AOGS Election of Office Bearers - 2008 to 2010

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Candidate of: Hydrological Science (HS) Section President James P. Terry Associate Professor The University of the South Pacific,  in Fiji Publications   CV

Mission Statement

My vision is for the AOGS to become an organization of excellence in the Asia-Pacific region, highly regarded internationally, which promotes the highest level of expertise, research and publication within the fields of geoscience.  The AOGS must be both (a) visible in science and (b) active in the development of its member countries.  In particular, AOGS should promote and benefit from the enormous diversity of its rapidly-developing region.

The activities of AOGS should seek to encourage and support both basic (fundamental) and applied research in the Asia-Oceania region that is (a) of the best standard and internationally-recognized, (b) relevant and topical, and (c) targeted at improving the prospects for sustainable development in the Asia-Pacific countries.

Important specific goals to fulfil the Vision will include:

1. The promotion of greater membership of AOGS, focusing especially on better recruitment among young academics and scientists who live and work in the developing countries of our region.  This is crucial because many developing countries in Asia-Oceania are still poorly represented in membership of AOGS.  Increasing membership will be encouraged by introducing a system to allow scientists to join AOGS through a simple application procedure that is peer reviewed, even if individuals cannot afford to attend the AOGS conferences on a regular basis.

2. Beginning the formal process of negotiations with the International Council of Science (ICSU) (based in Paris, but with a regional office in Malaysia), so that AOGS can be officially recognized by ICSU.  If successful, this will strengthen the standing of the AOGS amongst the worldwide scientific community.

3. Addressing the special needs of geoscience in our countries by targeting research towards national and regional priorities.

4. Critical to the success of the above are (a) continuing cooperation with other established scientific organisations in the AOGS region and elsewhere, and (b) further growth by the start of new partnerships with international scientific institutions.

Special Goals and Plans for the Hydrological Sciences section

My principal aim is to see a much greater dissemination of hydrological research findings from work carried out in Asia-Oceania.  This will be accomplished by establishing an annual series of peer-reviewed volumes, stemming from the oral presentations made in the HS sessions of the AOGS conferences.  This process should be initiated by developing stronger links International Association of Hydrological Sciences (IAHS).  The IAHS has a long-running tradition of publishing a series of ‘Red Books’ in hydrology after important meetings and symposia.  I am keen for AOGS-HS to explore and benefit from this type of avenue for rapid research publication.

Another task is for AOGS-Hydrological Science to forge closer links with scientific communities that are engaged with:

• Natural Hazards and Disasters (NHD)
• Integrated Water Resources management (IWRM)

The AOGS-HS section has a huge wealth of expert members.  These members should be seen at the forefront of developing new programmes for research in NHD and IWRM.  This will have the important effect of AOGS-HS contributing to reducing the vulnerability of the Asia-Oceania countries to water-related problems, which often cause human hardship and hold back economic progress in our region.

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