Robertson Grant: Royal Society of New Zealand Amendment Bill — In Committee 
Robertson Grant: Royal Society of New Zealand Amendment Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:673;Page:19843] 
GRANT ROBERTSON (Labour—Wellington Central) 
: 
 Clause 9 of the Royal Society of New Zealand Amendment Bill amends the Royal Society of New Zealand Act around the questions of the Fellows of the Royal Society. It amends section 10 by omitting “Academy Council” in each place where it appears and substituting “Academy Executive Committee” and also by omitting “science or technology” and substituting “science technology or the humanities”. 
To take those two matters in reverse order this particular part of the bill deals with parts of the Royal Society of New Zealand Act that talk about fellows. It is now worth doing a little bit of explanation of what it is to be a Fellow of the Royal Society. Mr Quinn earlier in the debate tried to suggest that perhaps he might be a Fellow of the Royal Society. I encourage members to listen to the description of what it is to be a Fellow of the Royal Society and to make up their own minds as to whether that is likely to be the case. 
Fellowship of the Royal Society of New Zealand is an honour conferred for distinction in research or the advancement of science technology and now the humanities. Since its earliest days the Royal Society has made provision for there also to be honorary fellows from overseas institutions. I think we will come to discussing that in debate on clause 12 so I will not talk about those honorary fellows at this time. There are currently 366 Fellows of the Royal Society and that I think says a lot about the esteem in which people who become fellows are held. It is not something that happens easily; it has to be based on a record of scholarship and of advancement of research in a way that is beyond the norm. 
To anybody who is familiar with science in New Zealand—and I have here the names of the Fellows of the Royal Society—and works his or her way through the list of the Fellows of the Royal Society it is clear that in section 9 we are talking about people of the highest achievement. Just looking here randomly I see the name of Peter Barrett who is from the school of earth sciences at Victoria University here in Wellington. He has been one of the people who have led globally the understanding of the Antarctic and the understanding of the impact of climate change on the Antarctic. Peter has led global thinking on that issue. He has led a team of researchers from a number of academic institutions in New Zealand and overseas to understand Antarctica and particularly the impact of climate change on the West Antarctic ice sheet where there has been significant impact. Peter has largely moved on from full-time academic work now but his work continues at Victoria University and I know that he continues to be involved in that issue. 
Also among the Fellows of the Royal Society are people we might more traditionally associate with the humanities. They include James Belich from the Stout Research Centre also here in Wellington at Victoria University. The Stout Research Centre for colleagues who are not aware is the research centre devoted to the study of New Zealand essentially. It studies history politics and in fact the humanities. So there already are fellows who work within the humanities and I am sure in future calls I can find my way back to the many people who have become Fellows of the Royal Society based on some excellent work. I note that there is a Fellow of the Royal Society named Alan Bollard but it is not the Alan Bollard who is the Governor of the Reserve Bank lest anyone be concerned about that. Clause 9 is about the fellows and it brings the humanities within that. 
In order to become a Fellow of the Royal Society one has to be elected by an annual general meeting of the Royal Society and that annual general meeting acts on the recommendation of the fellowship selection committee. Candidates get short-listed by fellowship selection panels from within each academic discipline. Through clause 9 we will be including the humanities as a new subpart of the selection of Fellows of the Royal Society. A process begins in December each year so perhaps Mr Quinn could get an application ready now. Ms Mackey looks alarmed—she has missed the earlier debate about Mr Quinn who believed that he may have been a Fellow of the Royal Society. We have clarified that he definitely is not. 
Simon Bridges 
: Prove it. 
GRANT ROBERTSON 
: He proves it by his presence I say to Mr Bridges. That is what he does. 
The panels receive nomination documents work through a short list and then make that recommendation. It is rigorous. It takes the best part of a year for people to put their applications in and to be assessed by subject-related panels who work their way through to deciding how many fellows will be put forward. There are currently 12 of those fellowship selection panels; I suspect there will be 13 once this bill goes through. The work of the fellowship selection committees is then approved by the academy executive committee. 
That brings us back to clause 9(1) which changes the name of “Academy Council” to “Academy Executive Committee”. I appreciate that there is quite a long time between each time that we debate elements of this bill. Just to refresh members’ memories I say that we are changing under this legislation the name of the academy council; it is now called the academy executive committee. In fact we have already done so under an earlier clause. The reason we are doing that is that there is something called the Royal Society of New Zealand Council which is its overall governing body. To avoid confusion what was called the academy council is now called the academy executive committee. Its job is the nuts and bolts of making sure the awards the prizes and the membership are undertaken. That is what the academy executive committee does. 
The council is the governance body; the academy executive committee is really the administrative body making sure that it goes through and does the things it does. It is populated by scientists. When the society is making decisions about who should get an award and who should be a Fellow of the Royal Society that is done by the academy executive committee which is what was previously called the academy council. Here in clause 9(1) we are making that change in respect of the part of the Act that revolves around the creation of fellowships. 
Each year in October the fellows have an annual general meeting where they look at the list of recommended candidates along with a brief citation. The academy then votes to elect the recommended candidates to fellowship. So there is actually a threefold process starting out at the beginning with nominations going to those discipline panels and then a recommendation coming to the fellows’ annual general meeting via the academy executive committee. It is a rigorous process. People do not get to become Fellows of the Royal Society by accident. It is something to be proud of— 
Sue Moroney 
: Like Paul Quinn. 
GRANT ROBERTSON 
: —and Paul Quinn unfortunately I suspect will struggle although he does have until December to pick up his game. 
Simon Bridges 
: Quinn for president! 
GRANT ROBERTSON 
: I will remind Mr Bridges of that one day. Currently up to 12 fellows are elected annually so that is the limitation: 12 fellows annually. One of the concerns raised at the Education and Science Committee by the Wellington branch of the Royal Society was whether bringing in the humanities given that there are only 12 fellows in this example could dilute or put pressure on the number of fellows. But as we have seen there are already some fellows from the humanities area. In many ways it makes it an even more exclusive club and the standard is even higher for becoming a Fellow of the Royal Society. To have only 300 or so of them at this time certainly recognises that level of excellence. 
Nominations to the fellowship remain valid for 5 years. If someone is not successful the first time their nomination stands for a 5-year period. Obviously they will continue to develop their academic career at that time. After the 5 years elapses there is a 3-year stand-down period. One is in the ballot for 5 years and if one is not successful after that time there is a 3-year stand-down period then one can be put forward again after that point. I think that indicates that there is a very high standard for becoming a Fellow of the Royal Society. 
Effectively clause 9 puts in place the building blocks for having people from the humanities as fellows. We are changing the language from academy council to academy executive committee then dropping in the humanities so that people from the humanities can now be part of the process for being a fellow. 
The fellowship selection committee works closely with the academy executive committee as in clause 9(1) and I am not aware of any major conflicts in the past with the Royal Society. Other members may be aware of that but I think it is a process whereby the people who are already Fellows of the Royal Society help bring through new people. Under clause 9(2) those people will be able to be from the humanities. I think that a very important part of the Royal Society embracing its new broader mandate is to have people from the humanities reach the highest level of membership of the organisation and that is to be a fellow of the society. 
There are a number of other matters that I can come back to if need be in future calls as to the rules and fellowship by-laws and I will be happy to do that if members wish.