Have your say: Published response
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What are Australia's greatest challenges that science could help to address? What opportunities should we seize? What strengths should we maintain and/or build?
Challenges & Opportunities coincide:
(1) Environmental: Climate change, managing water resources, managing natural disasters; leveraging First Nations knowledges
(2) Societal: Restoring & building trust in public institutions & infrastructure; misinformation & loss of privacy within the digital environment
(3) Technological: Advances in Artificial Intelligence, Data Science, Cyber Security
Does Australia have the capability and capacity needed to address these challenges, opportunities and strengths? If not, how could we build this?
Yes, but an overarching challenge is achieving better appreciation of the social sciences within science! Building capacity is about developing knowledge & skills ... and this means appreciating & supporting the contribution of formal education & training. Australia used to be a leader in distance & online education - why not reclaim this profile?
Appreciate that the digital environment is much more than an expanding collection of 'tools'. We also live and engage within it. Moreover, big tech has transformed us into agents of data production and collection. Why doesn't Australia have similar programs to the Next Generation Internet project in Europe?