At the time of drafting this post (April 2025), there seems to be no end of distressing news about loss of scientific knowledge, disbandment of scientific institutions and abandonment of knowledge-generating projects. So QSN has decided to open a page to accommodate some benchmark writings on the subject.
Two landmark documents in this field were published in the Proceedings of The Royal Society of Queensland in volume 124 of 2020:
Creating and then abolishing bodies of scientific knowledge, expertise and analytical capability: An Australian political malaise, by the late David Marlow, a member of the Royal Society of Queensland at the time.
Processes and institutions for scientific independence – Reflections on Land & Water Australia, by Jason Alexandra, highlighting the appalling decision to destroy one of the few national bodies aiming to reach across disciplinary boundaries to produce integrated analysis.
Society member Dr Geoff Edwards has written a few articles on the importance of knowledge in the series of opinion pieces Prevention or Patch-up? as contributions to a project by the Royal Societies of Australia on preventative health. Look especially for the first article on 28 February 2024; and the article “Prevention or patch-up? Data, information, and knowledge are not ‘wisdom’”on 8 May 2024; and on 1 May 2025 a critique of the political platform that would see large numbers cut from the Australian Public Service.
An opinion piece was published in the Times Higher Education on 24 April by Rhodri Davies and Dorrit Jacob:
“Earth science is critical to national resilience – so why is it being gutted? Australia must fund its universities in ways that reflect their mission – not just their margins”.