Australian Institute of Physics - SA Branch 2003 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING MINUTES (Draft) Minutes of the Annual General Meeting held at 6:30 pm on Thursday November 27th 2003 in the meeting room of the Public Schools' Club (207 East Terrace, Adelaide). PRESENT: Dr Shane Canney Prof. Angas Hurst Dr Rod Crewther Ms Kathryn Hanton Ms Fiona Wear Dr Peter Veitch Ms Susan Cockshell Mr Doug Sweet Mr Nathaniel Jewell Dr Sam Drake Dr Anthony Lee Dr Jamie Quinton Mr Dean Dowling Dr Peter Bouwknegt Dr Judith Pollard Dr Gillian Robertson A/Prof. Geoffrey Goodwin Mr Wade Shiell VISITORS: Ms Alice Sweet Mr John Hisco Welcome: The 2003 Chair, Dr Peter Veitch, welcomed members to the 2003 AGM. APOLOGIES: These were made for: Prof. John Prescott Dr Olivia Samardzic Mr John Pockett Dr Michael Brunger Dr Derek Leinweber Dr Alex Kalloniatis Mr John Pattison Dr Bruce Wedding MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS AGM: A draft of these had been emailed earlier and a printed version was distributed at the meeting. Peter Veitch raised the omission of Peter Bouwknegt from the attendance list in the emailed minutes. The secretary Laurence Campbell said that this was corrected in the printed minutes. There were no other corrections. Rod Crewther proposed that the minutes be accepted, seconded by Peter Bouwknegt. This was then carried by a show of hands with no dissent. There was no business arising from the minutes. CHAIR'S REPORT: Dr Peter Veitch began his report by referring to information about the AIP just received from the National branch, including A2 posters and brochures. The latter ouline the role of the AIP and include reasons for joining and a membership form. He encouraged members to take posters to put up on notice boards. He said he would send some to Flinders, DSTO and the UniSA. He noted that the posters look good unless one takes a close look at the symbols - chosen by a professional graphic designer. Peter detailed this year's meetings, which were largely public lectures with few members' meetings, mainly due to the array of speakers available. The policy of holding interesting public meetings was mainly correct, at the start. The talks by Prof. John Prescott and Prof Lloyd Hollenberg were well attended, but talks later in the year were less successful. The talk by astronaut Dr Franklin Chang-Diaz was not well attended. Attendence at the WIP lecture was poor, but partly due to the abstract. One of the roles of the AIP is to publicise Physics to the wider public, so we will continue, but we need to be careful about the topics. All public lectures have used Union Hall, but this was not required and was a waste of money. If the audience is only one quarter of the hall we should use the Kerr Grant lecture theatre, which is a good lecture theatre, and only use Union Hall for a high-profile speaker. So the recommendation is to be more judicious in using Union Hall next year. Peter described the members' meetings, starting with a lecture by Prof. Speth, which was a joint meeting with the CSSM and the NITP. The speaker was asked to keep it simple to get a wider audience, although there was too much Mathematics for a public lecture. The talk was quite successful. The joint meeting with the Astronomical Society of South Australia was a lecture by Dr Melanie Johnston-Hollitt, which was well attended. We tried to organise a joint talk with the Australian Institute of Biology, but it couldn't be done this year, despite trying hard, due to the problem of finding a common time. We were approached by the RACI for a joint talk. It was too late in the year, but we have general agreement for one next year. Peter summarised that we had a variety of talks and topics. Some were very successful, especially the digeridoo talk with a multi-media presentation. It was disappointing that there were not more people in spite of the hard work done on publicity. A concurrent meeting of aboriginal students did not contribute to the audience. Peter noted that the committee was dissatisfied with the national organisation of the WIP lecture, which was done too late and had an unsuitable abstract. Next year we will try to get more control and will submit this to the national council. Peter referred to Prof. John Prescott's absence, explaining that he is away receiving an award from the national branch for his contribution to Physics. We will have a local presentation early next year. Peter thanked the committee for the hard work done this year. He noted that public lectures involve a lot of extra effort. Alex Kalloniatis had worked hard to the level of burnout and needs a rest. He also thanked the secretary for his efforts. DISCUSSION: Dr Sam Drake asked how the lectures are advertised. Peter replied that it is done in the Adelaidean, online and with posters (including colour A3). Posters were put in the Museum for the digeridoo lecture. Sam asked about radio. Peter replied that it sometimes is on 5UV or the local ABC, depending on the speaker. It is easy to get speakers interviewed, if they are high-profile, although this was not done for John Prescott as he had been interviewed previously. The WIP lecturer did a telephone interview on 5UV and Franklin Chang-Diaz did an interview, but we cannot always get an interview. We try hard, but attendance is independent of the amount of advertising. We have tried harder this year. TREASURER'S REPORT: Peter Veitch introduced the outgoing treasurer Shane Canney, congratulating him on his way of keeping the books this year. They have been audited by the National Branch and Shane has done a really good job. Dr Shane Canney started his report by drawing attention to the financial statements distributed: - treasurer's statement for the financial year 1/10/02-30/9/03 - a record of incoming and outgoing transactions up to the present. Shane summarised it as $12000 +$1550-$5500 giving a balance of $8500 and a loss of $4000, but this is not as bad as it looks because the annual grant from the national branch has not been received. Shane showed that these grants for the last 3 years have been $5036, $11000 and $0. He said he could provide extra details of finances if required. He gave the extra income as $1542 and showed an overview of expenditure, noting that that 76% of expenses were for meetings and lecturer expenses. Shane reviewed our current standing, including: - the national branch now gives an allocation on a budget. - The proposal of $7000 has been granted but not received. - We have funds for a video camera, but have not purchased it yet. (We did some trail runs, to be discussed later.) Shane noted that fortunately our reserves have helped us, but we need to put in a submission as early as possible. There is a problem with the Oct-Sept. financial year, as the new committee won't meet until February. He suggests a motion to the national branch to improve the method of distribution. On a positive note, there is a high level of activity and we are in a sound financial position if the funds are received. Chair's comments: - A lot of activities this year (such as the Hollenberg and Chang-Diaz lectures) were funded last year and cost less thanks to sponsorship. The Hollenberg lecture cost $100 and others paid for the airfare and accomodation for Chang-Diaz. - If we are active and require support, we can argue for it. But a large balance is a problem (as occurred in NSW). So there is no problem with a small balance. - We were slow to make a request this year. - There were 3 trials of the video camera, with the intention of distributing the product to absent members and for professional development. We were not happy with the outcome. The result was not useful for Prof. Speth, due problems with illumination and focus. The result for Prof. Prescott was better, but marginal, while the third has not been received yet. It was a good idea in principle, but beyond us in practice, so we propose not to buy a video camera. Questions: - Sam Drake asked why students did not get more money. Shane replied that $1000 was budgeted but it is up to students to apply and there were only 2 applications. He suggested that they need encouragement from people at the Unis. Sam suggested students could do the sums, but Shane pointed out that there is a one-year membership requirement. - Angas Hurst asked why there is a lack of correlation between expenditure from one year to the next, such as for medals. Shane replied that the latter was not claimed back during the financial year, while sponsorship for the Quiz doesn't show as it is in the next financial year. Peter Veitch replied that the Hollenberg lecture did not cost much, but while it is good to exploit sponsorship, it requires time and effort of committee members, so we need to moderate this and encourage the national branch to give support. As an example, we now buy supper platters to take the load off the secretary. - John Pockett suggested using the surplus from the video camera to pay someone with expertise to video the speaker and add the Powerpoint. Peter replied that we had got someone who had the equipment and interest, but was not as professional as John was suggesting. He agreed that the Powerpoint would need to be edited in later. Shane concluded by asking people to pay for dinner beforehand. ELECTION OF THE 2004 COMMITTEE: Peter Veitch referred to the nomination list (distributed to members with the agenda). The following people were nominated for the 2004 committee by the retiring 2003 committee in accordance with by-law 44(a). Chair: Dr Peter Veitch University of Adelaide Vice-chair: Dr Olivia Samardzic Defence Science and Tech. Org. Secretary: Dr Laurence Campbell Adelaide and Flinders Unis. Treasurer: Dr Jamie Quinton Flinders University Dr Peter Bouwknegt University of Adelaide Dr Boris Blankleider Flinders University Ms Susan Cockshell Annesley College Dr Sam Drake Defence Science and Tech. Org. The following people were duly nominated and seconded by members of the branch: Student coordinator: Mr. Wade Shiell University of Adelaide Dr Michael Brunger Flinders University Peter explained that Shane Canney would no longer be treasurer due to other responsibilities and thanked Dr Jamie Quniton for agreeing to fill the position. He listed the other 3 new nominations: Sam Drake, Wade Shiell (as "student representative" who is involved in SPACED) and Dr Michael Brunger from Flinders. Laurence Campbell said that as there are new nominations, the rules are that a secret ballot should be held. However, as there are not enough people on the committee, he suggested that a motion should be put forward to elect the nominated committee. Judith Pollard asked for details of the new nominations. Jamie Quinton introduced himself, saying that he is a recent apointee at Flinders University in Nanotechnology. He has been in the AIP for a decade, and is pleased to be welcomed here. Sam Drake said that he works at DSTO. He was an undergraduate at Melbourne, then had been a postgraduate at Adelaide before working at DSTO for 6 years. Wade Shiell said he is a student at Adelaide Uni., studying Science and is involved with SPACED, of which he hopes to be President next year. He would like to bring students from the 3 Unis. together, and as he is in both SPACED and the AIP he has more resources to do this. He has been a member for 2 years and would like to be on the committee even if not the student representative. Peter Veitch described Michael Brunger as a senior lecturer at Flinders University in Physics and a representative on the Physics SAC. Rod Crewther moved that the committee be elected, seconded by Judith Pollard. This was carried without objection. ANY OTHER BUSINESS: As 2004 Chair, Peter Veitch invited other business: - Dean Dowling suggested talks on the reality of ficticous forces, erroneous application of Physics in economics, measurement of distance and time and the CGS system. Peter suggested Speth's lecture had addressed one of these, but Dean Dowling disagreed. Peter handed this on to the "meetings" subcommittee. - Peter Veitch presented the report of the education subcommittee on behalf of Olivia Samardzic. She had made a Powerpoint presentation for which there was no projector, so he showed transparencies of the slides. - He noted that Olivia Samardzic and Susan Cockshell put in a lot of effort and it is a significant activity of the local branch. - He listed the members of the subcommittee as Susan Cockshell, Mike Roach, himself and Olivia Samardzic. - Activities this year included the South Australian Space School, the Quiz, a Careers night, and the Year-12 exam wrap-up. He noted that teachers are comfortable with the year 12 syllabus now but a change in 2004 means there will be demand for professional development. - The South Australian Space School was held on 16-18 July 2003. It is residential and brings together lots of kids from different places to do different things, including meeting astronauts and visiting places such as the planetarium and Physics departments. Peter checked whether John Hisco is involved, and the answer was affirmative. - The AIP Science quiz was held on 22nd August. We have to ring schools to get them to come. Peter said that he told them in advance but it doesn't work. 80 stduents attended and had a good time, especially with limericks. - The Careers night was successfull last year but this year was on the last Friday before the break and so was less successfull. We will continue, as last year was good, but on a different date. - The exam wrap-up was a 2-hour event organised by SASTA and attended by 30 teachers. The AIP provided the venue. - Future activities for Primary, Secondary and Tertiary education were displayed. Teacher training is proposed for primary teachers. Peter noted that we have to support teachers, as they are scared of Science and glad of talks. Dean Dowling noted that Barry Jones found Science "too hard". - Questions: - Geoff Goodwin asked how many students come on to do Physics, and suggested that the number is decreasing. Judith Pollard replied that applications were up slightly for this year, and so are not still decreasing. She noted that the availability of specialist degrees shows as a cohort at Adelaide of people wanting to do Physics. Geoff described this as trendy names. Judith and Peter said you have to play the game. - Geoff Goodwin asked about the special school at Flinders. John Hisco reported that there are a lot of applicants and everyone is happy. Peter Veitch declared the meeting to be closed at 19:31. Laurence Campbell, 29-12-03