Dear Colleagues,

Welcome to the 2016 Monash Science Symposium.  This symposium is the second in the series after a very successful inaugural meeting in 2014.

The development of a science-savvy society is important to generate prosperity in any nation and provides an informed debate round important practical issues to do with water and food security, energy, medicine and the environment.  These issues need not only be the responsibility of our most senior academicians, government personnel and industrialists but of our youth, whose undaunted energy and new ideas in a technological age have the ability to transform the next 20 years.

We must work together.  This symposium represents a mechanism for young scientists, early in their careers, to build networks to tackle the challenges of the future by presenting their ideas and having their results critically evaluated in a scientific forum.  It is run by students, for students.

I truly hope you can join us at Monash University, in the heart of  Malaysia, for what promises to be a fantastic symposium.  I look forward to seeing you there.

Professor Steven Langford

Head, School of Science