The Final Report of the 2021 SRAP Research Forum “A collaborative world” has been released. You can get it in PDF format (file size: 13.4 Mb).
This report complements the Booklet of the 2021 SRAP Research Forum (PDF format, file size 5 Mb), the includes the abstracts of all the contributions and the bio of the speakers.
Below you can find the summary and the impact of the Final Report. You can also check the post we published after the 2021 SRAP Research Forum including photos and more information about the event.
Summary
The association Spanish Researchers in Australia-Pacific (SRAP) organizes annually the “Australia-Spain Research Forum”, a multidisciplinary conference aimed at the wider community, to highlight Australia-Spain research and present broad research and cultural topics which are of special interest to the Australian and Spanish societies.
SRAP promotes and supports networking between Australia-Pacific and Spanish research institutes and universities and provides assistance and networking support for Spanish researchers in Australia-Pacific. The Australia-Spain Research Forum is our main networking event, putting together Australian and Spanish researchers in multiple disciplines, as well as between universities, research centres, industries, diplomats and even artists who have an interest in scientific research.
In 2021 SRAP organized the 7th Australia-Spain Research Forum entitled “A Collaborative World“, with the aim of showing “how researchers help society to create a better world”. It was hosted at The Australian Hearing Hub, Macquarie University (Sydney, NSW) on Friday 26th of November 2021 with the option of attending virtually or in-person.
The 2021 edition of the SRAP Forum was sponsored by the Spanish Embassy in Australia, the Australia-Spain Council Foundation, and the Ramón Areces Foundation – to whom we are extremely grateful for their continuous support.
This 2021 SRAP Australia-Spain Research Forum, the 7th edition, considered all the lessons learnt during the past 6 editions and delivered a very exciting program including experts talking about very hot topics affecting all societies: the current pandemic, the challenge of climate change, transgenic products, defense of bushfires, identifying fake news, treatments for cancer, inclusive architecture, renewable energies, multiculturalism and symbols in the society, astronomy for a better world, and more.
The 2021 SRAP Australia-Spain Research Forum also included a special session about Science Diplomacy. We at SRAP consider it is fundamental that researchers, diplomats and policy makers share information and collaborate to make our society understand how important research is for all the many global challenges we are facing today. We were honored to have representatives of Instituto Cervantes, EURAXES, RAICEX and both Australia and Spain “Science meets the Parliament” programs to talk about different initiatives and programs for promoting Science Diplomacy.
For the 7th Australia-Spain Research Forum we were privileged to have the winners of the inaugural Golden Bee Award at the XXII Design and Architecture Triennale di Milano: Broken Nature (Design Takes on Human Survival). The work, entitled ‘Teatro della Terra Alienata’, represented Australia at the Milano Triennale in 2019. The project makes public the mass bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef, unveiling the political actions and economic interests that have underlined the brokenness of this environment.
The 2021 Australia-Spain Research Forum SRAP Forum concluded with some awards. Dr Marina Trigueros received the 2021 SRAP Laureate Award for her outstanding work as the Canberra representative for several years. Homeward Bound received the IV Malaspina Award, an honor yearly bestowed by the Embassy of Spain in Canberra and SRAP individuals or organisations that have made a significant contribution to the scientific and/or cultural relations between Spain and Australia. We are extremely grateful to Navantia Australia, who sponsored the 2021 Malaspina Award.
I want to thank all participants for their great talks and contributions, they all have made this 7th Australia-Spain Research Forum another success for SRAP. We are extremely grateful to the Spanish Embassy in Australia, the Australia-Spain Council Foundation, and the Ramón Areces Foundation for their continuous support. Finally, I also want to thank all the LOC for their excellent work organizing the 2021 SRAP Forum: it has been a privilege to have you all on board!
Dr. Ángel R. López-Sánchez
2021 SRAP Forum Chair
Impact
The 2021 SRAP Research Forum registered 95 participants from 11 countries, including Australia, New Zealand, Spain, Portugal, Argentina, Italy, Germany, Philippines, South Africa, Japan and Ethiopia.
We had participants of the most important universities and research centers in Australia (The Australian National University, University of Sydney, UNSW, Macquarie University, University of Technology of Sydney, University of Canberra, CSIRO, University of Melbourne, Monash University) and New Zealand (The University of Auckland, Victoria University of Wellington, Weather Radar New Zealand).
The most prominent Spanish industries in Australia also attended (Ferrovial, Acciona, Navantia, Indra) and other relevant Australian institutions (Thermo Fisher Scientific, Westmead Hospital, NSW Health, Johnson Winter & Slattery, Matrix New World Engineering, Sener Engineering and Systems, Hornsby Shire Council, Homeward Bound, RedEye, Essential Energy, Ena Publishing).
49 (52%) participants were identified as men, 44 (46%) participants were identified as women, and 2 (2%) identified their gender as other, meaning we achieved an outstanding gender balance in our event.
The 2021 SRAP Research Forum webpage had 686 page views.
All the presentations of the 2021 SRAP Research Forum are compiled in the SRAP YouTube channel.
Some of the in-person participants of the 7th Australia-Spain Research Forum “A Collaborative World”.