MEDIA RELEASE
SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES CRITICALLY IMPORTANT
TO AUSTRALIA’S RESEARCH FUTURE
21 March, 2003 MIN 311/03
Some of Australia’s leading social sciences and humanities
researchers will join members of the wider research community at the
end of the month to make a vital contribution to the Commonwealth
Government’s national research priorities - a key part of the $3
billion Backing Australia’s Ability initiative.
The March 28 conference at the National Museum of Australia in
Canberra, will add the social sciences and humanities’ perspectives
to Australia’s research priorities announced last year by the Prime
Minister.
The research priorities, a way of aligning broad research efforts
with the community’s economic, social and environmental needs, were
developed after close consultation with science, engineering and
technological research communities.
The meeting will bring together representatives from humanities
and social sciences to build on last year’s activities and reflect
the perspectives of their own areas of expertise.
The four national research priorities area are:
an environmentally sustainable Australia;
promoting and maintaining good health;
frontier technologies for building and transforming Australian
industries; and
safeguarding Australia.
I am looking forward to the opportunity to work with
representatives from the Australian Academy of the Humanities and
the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia to explore how we
can also include the vital contribution of these fields in the
research priorities.
The outcomes of the conference will be presented to a national
research priorities forum in mid-April.
The social sciences and humanities - which cover areas including
economics, sociology, psychology, history, philosophy, politics,
languages, and the creative and performing arts – will play a
critical role in contributing to the national research priorities.
Advances in science and technology raise as many questions as
they answer. Science on its own cannot solve for us the really
important questions in life - about who we are and for what we hope.
The humanities and social sciences are critically important in
helping answer those questions.
Further information on the contribution of the social sciences
and humanities to the national research priorities is available
from: http://www.dest.gov.au/priorities
For further information:
Dr Nelson’s Office: Ross Hampton 0419 484 095
Dept of Education, Science & Training: Virginia Cook 0412 971
323
|
