News and Events
The National Centre for Biosecurity publishes a fortnightly news summary as well as holding occasional events. Upcoming and past events are listed below.
Mousepox Interview
An interview with Professor Ian Ramshaw and Dr Ron Jackson concerning the 2001 Mousepox experiment controversy has been published in EMBO Reports. Conducted by fellow NCB member Dr Michael Selgelid, in partnership with Dr Lorna Weir from York University, the interview forms part of a wider project examining the attitudes and approaches of scientists to the dual-use dilemma.
The article is free throughout January.
Upcoming Events
3rd Annual Biosecurity Symposium
The National Centre for Biosecurity plans to hold the 3rd Annual Biosecurity Symposium at the Australian National University, Canberra, from 1-2 February 2010 and invites proposals for presentations addressing the theme ‘Global Health Security’ in one or more of the following areas:
- Responding to infectious disease crises in Australia and the Asia-Pacific
- The epidemiology of public health and animal health emergencies
- The development and use of biological weapons by state and non-state actors
- Ethical dilemmas and security risks of research on pathogenic micro-organisms
- International law and domestic regulation
- Relevance and applications of new technologies to biosecurity challenges
- Ethical, social and cultural dimensions of biosecurity
Abstracts (200 words maximum) should be emailed to Jonathan Herington by 30 November 2009
Further information regarding abstract submission and registration will be posted here and through our mailing list when it is available.
Past Events
Symposium: Emerging Infectious Diseases - The Global Perspective
16 November 2009
9:15am - 4:30pm
Program Podcast
The National Centre for Biosecurity, in collaboration with the John Curtin Medical School and the National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health will hold a full day symposium addressing the theme 'Emerging Infectious Diseases: The Global Perspective'. Topics to be addressed include responses to the current H1N1 pandemic, the interface between HIV and tuberculosis, control of flaviviruses and other tropical diseases, the cost of biosecurity interventions and the role of uncertainty in disease control policy. The symposium will be an excellent opportunity for researchers and policymakers to engage with a range of invited speakers, including:
- Prof. Martyn Jeggo, Director, Australian Animal Health Laboratories, CSIRO
- Prof. Ian Barr, Deputy Director, WHO Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Influenza
- Prof. Brian Kay, Australian Centre for International & Tropical Health, QIMR
- A/Prof. Roy Hall, Chemistry & Molecular Biosciences, UQ
- Prof. Mike Smithson, Department of Psychology, ANU
- Prof. Tom Kompas, Director, Australian Centre for Biosecurity and Environmental Economics, ANU
RSVP to Jonathan Herington by 6 November 2009
Public Lecture: Climate Change and Global Health
Professors Tony McMichael and John Mackenzie
16 November 2009
5pm - 6pm
Climate change raises a number of challenges to human wellbeing. Prominent among these is the threat to our health. In combination with climate change, large-scale global environmental changes such as loss of biodiversity, changes in fresh water supplies and stresses on food production systems have the potential to cause systemic adverse alterations in patterns of health and disease. These can combine with many other specific challenges, including the emergence of new infectious diseases and the re-emergence and re-distribution of old infectious foes (such as tuberculosis and malaria). While, early on, the effects of these health changes are likely to be felt most severely in the developing world, they pose health threats to all of us. Professor McMichael and Professor Mackenzie evaluate the impact (and significance) of these health threats and the strategies being adopted to avert and contain them.
February 2008
Biosecurity: Upgrading the Web of Prevention
Professor Malcolm Dando
On Wednesday the 13 February Professor Malcolm Dando from the University of Bradford gave a public seminar at The John Curtin School of Medical Research.
Professor Dando agreed to have his lecture available as a podcast
November 2007
Just War Theory & Chemical Biology Weapon
Professor Larry May
On Wednesday the 21 November Professor Larry May, Professor of Philosophy at Washington University gave a public seminar at The John Curtin School of Medical Research.
Professor May agreed to have his lecture available as a podcast
