Dear Met Society members:

Elections for the Royal Society NZ Council are coming around soon.
In recent years, the Society has endorsed Dr Jim Salinger for the
position of Earth Sciences Councillor. Jim is stepping down this year
and we have chosen to endorse the nomination of Dr Paul White,
President of the Hydrological Society of NZ. Paul is a scientist at
GNS and has a strong scientific track record and a history of
activity in science infrastructure in New Zealand. A brief note from
Paul is included below.

If you have any questions about our endorsement of Paul's
nomination, please respond to me directly, at j.renwick@...
and I can provide more info.


Regards,
Jim
+------------------------------------------------------------+
Dr Jim Renwick, President
Meteorological Society of New Zealand (Inc.)
PO Box 6523, Te Aro, Wellington, New Zealand.
J.Renwick@... +64 4 386 0343(Ph) 2153(Fax)
http://metsoc.rsnz.govt.nz/
---------------------------------------------------------------

I am writing this note to seek endorsement by the Meteorological
Society of New Zealand for a position on the Royal Society Council.

Last year I started the Taupo Branch. This group is affiliated to
GSNZ, the New Zealand Geophysical Society, New Zealand
Hydrological Society, Meteorological Society of New Zealand, New
Zealand Limnological Society, and the Taupo District Council. The
group meets once a month, and regulary attracts 20-30 members of
these societies ( from Taupo and Rotorua) and the interested public.

I have always been keen on earth science research in a wider
context, and this group, with its links to a number of New Zealand
earth-science societies, is an example of this. A role on the Royal
Society Council will allow me to continue this work in a wider
context.

As a mid-career scientist (I am 43 years old) the future of earth
science research is something that concerns me. I get the feeling
that government directions for science are less toward resource
assessment, and more toward the secondary and tertiary sectors.
If so, then we have to come up with justifications and directions
that are consistent with this, or we will lose out. There are plenty of
opportunites, and I would like to play a role in getting the royal
society active in bringing these ideas to government's notice. I
would also like to play a role in working to further improve on the
great efforts that the Royal Society has made in the last four years
at increasing the Society's profile and relevance.

I am currently President of the 500-member New Zealand
Hydrological Society (NZHS), and our executive is working
successfully to improve the profile of our society. I have been
President for about 18months, and the highlights so far have been:

- workshops organised for society members
- new web page (www.hydrologynz.org.nz)
- the page numbers in the society journal and
newsletter are increasing
- increasing use of the NZHS list-server for job
ads, conference notices etc
- improvements to decision-making processes by
the executive
- publication of Groundwaters of New Zealand
- NZHS is running an MFE project on water-related
information access
- NZHS income is increasing
- NZHS assets is increasing

All these activities all help attract membership, and membership of
NZHS continues to increase a result of our efforts. This is
particularly pleasing.

I feel I will be capable of fulfilling the role required of council
members in terms of the RSNZ Act with the experience I have
gained as a section manager and programme manager at GNS. I also
feel I can represent a wide range of geoscience, with my training
and expericence in geology, geophysics, and hydrology. Should I be
elected I intend to set up better information systems between the
Royal Society and Meteorological Society of New Zealand, and
intend to develop, with Meteorological Society of New Zealand, a
list of priorities for the RSNZ to address in the earth science area.