
Please see the SASB Twitter account, Facebook group and member emails for current news.
News
June 2018
SASB has a new twitter page. If you would like to share your research via the SASB twitter account, please see our Twitter policy for instructions.
April 2018 Decadal Plan for Biosystematics and Taxonomy LAUNCHED
The plan was officially launched at Parliament House Canberra last Friday morning (27 April), with around 60 attendees.
The launch generated substantial media interest, including radio and newspaper pieces both locally in Australia and New Zealand, and internationally. The attention generated shows that taxonomy and biosystematics resonates with and greatly interests the public.
Discovering Diversity: A decadal plan for taxonomy and biosystematics in Australia and New Zealand 2018-2027 is now available for download as a pdf from https://www.science.org.au/support/analysis/decadal-plans-science/discovering-biodiversity-decadal-plan-taxonomy.
For a summary of the launch, please see the Australian Systematic Botany Society newsletter.
May 2017 Decadal Plan for Biosystematics and Taxonomy announced
Messages from Prof Andrew Holmes, Australian Academy of Science and Dr Kevin Thiele, program manager:
I am delighted to announce that the Australian Academy of Science, in partnership with the Ian Potter Foundation, peak bodies representing the Australasian biosystematics and taxonomy communities and other sector stakeholders, is embarking on a new project to develop A Decadal Plan for Biosystematics and Taxonomy in Australasia 2018–2028.
The development of the plan will commence in the coming weeks, with an exposure draft planned for November this year, and the plan to be finalised by early 2018. The agreement with the Ian Potter Foundation and sector partners will then allow the Academy to work with key stakeholders over the following two years to ensure that the strategies and recommendations included in the plan are implemented.
The project will be led by Dr Kevin Thiele and Dr Chris Hatherly, supported by a Working Group and a Steering Committee. The Academy looks forward to engaging broadly with a wide range of stakeholders in the sector, and would be pleased to receive your input and ideas on priorities and strategies to inform the plan.
You can read about the project here: www.science.org.au/news-and-events/news-and-media-releases/new-plan-unlock-secrets-australasian-megadiversity
During development of the Plan, we will be releasing discussion papers and pre-release drafts of sections for comment and discussion on a community blogging platform at http://notobiotica.posthaven.com/ and through our sector’s social media. Please keep a watching brief on that site, or subscribe to it for updates. We welcome any comments, views, feedback and contributions, either directly through noto|biotica, or by email to me or to other members of the Working Group (I’ll shortly update a contact list for Working Group members on the blog). We plan also to arrange a series of sector and stakeholder meetings in capital cities throughout Australia and in New Zealand. Please also share news of our plans with your colleagues and through your own social media channels, and encourage others to get involved.
The overall goal of the Plan is to map out where we want biosystematics and taxonomy in Australasia to be in 2028, what achievements we would like to see realised, and what’s needed to get there. I encourage you all, whether practicing biosystematists or taxonomists, or stakeholders, to put your thinking caps on, decide what you think the priorities should be, discuss with colleagues, and share your thoughts with us.