policy voice on science and technology. Our  flagship programs include Science meets Parliament, Superstars of STEM, and STA STEM Ambassadors.   Media contact: Martyn Pearce, STA: 0432 606 828

Australia faces a ‘Sliding Doors’ moment when we can choose to supercharge our science and technology strengths and generate a $52 billion windfall for our economy - or consign ourselves to a future with our fate in the hands of others. Heading into the Jobs and Skills Summit, new analysis by Science & Technology Australia shows how even a modest investment to train Australia’s first generation of bench-to-boardroom scientists could powerfully supercharge our national economic growth. Science & Technology Australia wants to recruit and train Australia’s first generation of bench-to-boardroom scientists with the skills, networks and commercial knowledge to bridge the ‘valley of death’ in science commercialisation. Science & Technology Australia President Professor Mark Hutchinson is one of Australia’s first generation of scientist-entrepreneurs. Under his leadership, the ARC Centre of Excellence in Nanoscale BioPhotonics has created 16 startups with a combined market capitalisation and market value of nearly $520 million. “Imagine the potential of an Australian economy powered by up to 2000 more entrepreneurial bench-to-boardroom scientists,” said Science & Technology Australia CEO Misha Schubert. “If just five per cent  - a very conservative figure - of a new generation of bench-to-boardroom scientists achieve the level of success we’ve seen from some of our nation’s brightest commercialisation stars, it would generate a $52 billion return for the Australian economy.” “That conservative level of success would not just create a wealth of new jobs for Australians, it would kickstart whole new industries and create an economy powered by science.” Science & Technology Australia warns the nation’s economic competitors are rapidly scaling up their investments in science, technology, research and development.  If Australia keeps pace, the country can seize huge opportunities for the economy including new jobs, national income, intellectual property and sovereign capability. “Right now, the world is in a fierce science and technology race to rapidly advance societies and economies,” Ms Schubert said. “The stakes are high. If Australia doesn’t keep pace, we face the grave risk that the country will end up as a consumer, not a creator - eroding our sovereign capability and deepening our reliance on other countries.” “But with bold strategic investments now, Australia can keep ourselves in play.”  “A few decisive steps now will get us on the train to a destination of an economy and society powered by science. Miss that opportunity, and we will be left stranded on the platform.” This month the US passed the CHIPS and Science Act 2022 - a $52 billion boost for science and semiconductor research and development dubbed a “once-in-a-generation investment in America itself” by President Joe Biden. The bold investment plan includes a $10 billion outlay in regional science and technology hubs and manufacturing, and vast new investment in STEM workforce development and STEM education from pre-school to university - with a focus on diverse communities. “Australia should be every bit as ambitious for our science and technology ambitions.” At the launch of National Science Week this month, Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles said “the most important piece of micro-economic reform which faces the nation today is infusing our economy with science and technology”.  Science & Technology Australia participated in the science and commercialisation roundtable this  month leading into the Jobs and Skills summit. The bench-to-boardroom plan is one of five policy fixes proposed by Science & Technology Australia to advance the urgent imperative of creating the “future powered by science” outlined by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in his Science Vision Statement.  Setting a bold new ambition for Australia to become a global STEM superpower;  Training Australia’s first generation of ‘bench-to-boardroom’ scientists; Fixing chronic job insecurity in science to end the brain drain;  Confirming the Budget funding for research commercialisation investments; and  An urgent boost for breakthroughs in Australia’s discovery research grant budgets. About Science & Technology Australia Science & Technology Australia is the nation’s peak body representing more than 90,000 scientists and technologists. We’re the leading policy voice on science and technology. Our  flagship programs include Science meets Parliament, Superstars of STEM, and STA STEM Ambassadors.   Media contact: Martyn Pearce, STA: 0432 606 828

SSA recently introduced a new membership category: the Early Career Membership. This discounted level of membership is available to members transitioning or having transitioned from full-time university studies to employment within the last three years. The fee is half the cost of full membership, with all the benefits of full membership. If you are not yet a member, sign up here!

To upgrade a current student membership to that of Early Career Membership, a member just needs to tick the appropriate box when they renew their membership next time, or send me a quick email and I’ll do it for them.

Members holding Transitional Membership were converted to Early Career members earlier this week. SSA members who recently upgraded from transitional membership to full membership may be entitled to one or two more years of Early Career membership. If this is you, please contact me.

Marie-Louise Rankin
Executive Officer

During his tenure as SSA President, Prof Adrian Barnett established the President’s Award for Leadership in Statistics. The intention of the award is to recognise an individual or team who has made an outstanding contribution to leadership in statistics, and each President may award one of these during their tenure.

Over the last two years, COVID-19 has meant that statisticians all around Australia, and internationally, have stepped up to provide public commentary on statistical issues, and provide advice to governments. These contributions are worthy and appreciated.

However, the group of individuals who I wish to recognise with my President’s award made contributions over the last two years that were less public. Over the last two years, when so many of us felt isolated, were confined to our homes, and were separated from our families and friends, this group of individuals worked extremely hard to maintain a sense of community among statisticians. So, in recognition of their leadership of the statistical community around Australia over the last two years, I wish to nominate all Branch Councils of the SSA from March 2020 to March 2022 for my President’s Award for Leadership in Statistics.

When the pandemic was declared in March 2020 and in-person gatherings banned, the SSA Branch Councils worked hard to continue serving their members. By pivoting to online events, a sense of community within our profession was not only maintained, but strengthened: members now had access not only to their local Branch’s events, but to SSA events happening all across Australia. I myself benefited greatly from this: tuning into inspiring and interesting presentations from across Australia helped me to get through the long, locked-down Melbourne winters. With restrictions now a thing of the past, I am pleased to see that Branches are continuing to offer virtual attendance options for some events, making SSA events accessible to a greater proportion of our members than ever before.

So: in recognition of their leadership of the statistical community across Australia during the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, I am awarding the SSA Branch Councils from March 2020 to March 2022 my President’s Award for Leadership in Statistics, with the names of all awardees listed below. Each of these people can claim receipt of the “SSA President’s Award for Leadership in Statistics, awarded to the 2020-2022 Branch Councils”.

Jessica Kasza, August 2022

New South Wales	Victoria
Thomas Fung	Emi Tanaka
Clara Grazian	Damjan Vukcevic
Runze Alex Xu	Ben Harrap
Boris Beranger	Elizabeth Korevaar
Matt Wand	Cameron Patrick
Benoit Liquet-Weiland	Rheanna Mainzer
Houying Zhu	Lidija Turkovic
Firouzeh Noghrehchi	Daniel Fryer
Gordana Popovic	Lauren Kennedy
Luca Maestrini	Hien Nguyen
Joanna Wang	Patrick Robotham
Nicole de la Mata	Kevin Wang
Yidi Yan	Kohleth Chia
Jake Olivier	South Australia
Munir Hiabu	Murthy Mittinty
Ardalan Mirzaei	Barbara Toson
Mark Donoghoe	Aarti Gulyani
Matias Quiroz	Paul Sutcliffe
Western Australia	Wendy Li
Alun Pope	Shahid Ullah
Brenton Clarke	Helena Oakey
Shih Ching Fu	Lan Kelly
Torben Kimhofer	Kylie Lange
Deneegan Subramanian	Canberra
Fadzai Chikwava	Francis Hui
John Henstridge	Warren Muller
Rick Tankard	Nick Husek
Alethea Rea	Pauline O'Shaughnessy
Rowena Burch	Tom Lawrence
Berwin Turlach	Nelson Chua
Queensland	Xuan Liang
Dimitrios Vagenas	Anton Westveld
Adrian Barnett	Linh Nghiem
Lee Jones	Michael Martin
Xing Lee	Gwenda Thompson
Megan Steele	Belinda Baker
Rachel King	Peter Caley
Natalie Scott	Brenda Vo
Farzana Jahan
Miranda Mortlock
Peter Baker

Elizabeth Armstrong and Kris Rogers, ANZHFR and UNSW School of Public Health

E Armstrong: ANZ Hip Fracture Registry: data visualisations for different audiences 
K Rogers: Strategies for dealing with missing data in clinical trials

The July 2022 meeting featured two presentations delivered via Zoom by Elizabeth Armstrong (former Manager of the Australia and New Zealand Hip Fracture Registry) and Dr Kris Rogers (Senior Biostatistician at The George Institute for Global Health).

Elizabeth presented visualizations from the ANZHFR 2021 Annual Report and Kris’ presentation discussed advantages and disadvantages of various methods to obtain parameter estimates in the presence of missing data and methodologies for causal inference from non-trial data.  

ANZHFR is a registry that collects data on the care of older people in Australia and New Zealand, admitted to hospital with a fracture of the proximal femur. 

In 2021, 86 hospitals who contributed to the patient level report (64 in Australia and 22 in New Zealand) and the 117 hospitals who contributed to the facility level results.

Elizabeth presented a number of visualizationsfor key KPIs in the surgical care of patients who received hip replacement. The outlier report for the 16 quality indicators in the clinical care standard is an effective graphic display for the measured in standard deviations from the average performance of all hospitals. Performance outliers are flagged when the care metric lies 2 to 3 standard deviations from the overall hospital average performance.

For the determination of KPI attainment across various aspects of care, hospitals must have contributed at least 10 patient records during the relevant calendar year to be included in the patient level report. 

Following on Elizabeth’s presentation, Kris discussed a range of methodologies for dealing with missing data, drawing comparisons between simpler approaches (Last Observation Carried Forward, mean imputation, multiple imputation) and other more advanced methods that use full information maximum likelihood, weighted GEEs (General Estimating Equations), Bayesian methods and causal inference methods. 

Missing data in randomised studies is often an underappreciated issue. The goal of a randomised experiment is to draw a causal inference on the effect of a treatment on an outcome. In the context of randomised controlled trials (RCT), random assignment of treatment ensures that the average effect difference between the two groups can only be attributable to treatment. However, in the presence of missing data, the assumption of ignorability (e.g., the method of the data collection does not depend on the missing data), is very rarely met. Technically, the presence of missingness negates the benefits of randomisation, leaving the researcher with an observational dataset. 

An interesting final point Kris raised, and which is often overlooked, is that data in observational studies needs to contain common support for the exposure in order to correctly apply causal inference methods for observational data. This can be done using propensity score models and visualising the areas of overlap of the propensity score in the exposure groups.

By Gabriella Lincoln

WA Branch of the SSA

The August 2022 meeting of the WA Branch of the SSA was celebrated jointly with members of the International Biometric Society (IBS) led by Mario D’Antuono a former president of the Australasian Region of the IBS. This time the location of the talk was Curtin University. The speaker for the evening was Dr Kefei Chen from Statistics for the Australian Grains Industry (SAGI) West, Curtin University. Kefei spoke on “Semiparametric and nonparametric models for crop longitudinal study”. The outline of the talk began with fitting of sigmoidal curves using full parametric models a la Logistic, Log-Logistic, Gompertz & Weibull functions; semiparametric models using Generalized Additive Model (GAM) & Shape Constrained Additive Model (SCAM); Nonparametric models using Bayesian Additive Gaussian Process Model (AGPM). This was followed by symmetric or skewed Bell-shaped/ biphasic curves fitted via full parametric models using Gaussian and Log-Gaussian functions; semiparametric models using GAM & SCAM, and nonparametric models using AGPM. The final discussion covered spatio-temporal modelling for yield prediction in the WA Grainbelt using semiparametric GAM models.

After relating formulae for parametric models he discussed motivation for full parametric regression and noted the use of R packages drc (Ritz et al., 2015) & medrc (Gerhard & Ritz, 2018). Semi-parametric regression builds on parametric regression by allowing for more flexible relationship between the predictor variables and the response variables. After a brief introduction, GAM models were fitted using the package mgcv (Wood, 2017), and SCAM models were fitted with R package scam (Pya, 2021). Finally, Bayesian Additive Gaussian Process Modelling (AGPM) was here related and fitted using R package lgpr (Timonen et al., 2021).

This was followed by exploratory data analysis with various plots and summary tables of fitted models illustrating comparisons. The preliminary results suggested that both semiparametric and nonparametric methods can be of great value in many applications in fields including biological and agricultural sciences and can have the advantage of flexibility with less assumptions.  This is particularly so for longitudinal studies with temporal uncertainty, and unknown complex relationships

A Spatial-temporal model using GAM was then discussed where yield prediction is a key to many discussions for crop production. Wheat yield prediction in Western Australia is usually done by one of two methods, French and Schultz (F&S) (French & Schultz, 1984) and crop simulation modelling (APSIM) (McCown et al., 1996). APSIM is difficult to calibrate because of the number of parameters. The F&S approach is suggested to be too simple as it does not account for waterlogging.

Kefei and colleagues aimed to produce a simple and parsimonious but reasonably accurate model combining advantages of the F&S approach and the more complex crop simulation model, that can be used by farmers to predict wheat yield on a paddock level. Again, more plots were shown illustrating the advantages of the methodology.

The talk drew some interesting discussion, which was appreciated by all, and talks continued afterwards at a local tavern. All in all, it was a successful meeting.

Brenton R Clarke

Some references:

*Pya, N. (2021). scam: Shape Constrained Additive Models. R package version 1.2-12. URL: https://CRAN.Rproject.org/package=scam.

*Wood, S. N. (2017). Generalized additive models: an introduction with R. CRC press.

*Timonen, J., H. Mannerstrom, A. Vehtari, et al. (2021). “lgpr: an interpretable non-parametric method for inferring covariate effects from longitudinal data”. In: Bioinformatics 37.13, pp. 1860–1867.

*Ritz, C., F. Baty, J. C. Streibig, et al. (2015). “Dose-response analysis using R”. In: PloS one 10.12, p. e0146021.

*Gerhard, D. and C. Ritz (2018). medrc: Mixed effect dose-response curves. R package version 1.1-0.

*French, R. J. and J. E. Schultz (1984). “Water use efficiency of wheat in a Mediterranean-type environment. I. The relation between yield, water use and climate”. In: Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 35.6, pp. 743–764.

*McCown, R. L., G. L. Hammer, J. N. G. Hargreaves, et al. (1996). “APSIM: a novel software system for model development, model testing and simulation in agricultural systems research”. In: Agricultural systems 50.3,pp. 255–271.

PASS THE CLIMATE LEGISLATION & ‘NAME AND FAME’ TRANSITION LEADERS

Australia’s climate change legislation should be passed with an added commitment to ‘name and fame’ sectors leading the charge to reduce emissions, the peak body for Australia’s 90,000 scientists and technologists has urged.

In its submission to the Senate Inquiry on the Climate Change Bill, Science & Technology Australia strongly supports the passage of the legislation. 

The peak body proposes the legislation be accompanied by a funding boost for climate science research to guide Australia’s emissions transition, climate adaptation and resilience building measures.

It also wants the annual climate change statement to Parliament to include updates on emissions reduction progress by each industry sector – and an update on key climate science developments since the last statement.

“Australia’s science and technology sector strongly urges Parliament to pass this climate legislation,” said Science & Technology CEO Misha Schubert.

“We welcome the commitment that the 43 per cent target by 2030 is a ‘floor’, not a ‘ceiling’, for emissions reductions – and we strongly support ambitions to bolster this target in coming years.”

“Climate change is an urgent threat. Australia must act concertedly in these crucial next few years to make our transition as smooth and successful as possible,” she said.

“A deeper investment in Australia’s outstanding climate scientists will ensure we continue to have the expertise we need to safeguard our economy, safety and prosperity.”

Under the proposed legislation, the Minister will deliver an annual climate change statement to Parliament on progress towards the target. 

This statement should include an update sector-by-sector to identify those making significant progress – and speed the success of transition, Ms Schubert said.

“‘Naming and faming’ sectors making swift strides towards the target will highlight examples of industry leaders and spur momentum in Australia’s transition.”

“It will also send an important message that we are all working together to achieve a common goal, and making genuine progress.”

“The annual climate statement to Parliament should include an update on significant developments in climate science over the previous year, so Parliamentarians and the public can be assured policy decisions are informed by the latest science.”

Australians overwhelmingly trust in science and scientists - and we strongly fear negative consequences for our society if people don’t value science enough, new research finds.

But a rising tide of public wariness about social media misinformation risks fuelling scepticism in science, the new data released to launch National Science Week reveals.

A major new study published today finds Australians see science as indispensable, say it was our salvation in the pandemic and is the key to tackling existential threats such as climate change.

Industry & Science Minister Ed Husic MP will today officially launch National Science Week at an event delivered by Science & Technology Australia for the Australian Government. The launch theme is Celebrating First Nations Sciences.

The 3M State of Science Index measures public attitudes to science in 17 countries. More than 1000 Australians were surveyed for the global poll in early 2022. 

Science & Technology Australia Chief Executive Officer Misha Schubert said: “Australians strongly value and trust science, and we see clearly how important science is to our safety and prosperity.”

"Science has saved us time and again during the COVID-19 pandemic – and Australians appreciate science’s key role to help us tackle major threats including climate change, which is causing more frequent terrifying extreme weather like floods, cyclones, megafires, droughts, and heatwaves.”

The survey reveals Australians have very strong levels of trust in science – higher than in many other nations – with nine in ten of us saying we trust science and scientists. 

Four in five Australians say they want to hear more from scientists about their work.

The survey highlighted Australians’ fears about what might happen if people don’t value science, with three in five believing it would lead to more public health crises and more than half believing it would lead to greater division in society.

The survey also shines a light on public fears around science misinformation and a growing scepticism about scientific information shared in the media and on social media platforms. 

Three in four Australians believe there is now widespread misinformation (on all topics - not specifically on science) in mainstream news, and nine in ten Australians think there is widespread misinformation on all topics on social media.

Against that backdrop, the public level of scepticism around science has risen slightly from 25 per cent in 2021 to 32 per cent in 2022.

“We live in an era of general wariness and distrust of information – especially on social media – which is feeding into a rising tide of concern about social media misinformation that risks fuelling public scepticism in science unless we all act to safeguard it,” Ms Schubert said.

“It’s more important than ever that we all help Australians to find credible, accurate and verified sources of scientific facts from reputable science experts, which highlights the hugely important role of trusted science organisations to share science with the public.”

Eleni Sideridis, Managing Director of 3M Australia and New Zealand, said science is viewed as essential to shaping, strengthening and improving Australia.

“The last few years have shown Australians the true value of science. We have seen a global pandemic unfold, the impacts of climate change and increasing weather events firsthand. The people of Australia know that science holds the solutions to many of these issues,” she said.

“The results of the 3M State of Science Index demonstrates how we as a nation recognise misinformation. It shows the importance of science communities, such as those within Science and Technology Australia and 3M being present in the public eye to ensure transparency and clearly communicated solutions to Australia’s biggest problems. Only then will we have a prosperous future for our country.”

National Science Week runs from 13 to 21 August 2022. To find an event in your local area: https://www.scienceweek.net.au/

Next Thursday, Science & Technology Australia hosts the official launch of National Science Week 2022. The event will bring together federal MPs and Senators with science sector stakeholders in the first sitting fortnight of the new Parliament. So timely! STA has also begun the nationwide search for Australia’s next 60 Superstars of STEM. This inspiring program advances gender equity in STEM by equipping diverse STEM experts with skills and confidence to step into the media spotlight as media stars. Know someone who would be perfect for this life-changing opportunity? Please encourage them to apply by 14 August. To assist you in promoting this superb opportunity to your networks, we have a suite of social media materials for you to use.  Many thanks to STA members who gave invaluable feedback on the proposed governance reforms. There has been strong support for them, and we hope to update you again soon.  Congratulations to the many impressive science and research leaders appointed to STA’s STEM Sector Policy Committee and Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee this week. We look forward to working with you! We also congratulate every scientist named as a finalist for this year’s prestigious Eureka awards. A special shout out to STA Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee Co-Chair Professor Sumeet Walia, 2019-21 Superstar of STEM Dr Kirsten Ellis, and Queers in Science, our community partner for Science meets Parliament 2022. This week I chaired a National Press Club address by CSIRO CEO Dr Larry Marshall on the big challenges and opportunities for Australia, and how science can help us navigate them. Missed the speech? You can catch it here.   Legislation to write a 43 per cent emissions reduction target into law was introduced to the Parliament this week. It is now in active discussion across the Parliament. STA continues to monitor this closely, along with plans for a new Environment Protection Agency reaffirmed when the 2021 State of the Environment report was released last week. Until next time,  Misha Schubert  CEO, Science & Technology Australia