AustLit

'Transitional provisions are presently in place to allow for a smooth change over from the old Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies to the new Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS). The former Council met for the last time in March and, by the time this edition of Australian Aboriginal Studies is published, four new Council members will have been elected by the membership. Hopefully the new Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Mr Robert Tickner, will also have appointed the five Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who will make up the balance of the nine member Council. The new Act thus ensures by statute what the membership had previously decreed through the bllot box—that there should be an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander majority on Council. The membership will also have elected the new Research Advisory Committee (RAC) consisting of eight elected members, three Council members appointed by Council and the Principal. The RA C will advise Council on research grant and membership applications and on other research-related issues. Here in Canberra, staff at the Institute are attempting to come to terms with what, by any standards, must be seen as a rather long and cumbersome name. Even the acronym (AIATSIS) can hardly be said to roll off the tongue. There are no plans to rename the journal.' (Editorial introduction)