From the Executive Director

I’M ALWAYS AMAZED when I look at the breadth of scientific investigations throughout the world – at efforts to probe everything from phenomena of unimaginable size and distance to the unimaginably small. I love the way science makes sense of incredible complexity and synthesises this complexity into the daily rhythms of our world.

Regardless of the scale of scientific endeavour, it’s united by a common single process: a boldness of imagination to view the world in a new or deeper way, followed by rigour in investigation and testing to arrive at conclusions that all of us can rely on for our betterment.

Twelve months of global pandemic has pushed this process, the scientific method, to the front of all our lives. Not just in the incredible effort that went into developing vaccines, but in all the other science required to steer the world in all its complexity through these difficult times.

The last year has also shown how many of us – well intentioned or not – don’t appreciate the rigorous method of science, and how many of us are prone to trust as fact and promote ideas not burnished by such rigour.

At the Royal Institution of Australia we can only skim the surface of science, try as we may to always illuminate its intersection with the wider community.

We’ve recently launched more products to deepen the way we bring science to you, and in the coming months we’ll launch a few more. Keep an eye out for them. And remember, our mission is only sustainable with your ongoing support. WILL BERRYMAN, Executive Director, Royal Institution of Australia