Executive Committee

President and Treasurer

Adam Lucas
Dr Adam Lucas

Adam Lucas is Senior Lecturer in Science and Technology Studies at the University of Wollongong. He completed three postgraduate degrees in science and technology studies and the history and philosophy of science at the University of New South Wales between 1993 and 2004. His current research focuses on energy policy responses to anthropogenic climate change and the history of premodern and early modern technology.

He is the author of numerous articles and two monographs, Wind, Water, Work: ancient and medieval milling technology (Brill 2006) and Ecclesiastical Lordship, Seigneurial Power and the Commercialization of Milling in Medieval England (Ashgate 2014). He is currently working on several projects, including special issues for Technology and Culture, an online open edition of Daniel Barbaro's and William Newton's commentaries on Vitruvius' Book X on machines, and a monograph for ARC Medieval Press tentatively titled Medieval Milling

Email:  president@aahpsss.net.au;treasurer@aahpsss.net.au

Vice-President

Gemma Smart

Gemma Smart is a Philosopher of Science studying at the University of Sydney. Her current research interests lie in the Philosophy of Psychiatry and Neuroscience, with a particular focus on the Philosophy and Science of addiction. Other research interests include Science and Ethics, Nature-based Ethics, Mysticism and the synthesis of Science and Spirituality.

Gemma’s background is in Environmental Science and Human Geography, and she has published on the social application and implications of Agricultural Science in remote developing regions, and homelessness among urban Indigenous Australians.

Email:  vicepresident@aahpsss.net.au

Secretary

Dr Martin Bush

Martin Bush is a Research Fellow in the School of Historical and Philosophical Studies at the University of Melbourne with expertise in the cultural history of popular science and professional experience in science communication and the museum sector. Particular interests include planetariums, public reasoning practices and the science communication work of the Ngarrindjeri Australian David Unaipon. His recent PhD from Swinburne University is on popular astronomy in Australia in the era of the lantern slide and his essay from the thesis on the Proctor-Parkes affair was a joint winner of the 2016 Mike Smith Student Prize for History of Australian Science.

 Email: secretary@aahpsss.net.au

Postgraduate Representative

Roberta Pala
Roberta Pala

Roberta Pala is a PhD candidate in the Social Policy Research Centre, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at the University of New South Wales, Sydney. Her research investigates vaccines from a biohumanities perspective, as biosocial actants that are enacted through a multitude of bodily encounters. She has a BA in Cultural Anthropology from the University of Siena and a MA in Cultural Studies from the University of Sydney, with a thesis on recent public debates about vaccines and immunisation policies in Australia. Her research interests include Social Studies of Science; Science, Technology & Society Studies (STS); and Philosophy of the Body. Originally from Sardinia, she has been calling Australia her second home for six years now.

Website Admininstrator

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Dr John Wilkins

 John Wilkins, Honorary Fellow at the University of Melbourne, specialises in the history and philosophy of biology, and in particular of classification and taxonomy. His current interests include the nature of scientific phenomena, understanding, and the philosophical approaches to natural classification. He has published books on the history of the concept of species (Species: A history of the Idea, 2009 [second edition 2018, as Species: The evolution of the idea], and Defining species: a sourcebook from antiquity to today 2009, and on the philosophy of classification, The Nature of Classification (2013, with Malte Ebach).  Other research interests include the interaction of religion and science, the scientific explanations of religion, and basically anything that looks shiny. He is presently working on a new book Understanding Species.

Email: webmaster@aahpsss.net.au

Committee Members

Thomas Green
Thomas Green

Thomas Green is a PhD student in the Faculty of Law, Humanities and Arts at the University of Wollongong where he researches the intersection of regulatory frameworks and new technologies — specifically regarding aerospace, 3D printing, and algorithm neutrality. He completed a Juris Doctor from the University of Canberra, and a Bachelor of Arts and Science from the University of Sydney.

Thomas also served as a judge for the first Australian Space Awards following from his previous contributions to the Australian space industry through co-founding Neumann Space and advising Government on the establishment of the Australian Space Agency. Thomas currently works as a Business Coordinator for the Transport for NSW COVID-19 Reg Ops team, where he assists in business continuity measures and supporting NSW Health strategies during the course of the pandemic. 

Dr Rebecca Priestley

Rebecca Priestley is Director of the Centre for Science in Society at Victoria University of Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand. As an interdisciplinary scholar and creative non-fiction writer, I work at the boundary between science and the humanities. Across my research portfolio, I ask questions about what New Zealand and Antarctic scientists do, and did in the past, and how and why they seek to engage publics. I explore attitudes to issues such as climate change, sea level rise, and nuclear power and investigate ways in which scientists, the media, and artists, communicate about these issues. My creative non-fiction explores the nature and process of scientific research and seeks to engage audiences on contemporary scientific and environmental issues at a deeper level than possible through magazine articles or academic literature. I am a Principal Investigator with Te Pūnaha Matatini and the NZ SeaRise programme. I am a Companion of the Royal Society Te Apārangi and winner of the 2016 Prime Minister’s Science Communication Prize.

Ian Tasker
Ian Tasker

Ian Tasker was born in New Zealand in 1959 and began his career in telecommunications with the NZPO before immigrating to Australian in 1984. He spent several decades in Information and Communications Technology. In 2004, he was published in the IAU; Commission 46 newsletter, vol. 62, Robotic Observatories in eEducation and eResearch (ROER), and in 2005 wrote a White Paper for the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, Why Program Management works across the value chain; employing diffusion of innovation marketing and eCommerce beyond project management limitation, which formed a section in a R&D proposal for Robotic Observatories in eEducation and eResearch, to be driven by a scheduling switch. Ian returned to academia in 2007 and completed a Post Graduate Certificate in Research Studies. In his thesis, Feasibility Study for a Planetarium at UWS: The efficacy of planetaria; astronomy and space science education, he developed a mathematical model to ascertain audience attendance that then set limitations on the technology centre’s design parameters and overall budget. Since then, Ian’s research interests have matured and he is currently addressing how internationally managed science is funded. He is in the process of publishing his research for a PhD by Publication, which will be supervised by Professors Ray Norris and Brett Bowden in 2020.

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