Constituent Membership of the Royal Society of New Zealand
May 24th, 2021
I am very happy to advise members that the Ornithological Society of New Zealand has become a Constituent Organisation of the Royal Society of New Zealand. In taking this step we are at a point in the history of our Society when we hope that the scientific significance of ornithology will become more fully recognised and understood by the science community in New Zealand. Decisions by the Councils of both organisations that OSNZ will become a Constituent Organisation of the Royal Society follows a period of review and consultations that commenced in 2020.
Participation as a Constituent Organisation of the Royal Society will enable our Society to give a strong voice to ornithology by actively contributing to discussion at meetings with other scientific societies, where meaningful contributions can be made concerning birds and their habitats in contemporary earth science and environmental topics. We will now have the opportunity to become more involved and engaged with the science community in New Zealand and we look forward to new occasions when we can elevate both the science of ornithology and our Society to a wider audience than is achieved presently. Our Society is expected to benefit from collaboration with research-based organisations in other disciplines across science, technology and the humanities, including becoming aware of career development opportunities for young ornithologists.
Our participation as a Constituent Organisation of the Royal Society is consistent with the fifth aim of our Society, namely, “To effect co-operation and exchange of information with other organisations with similar aims and objectives”. It is also an activity set out in the OSNZ Strategy for the 2015 to 2024 period aimed at increasing the awareness of the purpose, aims and objectives of the Society.
Council has nominated the Vice-President of our Society, Ian Armitage, to be the representative of OSNZ to participate at meetings of Constituent Organisations of the Royal Society.
Bruce McKinlay
President