Double R&D to forge tomorrow's economy: science leaders

Science & Technology Australia will hold its first annual general meeting (AGM) as a company limited by guarantee on 28 November 2023.

The new constitution requires the current Board to stand for re-election at the 2023 AGM.

All current Board Directors are eligible to renominate for election to the Board at this AGM, at which 6 directors must be (re)-elected under the new constitution.

The nominations committee of the STA Board has provided the following advice to members:

The STA Board nominations committee affirms the need for strong continuity of the Board and President-Elect position in the first cycle after the governance modernisation – and endorses Professor Sharath Sriram for re-election as President-elect (the role he was originally elected to at the 2022 AGM).

The committee also recommends Jas Chambers continue as a Board Director and Governance Chair to ensure governance continuity and rigour through the transition and recommends Professor Chris Matthews continue as a Board Director, noting his powerful contributions to governance and as a senior Indigenous STEM leader.

The nominations committee identified the following mix of skills as highly desirable in Board Directors to guide the organisation into the future: Government relations, policy advocacy, governance, strategy, finance, business operations, HR, legal, psychology/well-being, diversity, and research commercialisation. The nominations committee has carefully reviewed the current mix of skills, diversity and expertise among currently serving STA Board Directors and confirmed a strong correlation and coverage of these skills among the current Board Directors.

The nominations committee confirms the merits of ensuring strong continuity of STA Board Directors in the first Board cycle after the governance modernisation – and invites the STA membership to maintain the strong skills and expertise coverage of the current Board.

You can view the current STA Board Directors here.

STA Board Directors make an active, thoughtful, skilled and principled contribution to STA. In line with our Reconciliation Action Plan commitments, STA makes proactive efforts to ensure its Board includes Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders and people from other traditionally under-represented groups, as well as ensuring excellent skills, experience and geographic coverage.

Nominations process

To be eligible to serve as an STA Board Director, Directors must be a member or employee of an STA member organisation. A full list of eligible organisations is here.

Candidates must also receive support from two nominators. Nominators must be a member or employee of an STA member organisation. It is preferable if your nominators are from different organisations. We encourage candidates to seek nominators who are senior leaders in the STEM community.

Candidates must have a valid ABRS Director ID at the time of application and have no legal or other impediment to serve as a director. STA Board Directors are required to reaffirm their continuing eligibility to serve as a director at each Board meeting.

If you seek to nominate, please read the position description and selection criteria. Board directors are elected for up to 3 years – with the length of terms in this first cycle following the constitutional modernisation to be allocated by the STA Board after the AGM.

The nomination form is available on the members portal area of the website. If you do not have an account please select “register for members portal” from the membership menu to gain access. All members and employees of STA member organisations are eligible to create an account.

Candidate responses will be published on the members only area of the STA website and may be circulated to members prior to the AGM.

Elections will be held online and members can vote in the week preceding the AGM. Voting will close at 12:45pm AEDT at the AGM on Tuesday 28 November 2023. Member organisations will receive information on how to access the voting portal via email. Candidate information will be published on the members only section of the website when voting opens.

The 2023 STA Annual General Meeting will be held online from 12:30pm on Tuesday 28 November 2023. The Board will be announced at the AGM.