Chemistry for a better life

Chapter I
Background and introduction
The proposal to develop a decadal plan was an initiative
of the Australian Academy of Science. The proposal was
included in the terms of reference for the Academy’s National
Committee for Chemistry in mid 2013 (Appendix 1).
The terms of reference for the Decadal Working Group
(Appendix 2) were to:
• consult with all sectors of the chemistry value chain,
including the primary and secondary school sectors, higher
education sector, the research provider sector, industry
regulators, industry and government policy makers.
• provide strategic science policy advice to the Academy
for input into science policy statements, and (with the
approval of the Executive Committee of Council) to the
Australian Government and other Australian organisations.
• connect the Academy to chemical science and scientists
in Australia.
• ensure Australia has a voice and a role in the global
development of chemistry.
• facilitate Academy links to all sectors of the chemistry
value chain, in order to raise the relevance and viability
of chemical science and to promote development of
the discipline.
• facilitate the alignment of Australian chemical science
to the global chemical science community and global
scientific goals.
• produce a decadal plan for chemistry in Australia.
• produce an implementation plan upon acceptance
of the strategic direction of the decadal plan.
The process to create the decadal plan, including
development of strategic options, implementation options
and recommendations, followed a number of steps (Figure 1).
A potential list of working group members was drawn up in
January 2014 and the final composition of the working group
was finalised in March 2014. The working group included
major stakeholders across Australia, different subsets and
specialisations within the field and included representation
from industry through PACIA and from government research
More than 40% of the world’s food supply depends on
the production of chemical fertilisers. CREDIT: CSIRO/GREGORY HEATH
providers such as CSIRO, as well as secondary school
representation (Appendix 3) and universities offering
chemistry degrees (Appendix 4).
The Decadal Plan Working Group employed a general
business planning approach to its stakeholder consultation,
analysis and strategic planning, and undertook an extensive
program of research and consultation to understand the
chemistry value chain in Australia, its challenges and
requirements and to rank them according to importance and
priority (Appendices 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9).
This analysis was used to develop the strategic directions,
goals and recommendations presented in this decadal plan.
The goals identified were then used as the key inputs for the
development of a high level implementation plan.
Chapter I Background and introduction
THE DECADAL PLAN FOR AUSTRALIAN CHEMISTRY 2016–25 7