2023 Jim Carlton Annual Integrity Lecture - 19.04.23
Event details
'Integrity and Complex Systems: The Rum Rebellion or the Shearers’ Strike?'
Presented by Professor Peter Doherty, Nobel Laureate, AC, FAA, FRS.
The 2023 Jim Carlton Integrity Lecture
Professor Peter Doherty says: "Much public discussion of moral, legal, and political integrity reflects the interface between Australia’s two great sociological themes, based respectively in the 1808 Rum Rebellion and the 1891 Shearer’s Strike. Scientists like me also talk about ‘integrity’ in somewhat different contexts. Architects and civil engineers focus on the integrity of physical structures. That also relies on the integrity of suppliers, builders, and regulators: there have recently been some spectacular failures! With health, whether it be human medicine or environmental well-being, we’re discussing the physical integrity of complex systems and the moral integrity deficit of those who carelessly compromise such systems."
This lecture was a collaboration between the Accountability Round Table (ART) and Melbourne Law School. The ART is a non-partisan group of citizens with diverse backgrounds (journalists, lawyers, academics, former politicians, and judges) and extensive experience in parliament, government, and the courts. It is dedicated to improving standards of accountability, transparency, ethical behaviour, and democratic practice in government across Australia.
Professor Peter Doherty, Nobel Laureate, AC, FAA, FRS
Trained initially in veterinary science and pathology, Peter Doherty is known for his fundamental research in viral immunity. Jointly with Swiss scientist Rolf Zinkernagel, he was awarded the US Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research in 1995 and the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1996. Named a Companion of the Order of Australia in 1997 during his tenure as Australian of the Year, he has received numerous other awards, honorary degrees, memberships of national academies, and so forth as recognition for his discoveries with Zinkernagel.
Working together at The Australian National University, they revolutionized our understanding of cell-mediated immunity by defining how “killer” lymphocytes recognise their target antigens in combination with major histocompatibility complex (MHC) proteins. That further provided a basic explanation for the biological role of the transplant system.
Until very recently, Doherty split his time between Melbourne and St Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, where he formerly chaired the Department of Immunology. Still an active faculty member in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Melbourne, he is currently patron of the eponymous Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, a joint venture between the University and Melbourne Health. Over the past two decades, Doherty has engaged with the Australian print and broadcast media, given numerous public lectures, and published five “lay” books on aspects of science as part of his advocacy for public education, public health, and the importance of an evidence-based world view.