The Federation of Chinese Scholars in Australia (FOCSA) is a united organisation of different professional Societies formed by Chinese scholars in Australia. Its primary aim is to promote the development of Chinese scholars in Australia and to foster Australia-China cooperation in science, technology and education. Its Council Members, recommended or elected by its associated Societies, are volunteers who would like to contribute to this endeavour. The present Council, formed at the end of 2006, has two major tasks: (i) to expand the FOCSA associates by including those in NSW and VIC, and (ii) to organise the FOCSA biennial event – the 2nd Australia-China Symposium on Science, Technology and Education. We have done well on the first task in 2007, demonstrating our cooperation and unity: now we have twelve group members across all States and Territory in Australia except for Tasmania, where there is no local society yet. In 2008 our focus has shifted to the second task. At the moment, with the support from QCASE, we are busy in organising our second symposium, which is to be held at Gold Coast on 15-18 October 2008. All Chinese scholars in Australia are welcome to attend this symposium which will be a good gathering of not only our FOCSA members but also invited eminent speakers from Australia and China. Its success will therefore rely on the participation and support of all of us.

In addition to the two major tasks described, the Council has completed a few tasks. For example, we revised our Constitution early 2007 to accommodate the expansion of FOCSA. We established our first Advisory Board which, chaired by our Honorary President Prof. Max Lu, consists of representative eminent scholars in Australia. We recently organized our first summer camp in Queensland. We are also active in response to the needs from our Chinese Australian scholars, e.g. the donation for Dr Zhongjun Cao. We are now active in raising money to establish a Sichuan Earthquake Surviving Children’s Education Fund.

Together we Chinese Scholars in Australia can contribute a lot to Australia and China. And I look forward to seeing your contribution in one way or another.