The Chief Scientist of Western Australia is an independent adviser to the

Government of Western Australia The Government of Western Australia, formally referred to as His Majesty's Government of Western Australia, is the Australian state democratic administrative authority of Western Australia. It is also commonly referred to as the WA Government o ...

on science and innovation within

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

. The Chief Scientist also advises on science in the economy, the development of scientific industries, and promoting the state's scientific leadership internationally within the

Asia-Pacific Asia-Pacific (APAC) is the part of the world near the western Pacific Ocean. The Asia-Pacific region varies in area depending on context, but it generally includes East Asia, Russian Far East, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Australia and Pacific Isla ...

region.

Role

The Chief Scientist advises the government, particularly the premier and the Minister for Science, on scientific matters, and on a strategic direction for science in Western Australia. The Chief Scientist reports to the Minister for Science, and works with the Science and Innovation division of the Department of Jobs, Tourism, Science and Innovation. The role also involves the encouragement of collaboration at local, national and internal levels; advocating for scientific investment from industry and the federal government; advocating for policies and initiatives throughout government and the community; and acting as a public ambassador. Government ministers or bureaucrats may ask the Chief Scientist for scientific information on subjects related to their portfolios, such as

radio astronomy Radio astronomy is a subfield of astronomy that studies celestial objects at radio frequencies. The first detection of radio waves from an astronomical object was in 1933, when Karl Jansky at Bell Telephone Laboratories reported radiation coming f ...

, the Peel-Harvey inlet, or

supercomputer A supercomputer is a computer with a high level of performance as compared to a general-purpose computer. The performance of a supercomputer is commonly measured in floating-point operations per second ( FLOPS) instead of million instructions ...

s. The Chief Scientist consults with experts on the subject, and present a briefing on the matter. The Chief Scientist may also approach government with their own concerns or ideas. While in the role, Chief Scientists can continue their scientific endeavours, in local laboratories or in other parts of the world such as

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

and

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

History

The position was created in 2003, with the inaugural appointment of

Bruce Hobbs Bruce Robertson Hobbs (December 27, 1920 – November 22, 2005) was an English jockey and racehorse trainer. Born on Long Island, New York, Hobbs became the youngest jockey ever to ride the winner of the English Grand National when successful ...

. Hobbs resigned in May 2006 over a difference in opinion regarding government funding. The second,

Lyn Beazley Professor Lynda (Lyn) Dent Beazley (born 1944) is a neuroscientist and educator based in Perth, Western Australia. She is currently an Honorary Distinguished Fellow at the Institute of Advanced Studies at the University of Western Australia, an ...

, was the first woman to be appointed as a chief scientist in Australia. The third appointment was

Peter Klinken Svend Peter Klinken (born 30 July 1953 in Singapore) is an Australian medical researcher and academic. He is currently the Chief Scientist of Western Australia. He was appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) in the June 2017 Queen ...

in 2014. All three appointees were researchers and professors at the

University of Western Australia The University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Perth, the state capital, with a secondary campus in Albany, Western Australia, Albany an ...

Chief Scientists

There have been three Chief Scientists of Western Australia:

Role

History

Chief Scientists

See also

References

Further reading