4
BAMOS
Mar 2020
President’s report
Angela Maharaj, March 2020
This is my first President’s column but I have had the pleasure
of being an AMOS member since the last millennia (1999, I
believe, as an honours student), moving through roles in the
NSW regional chapter, then National Council and then the
Executive. Over the past two decades I have seen AMOS grow
in size, diversity, visibility and profile. I look forward to the next
two years of serving the professional society that has nurtured
me for so long.
For those who were able to join us in Fremantle for AMOS2020, I
hope you enjoyed the program and travelled back home safely,
especially those from the eastern seaboard who may have
returned to floods and power outages. I foresee a very busy year
for our members in their various professional roles responding
to the severe weather and bushfire crisis that the nation has
experienced since last spring. AMOS will be looking to see what
role it can play in supporting and representing members on
this but for now, back to the conference. Congratulations to
the AMOS2020 organising committee: Jatin Kala (co‑convenor),
Andrew King (co‑convenor), Jennifer Hopwood, Sarah
Perkins‑Kirkpatrick, Jeanette Dargaville, Thomas Kavanagh,
Melissa Lyne and Natasha Rice for putting on a fantastic
scientific and social program. Thank you also to Linden Ashcroft
who started revamping our student presentation prize judging
process. This revamp aligns with our renaming of the prizes to
the Fellows Memorial Prize and is much needed for our growing
conference with its multiple parallel sessions.
Our 2020 Annual General Meeting, held at the national
conference, marked some major changes to roles so the rest of
this column will be largely dedicated to thanking and welcoming
the hardworking and committed people who keep this society
running. Many thanks to outgoing president Andrew Marshall
who has done a tremendous job of leading the society for the
past two years and will be moving into the role of Immediate
Past President. Thank you also to the outgoing Past President
Mary Voice for her significant contributions to council including
as AMOS representative on the JSHESS Board.
I would like to welcome Roger Dargaville to the AMOS Executive
as the new Vice‑President and Tess Parker as Treasurer. A big
thank you (but not goodbye) to our outgoing Treasurer, Mitchell
Black. We are fortunate to retain Mitch on National Council as
an Ordinary Member. Our Secretary Sonya Fiddes also rates a
special mention for achieving the mammoth task of submitting
her PhD thesis late last year while continuing seamlessly with
her secretarial duties. Congratulations Sonya!
Welcome also Harun Rashid to the National Council as an
Ordinary Member and many thanks to outgoing Ordinary
Member Lynette Bettio who provided much needed support as
a council liaison to our expert groups alongside Rob Colman.
Lynette has also helped out at numerous conferences over the
years.
Ordinary Member Christian Jakob has taken on the role of the
Equity and Diversity Committee Chair with gusto, corralling the
entire national conference for a photo for the International Day
of Women and Girls in Science within a day of moving into the
role. Thanks to outgoing chair, Melissa Hart for all her efforts on
the committee. Melissa continues to serve the society through
her role in the Awards Committee. While on the topic of equity
and diversity, it is pleasing to note that five of the seven 2019
AMOS award winners and Fellows were women. This is the first
time in the history of AMOS that women have outnumbered
men in being recognised for excellence. The previous three
years were close to, even a testament to, the growing diversity
of our membership. By the time you read this we should be
close to the 8th of March so I would like to wish all our female
identifying members a happy International Women’s Day. If you
use social media to celebrate the occasion, do consider looping
AMOS into your posts on Twitter (@AMOSupdates), LinkedIn or
Facebook.
In an education community of practice that I belong to, a senior
colleague provided a motto for educational progress and best
practice: Care for old. Courage for new. I think this is a good motto
for a professional society as well. I hope in my time as President,
I can ensure that we celebrate and reflect on our legacy while
also having the courage to address contemporary challenges
facing our profession and sciences.