AUSTRALIA
Energy and Climate Change
- CSIRO issued information from its Smart Energy Mission.
- The First Nations Clean Energy Network, National Native Title Council, and the Indigenous Land and Sea Corporation invite you to save the date for the 2nd First Nations Clean Energy Symposium (8-9 May 2024, South Australia).
- The IPA issued ‘Spare a Thought for Our Self-Made Energy Crisis’, arguing that the need to secure Australia’s energy supply could not be more urgent.
- ClimateWorks issued ‘Climate-ready homes’.
- The NHMRC is considering opening a grant opportunity in mid-2024 that invites research proposals on climate-related health impacts and effective interventions to improve health outcomes that identify key areas of vulnerability and effective interventions to improve health outcomes and reduce health inequities in Australia.
- The Sydney Morning Herald published on the Indonesian nickel boom claiming another WA mine and jobs
Digital transformation
- The Productivity Commission issued three research papers: ‘Making the most of the AI opportunity: productivity, regulation and data access’.
- ASPI issued ‘It takes a village to regulate AI’.
GEDSI
- The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet’s Office for Women released new online training for Gender Responsive Budgeting and Policy Development
- The Department of Health and Aged Care issued ‘Evaluation of the Remote Area Health Corps’ by Nous Group, identifying ways for the Department to work with the First Nations health sector to co-design ways forward.
- SAGE reported on Indigenous-led recruitment initiatives at Monash University shown to have success (i.e. yarning in interviews, bespoke roles and culturally responsive candidate care)
- The Office of the Women in Stem Ambassador found that anonymised applications for access to specialised scientific equipment boosted success rates for early-career researchers
Opportunities
- Registration is now open for the 25th Biennial ASAA Conference 2024, for the Asian Studies Association of Australia.
INDONESIA
Research and Technology
- Senior Researcher at the Centre for Horticultural Research of BRIN, Tri Joko Santoso, presented a talk on the techniques and processes of assembling Genetically Modified Organism (GMO) plants in Indonesia during the “Talk to Scientists” webinar.
- BRIN uses remote sensing technology in collaboration with the British Geological Survey to estimate seismic hazards to safeguard the population from earthquake threats.
- UNESCO released its first global guidelines on GenAI (Artificial Intelligence-generated content) stressing its accessibility, and ethics on data collection.
- BRIN will run trials at the National Observatory in Timau, East Nusa Tenggara, to test its infrastructural and device accessibility.
- Indonesian government aims to investigate a total of 10,000 genome samples from Indonesian citizens by 2024 to support and develop the precise treatment for eight major diseases, namely cancer, diabetes, infectious diseases, cardiovascular diseases, brain and neurodegenerative disorders, aging, maternal and child health, as well as genetic-related diseases.
Research and Innovation
- BRIN is advancing data analysis, algorithms, and IoT through the recent MoU signing with Murata Manufacturing, IIJ, and PT. Agrisinar Global Indonesia, fostering collaborative research for internet development in Indonesia, underscoring the pivotal role of data science in enhancing societal well-being and highlighting BRIN’s commitment to technological development and innovation.
- Zulfan Adrinaldi, Coordinator for Research and Innovation Utilisation at BRIN, outlines a collaboration on comprehensive halal product research and innovation, covering infrastructure development and the utilisation of research results for businesses, including MSMEs.
- Indonesian Ministry of Agriculture is researching and developing genetically modified (GM) plants resistant to pests and diseases.
- Universitas Palangka Raya, in collaboration with several parties, including CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation), is developing a peat innovation laboratory, the ACIAR project, for multi-disciplinary and multi-party development under the cooperation of the Australian Government and the Indonesian Government.
Environment and Climate Change (ECC)
- BRIN is developing the Global Navigation Satellite System-Radio Occultation (GNSS-RO) technique as an innovative remote sensing method. GNSS-RO is for research on atmospheric dynamics and hydrometeorology in Indonesia
- BRIN, along with the National Development Planning Agency (BAPPENAS), the Australian Water Partnership (AWP), Charles Sturt University (CSU), and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), organised a workshop titled “Mapping Barriers for Water Resources Management” to enhance Indonesia’s technical capabilities related to technology and geospatial analysis to promote better practices in sustainable water resource management.
- BAPPENAS stated that research and technology could be one of the solutions to address the waste issues occurring in various landfills. Several companies have also employed technologies, such as refuse-derived fuel (RDF) and recycle vending machines (RVM), to manage and address waste independently.
- Head of the Trade Policy Agency (BKPerdag), Kasan, emphasises the importance of Indonesia’s continuous efforts to downstream industries for sustainable trade.
- Erma Yulihastin from BRIN has proposed the government to form a dedicated committee to anticipate extreme weather conditions due to climate change in Indonesia.
Research and Woman
- According to a study by the Boston Consulting Group (2020), the percentage of women working in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) remains low, including in Indonesia.
- Research and Funding
- Vice Minister of Finance Suahasil Nazara stated that the Ministry of Finance will still allocate funds for the LPDP program as the budget is already in the 2024 State Budget (APBN).
Updates supported by Australian Council of Learned Academies (ACOLA)
