Long serving AMSI head Geoff Prince retires

Long serving director of the Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute Geoff Prince will retire after nearly a decade in the role.

Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute director Geoff Prince with students in 2011.

In today’s Higher Ed Daily Brief: Maths head retires, equity recognised

Geoff Prince departs

Long serving director of the Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute Geoff Prince will retire after nearly a decade in the role. In his time as leader the institute has dramatically expanded to become the leading advocate organisation for maths, focusing on the need for Australia to develop mathematical talent in schools and universities, particularly among women and girls.

Under Professor Prince AMSI forged a partnership with BHP Billiton to launch the Choose Maths program to boost the number of girls taking maths subjects in schools. AMSI has also dramatically expanded its APR.Intern program to place PhD students from all disciplines into internships with employers. AMSI secured over $50 million in grants and contracts to support its programs during Professor Prince’s directorship.

“Geoff has been an outstanding champion for the discipline, helping steer the institute’s impact across the pipeline from school education and adult numeracy to research and industry engagement,” said AMSI chair Ron Sandland.

The new director will be University of Melbourne data science professor Tim Brown.

Gender equity awards

Fifteen Australian universities and research institutes have been acknowledged for their move toward gender equity by being the first to receive an internationally recognised accreditation honouring their efforts — the Athena SWAN Bronze Award. They are:

• Australia’s Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO)

• Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute

• Charles Sturt University

• CSIRO

• Curtin University

• Edith Cowan University

• Griffith University

• Monash University

• Swinburne University of Technology

• Queensland University of Technology

• University of New South Wales

• University of Newcastle

• University of Technology Sydney

• University of Wollongong

• Walter and Eliza Hall Institute

These institutions have been through a rigorous process of collecting data on gender equity in science, technology, engineering, maths and medicine, assessing their policies and practices, and then implementing an action plan to deal with gaps and barriers which are identified.

The Athena SWAN framework, which was developed in the UK, was piloted in Australia by a partnership of the Australian Academy of Science and the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering which is called SAGE — Science in Australia Gender Equity.

Five other institutions — the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute, Southern Cross University, University of Canberra, University of Melbourne and University of Western Australia — were recognised for their progress toward Bronze accreditation.