At an e-meeting in October 2016 the Council has discussed and agreed upon a Policy on Equity and Diversity, which begins by noting “The Australian Optical Society (AOS) is committed to the principles of equity and diversity. These principles are integral to our desire to promote excellence and fairness, and to encourage interest in optics across the community.” and stating “conferences and events associated with the AOS must also be run according to these principles.”. Similar policies have been adopted by other professional societies. Further details can be found at Equity and Diversity Policy

It is with great sadness that we notify you of John Love’s passing today at 6:45am on 19 June 2016. He was surrounded by loving friends in Canberra hospital on his last day.

Born in England 2^nd October 1942, John Love was a Life Member of the Australian Optical Society and winner of the prestigious Beattie Steel medal. His career in optics and photonics began when he arrived in Australia in 1973. Over the following forty plus years he made a major impact on the field. He is widely known for the definitive textbook, Optical Waveguide Theory, with 5500 citations and translated into Russian and Chinese. John was an enthusiastic champion of many important research and educational initiatives in Australia, including being a stalwart of the ACOFT conference, the world’s second longest running photonics conference. He also leaves a much more direct and personal impact on the very many students and young academics he mentored, who will remember him with love and respect, especially for how generous he was with his time and knowledge.

Funeral arrangements are yet to be finalised, although anticipated to be in approx. a week’s time. For notification of details please contact either Susan (susan.dart@bigpond.com) or Lin (lin.thorncraft@bigpond.com).

(Photo by kind permission of the Australian National University)

The AOS is delighted that two of our Councillors, Professors Halina Rubinsztein-Dunlop and Benjamin Eggleton, have been made Fellows of the AAS.

https://www.science.org.au/fellowship/fellows/new-fellows/fellows-elected-2016