Choudhary Ashraf: Royal Society of New Zealand Amendment Bill — In Committee 
Choudhary Ashraf: Royal Society of New Zealand Amendment Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:673;Page:19833] 
Dr ASHRAF CHOUDHARY (Labour) 
: 
 I am delighted to have this opportunity to speak again on this very important bill the Royal Society of New Zealand Amendment Bill. It is really very important for the people of New Zealand the scientific community and the humanities. This bill will include the subject of the humanities in the Royal Society. 
This particular clause clause 8 concerns scientific or technological research and those words are to be substituted with “research in science technology or the humanities”. I think this is a very significant change. These few words mark a very significant change in this bill. As I said in my earlier discussion there is a significant difference between science research and technology. I know some of my colleagues probably do not quite agree that there is a difference between science and research. I say that the word “science” comes from scientia a Latin word that means knowledge. 
Dr Cam Calder 
: Oh really? 
Dr ASHRAF CHOUDHARY 
: It is very important for the doctor to know that the word “science” comes from scientia which is a Latin word that means knowledge. 
There is a difference between knowledge and research. Science is about creating knowledge whereas research is something one does to achieve a scientific result and technology is a follow-up to that research. It is very important to understand what research means because research is something we do to prove some of these theories whether they are existing problems or new problems. To prove the theories we need to do research. So this is something very different from science. Science is knowledge. In this case we are saying that we want to change the words by omitting “scientific or technological research” and substituting “research in science technology or the humanities”. 
For about 144 years the Royal Society has involved just science and we have not talked about or worried about the impacts of that science on humans animals or the environment. So a very important part of this bill is the inclusion of the humanities so that we understand how science impacts on our society. We have to understand how the work we do—whether it is in medicine agriculture or atomic energy for example—impacts on human beings the environment our waters and our lifestyle. So I think it is very important and timely that we have included the humanities. 
Dr Rajen Prasad has worked all his life in the humanities area so he probably understands some of the work scientists have done. He like others has tried to implement science and see how science—the science of agriculture or whatever science it is—impacts on the humanities. I think it is very important for us to understand that the humanities have to be part of the Royal Society’s work because we have for too long ignored people who have done a lot of the research that creates knowledge and science and we have had very little understanding of how it might impact on the humanities on our waters and on our environment. I think that a lot of significant work is going on at universities in New Zealand by people who are not necessarily involved with science itself but are doing research on understanding how scientific products and innovations impact on the daily lives of our people. 
I am delighted to have this opportunity to speak on this bill and on clause 8 which deals with dividends.