Introduction

This Annual Report is presented by the President on behalf of the Executive Committee to the membership at the Annual General Meeting of the Institute, 18^th September 2000, at the University of Adelaide. It describes a range of activities that comprise both core business as well as new initiatives for the Institute.

Executive Committee
	President:	Professor John Finlay-Jones FAIBiol
	Vice-President:	Professor Robert Hill FAIBiol
	Deputy Vice-President:	Dr Jane Wright MAIBiol
	Secretary:	Dr Helena Ward MAIBiol
	Treasurer:	Ms. Anne Levy MAIBiol
	Registrar:	Dr Trevor E. Bridges MAIBiol
	Business Manager:	Dr Graham Webb FAIBiol
	Public Officer:	Em. Professor Chris Bryant FAIBiol AM
	Scientific Editor:	Professor Ian Falconer FAIBiol
	Executive Editor:	Mr Graham Andrews MAIBiol
	Chair, Publications Board:	Em Prof. W.D. Williams FAIBiol
	Meetings:	The Executive met 11 times during the year
Area Representatives
	Australian Capital Territory:	Dr Nick Nicholls MAIBiol
	New South Wales:	Dr Alan Stewart MAIBiol
	Northern Territory:	Dr Peter Whitehead MAIBiol
	Queensland:	Dr Donna Satterthwait MAIBiol
	South Australia:	Dr Margaret Davies MAIBiol
	Tasmania:	Vacant
	Victoria:	Dr Peter Temple-Smith MAIBiol
	Western Australia:	Vacant
Council:
	The Council comprises the Executive plus the Area Representatives.
	Meetings:	The Council met briefly at the time of the AGM on 25th September 1999.
Publications Board:
	Em. Prof. W.D. Williams (Chair) Prof. Ian Falconer (Scientific Editor) Mr Graham Andrews (Executive Editor) Prof. Ross Crozier (Genetics) Prof. C. Dobson (Political Issues) Assoc. Prof. Ross A. Hynes (Biodiversity) Assoc Prof. Donald G. MacPhee (Microbiology) Dr Donna Satterthwait (Education) Dr Iain Stevenson (Biotechnology) Assoc. Prof. Roy Swain (Ethics)

The activities of the Institute included:

Science Meets Parliament

Australian Science Capability Review

The Institute made a submission to this review on behalf of the members, with one of our concerns being the support and incentives offered by the Government for (biological) science education at secondary and tertiary levels. A subsequent discussion paper was released earlier this year, and more recently a final report ("The Chance to Change") on the web site of the Department of Industry, Science and Resources (http://www.isr.gov.au/science/review/index.html). The Institute will also be making a supportive submission on the recommendations of the report.

Biology Olympiad

Each year, the Rio Tinto Australian Science Olympiads selects and trains students from secondary schools across Australia to compete in the international Biology (and Chemistry, and Physics) Olympiads. The Institute has played a role in the Biology Olympiad over much of the last decade, by arranging a $500 bursary for each of the 4 members of the Biology team. This year, we were supported by three Universities in providing the bursaries for the students. These are the University of New South Wales (two bursaries), the University of Queensland and the University of New England (one bursary each), with the bursaries offered to support the students of whom two were Sydney-based, one Armidale-based, and one Brisbane-based. The Biology Olympiad was held in Turkey in the early part of July. The Australian team was placed 7^th amongst 38 competing teams, with each of the Australian members receiving Gold, Silver or Bronze medals. More information can be found on the Web (http://www.rtaso.org.au).

Science Teachers’ Association

The Institute is interested in developing links with bodies such as the Australian Science Teachers Association. As part of this, the Adelaide based Executive made several Workshop contributions to the SA Science Teachers’ Association in April, and plan to establish links in other States and Territories to broaden this interaction.

Annual Symposium

The Annual Symposium was held in September 1999 at the Zoology Department, University of Melbourne. The theme of the symposium was "Genetics, Conservation and Habitat Fragmentation", and Dr Steve Morton from the Division of Wildlife and Ecology, CSIRO, was the keynote speaker. The Symposium was very successful and we thank Dr Peter Temple-Smith for his hard work in organising the event. Papers from the Symposium were published in the second issue of Volume 12 of Australian Biologist, 1999.

For 2000, we had been discussing with a prominent Cooperative Research Centre an arrangement to hold our annual symposium jointly with them, but it has been necessary to change the planned date from late 2000 to May 2001. The theme will be biotechnology.

As a replacement Symposium for 2000, the Executive is planning a Virtual Symposium on Flexible Delivery Approaches in Biological Sciences Education. The Symposium aims to provide a forum for discussion of Flexible Delivery issues in secondary and tertiary education, to identify useful Web-based resources for biological education, to use our new Web site as the focus for presentation of contributions, and interaction, and to establish a resource for the membership accessible through the Institute’s Web site after the Virtual Symposium.

Journal and Newsletter

A Newsletter was published in August 2000, with another planned for later this year. The Symposium issue of Australian Biologist for 1999 was published earlier this year. Vice President Bob Hill compiled a special issue of the journal presenting abstracts of a range of honours and higher degree theses in biology from many Universities in Australia over the last two years. This initiative is aimed at showcasing the breadth of biological research in Australia as manifest in the productivity of higher degree students. It is hoped that this will become a regular feature of Institute activity, with the publication medium being either the journal or our Web site.

Web Site

The Institute established its own domain name (aibiol.org.au), and a web site is under development (http://www.aibiol.org.au/). Although not obvious from this, the site is hosted through Camtech/Ozemail. We want the site to be of use to our members, and wish to explore the possibility of providing to members opting for electronic delivery (as opposed to mailing) of information, a discount on subscriptions.

GST

The financial operations of the Institute are modest, and are well below the threshold needed for us to be required to charge GST for members (and forward it to the Government). After a lot of discussion and consultation, the Executive agreed to not apply for GST registration (although we do have our own ABN).

Report of the Registrar

New memberships since the last report (8/99): 22, comprising 19 Members, 2 Associate members and 1 Student member.

In Conclusion

In closing, I’d like to pay a special tribute to an energetic Executive who have been working hard to create new services to members, and in so doing to exploit contemporary technologies. With a number of new faces on the Executive, there has been a period of consolidation in 1999/2000. With in particular the Web site development, we hope to keep the members well informed about the Institute’s activities and profile, and invite wide participation in making the new developments valuable to all members.

John Finlay-Jones