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BAMOS
Dec 2018
News
AMOS Member Sue Barrell elected AMOS National Science Week
Vice-President of STA
Competition 2018—Presenting My
We are delighted to inform our readership that AMOS member Local Weather
Dr Sue Barrell was elected as Vice-President of Science and
Technology Australia (STA) on 22 November. Dr Barrell held the
positions of Chief Scientist and Group Executive of Science and
Innovation at the Bureau prior to her retirement on 31 August.
We congratulate Dr Barrell and wish her all the best in her new
role. STA President Professor Emma Johnston reports:
“The new leadership team reflects our proactive approach
to engaging and promoting a diversity of voices in
science, technology, engineering and mathematics. We
have culturally and linguistically diverse members of the
Executive Committee, and both early career and senior
perspectives are represented. With a gender-balanced
Executive Committee we are also proud that for the first
time, both the President and Vice President are women “.
Superstars of STEM
Congratulations to BAMOS co-Editor‐in‐Chief (and former
Editor) Linden Ashcroft for being selected for the Superstars
of STEM program for 2019–2020! Created by Science and
Technology Australia (STA), Superstars of STEM aims to smash
society’s gender assumptions about scientists and increase the
public visibility of women in STEM. The program is creating
a critical mass of celebrity Australian female scientists and
technologists—role models for young women and girls—to
work towards equal representation in the media of women and
men working in all fields in STEM.
Veronica Tamsitt and Stephanie Downes
Co-chairs, AMOS Education and Outreach Committee
This year the AMOS Education and Outreach Committee ran the
very first National Science Week weather presenter competition.
The competition was a resounding success.
Entries were solicited from junior and senior school students
from all around Australia. We received a flurry of fantastic
entries from students all over Australia and were blown away by
the creative and engaging presentations of local weather. We
hope the participants had fun coming up with creative ways to
present their local weather and were inspired to clear the fog
surrounding the science behind the weather. Congratulations to
all of our winners and we hope that the competition continues
to grow next year and beyond.
Many thanks to our sponsors and partners Weatherzone,
Monash University Climate Change Communication Research
Hub, Bureau of Meteorology and Seven News.
The winning videos can be viewed on our website at: www.
amos.org.au/activities/education-and-outreach/amos_wp_
comp2018/.
National Winners
National Junior Prize: East Arnhem Weather—16 June 2018
National Senior Prize: QLD Weather Report—30 August 2018
State Winners
AMOS Statement on Sea-Level
Change Queensland: Gold Coast Weather Boy—20 August 2018
The AMOS position statement on Sea-Level Change
received final approval from AMOS Council on 1st October.
It was authored by the AMOS Expert Group on Physical
Oceanography and underwent revisions in response
to feedback from the AMOS Executive, Council and our
membership. Tasmania: Kinder Bears Winter Weather Wrap‐Up—21 August
2018
NSW: Frosty Monday—17 July 2018
Victoria: Welcome to Gunditjmara Country (Warrnambool)—22
August 2018
AMOS position statements are an essential part of our
policy making process. They are aimed at various audiences
including the AMOS President and Council (to use as an
official position of AMOS), and scientifically literate members
of the public (e.g. Ministers for Science, school teachers,
enthusiasts, etc.).
AMOS now has three position statements, on the topics of
Climate Change (adopted February 2016), Weather Analysis
and Prediction in Australia (adopted August 2017), and Sea-
Level Change (adopted October 2018). Further statements
on other important topics will soon be developed.
We thank our members for continuing to contribute to AMOS
policy development through the statement feedback and
review process.
Image: A screenshot from the winning National Junior
Prize video.