The Australian Geologist - Geological Society of Australia

SocietyUpdate
Business Report
As I write this column the Geological Society of
America meeting in Philadelphia is drawing to a close.
Their meeting had an attendance of 6,000+ delegates
and over 200 exhibitors. I am proud to say the Geological
Society of Australia was one of those exhibitors. The scale of
the Geological Society of America meeting is enormous and
over the next few months I aim to communicate some of my
observations and where possible and appropriate transplant
some of their ideas and develop them to fit our society.
I ran the typical ‘kangaroo raffle’ which consisted of collecting
business cards (to build my international database) and
drawing one lucky recipient who then received a kangaroo with
joey in pouch. The kangaroo was very popular with both young
and older delegates. Our booth included a geological map of
Australia and a tectonics map of Australia and New Guinea.
Many delegates looked at the map and one excited young
woman showed her mother where she did her Australian
research project. A large number of allied and associated
organisations were present at the meeting and I found it very
beneficial to talk with them about the different societies’
strengths and challenges. There is much we can learn from
each other both at an organisational level and in the exchange
between geoscientists.
A large number of delegates came to the GSA booth and
asked me questions about the society and Australia. There were
two re-occurring questions from the students, namely: how
could they study in Australia and how could they work on
research projects in Australia. The
students’ key areas of interest appeared
to be hydrogeology (no surprises they
want to do research in Australia), Marine and Coastal Sciences,
Tectonics and Structural Geology.
The Geological Society of America have been extremely
welcoming and made many of their internal meetings accessible
to me, including their Council Meeting where Werner
Janoschek from the International Year of Planet Earth (IYPE)
made a presentation and status report on IYPE. Jess Tyler
represented the GSA at another presentation in Canberra for
IYPE. It is auspicious that we are holding our next Australian
Earth Sciences Conference (AESC 2008) during the IYPE and I
anticipate communicating more in the future of how the GSA
will be involved.
The AESC 2008 is a joint conference with the Australian
Institute of Geoscientists. The organising committee is seeking
input from members and specialist groups who would like to
run a session or present a hot topic. To find out more about the
conference contact one of the organising committee, or alternatively
email AESC2008@gsa.org.au
The Specialist Group in Tectonics and Structural Geology
(SGTSG) has been busy organising the ‘Deformation in the
Desert’ conference. We anticipate the field trips will be
outstanding both for the location and the science. If you are
interested in this conference and want to know more, contact
Alan Collins at alan.collins@adelaide.edu.au
The SGTSG now has a new website (www.sgtsg.ags.org.au)
showing their goals, events and news; as well as their Bursaries
for Honours’ students. This new website orchestrated by the
business office is one of many effective methods of communication
to the membership and general public looking for information.
If any specialist group is interested in having the web
presence enhanced, please contact me on tel: (02) 9290 2194.
Membership renewals were mailed in October. If you
haven’t received yours, please contact the Business Office.
Included with the renewal was a bookshop flyer, reply paid
envelope and a letter from me outlining recent developments
at the Society. One of those developments is a change to the
membership database, enabling online payments to be made in
‘real-time’, eliminating double-entry of data and immediate
verification of your details. The Business Office, primarily Anna
Roulette-Hobley, has worked tirelessly on the upgrade during
most of September and October. It has been a massive change
in how we manage and process membership renewals and is a
4 | TAG December 2006