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:19848] 
Dr ASHRAF CHOUDHARY (Labour) 
: 
 I will follow on from what my colleagues were saying in this debate on the Royal Society of New Zealand Amendment Bill regarding the membership of the Royal Society for minorities—Maoris Pacific people and also women. I think it is very important to see several things there. Historically of course the Royal Society was more science-based. It was scientists who were the members of the Royal Society and again historically it was men—mainly European and maybe some Asian men who had done advanced studies had done PhDs and had done some really well-known research. They became members then Fellows of the Royal Society. Clearly as we go through this bill we have the humanities included and I am quite sure we will have a lot more women coming through to become fellows—not just members but fellows—of the society as well as Maoris and Pasifika people. I am sure they will be coming through to become fellows. 
H V Ross Robertson 
: Don’t forget about the Palagis. 
Dr ASHRAF CHOUDHARY 
: Yes the Palagis are already there. There are 367 fellows so there are probably plenty of them there I tell Mr Ross Robertson. 
This is an area that is very close to my heart because while I was at Massey University researching into agricultural engineering I was a member of a number of societies—the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers the Asian Association for Agricultural Engineering and the International Soil Tillage Research Organisation. These were the associations and societies I was a member of. Of course I never sought to become a fellow. The question was raised earlier. Normally to become a fellow one has to be nominated by others—nominated by one’s peers. People instigate others and nominate people to become fellows. Of course I never sought to become a fellow. I am quite sure I would have been a fellow of those societies if I was still researching there. But the good news is that I know my son will become a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons very shortly. He is now into vascular surgery and I think next year he too will become a fellow of that college. 
There are many societies that have different categories of membership. People become members then they become fellows. Often as I said earlier one becomes a fellow when one is at the top of one’s profession. A person who has done a lot of research published a lot of papers and written books and had them published can then become a fellow. I think it is very important to recognise as we recognise the humanities that as we get more members involved in the Royal Society they also become Fellows of the Royal Society. With this amendment I am quite sure we will have more women coming through and more Pasifika and Maori people coming through to become fellows. Historically some of these people have not done a lot of science. We are very familiar from going through university that very few Maori students have studied science and technology. Also in previous years there have not been many women studying those subjects. Of course nowadays we have a lot more women studying the sciences. 
In the medical profession there are a lot of surgeons and physicians who are fellows. Certainly there will be encouragement for those groups which have never been part of the membership of the Royal Society to come to the level of being fellows of the society. Clearly a fellow of the society is a person who has achieved at the highest level and is recognised by their profession—not only by their peers but also by their profession internationally. As I said this is right across the various disciplines including engineering and the sciences.