Hub science showcased at inaugural science symposium

13 July 2018

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Last week Hub researchers gathered together to showcase the breadth and depth of its climate change science research program at the inaugural Hub Science Symposium. The Symposium provided Hub researchers with an opportunity to present and discuss their research with peers and selected stakeholders, including representatives from the Department of the Environment and Energy and the Chairs of the Hub Steering Committee and Stakeholder Advisory Group.

Research was presented through the lens of the five key climate challenge outcome areas of the Hub: future hydroclimate and water resources; food security, ecosystems and natural resource management; carbon cycle and future warming; changes in coastal climate; and extremes and disaster risk management. This allowed researchers across projects and research fields to discuss and debate research findings, methods and challenges and identify additional linkages and collaboration opportunities between projects leading into the next phase of the Hub’s research program.

Key research findings presented at the Symposium included Hub work to investigate changes to the intensity of tropical cyclones and their impact on the health of the Great Barrier Reef, the production of a bush fire data set used by the Bureau of Meteorology Information Services Group and the Australasian Fire and Emergency Service Authorities Council, progress in the development and continued improvement of Australia’s climate model ACCESS, research on coastal hazards around Australia, and the challenges and opportunities of planning for a next generation of climate change projections for Australia.

The challenges facing climate change science research was also discussed at the Symposium, with robust discussion on how best to face these challenges. Challenges discussed included:

• meeting the growing need of stakeholders for high definition and tailored climate science data
• how to partner with industry to ensure their climate information needs are met and provide a direct path to impact of the Hub’s research
• the need to deliver climate science information and data across a broad range of timescales depending on the users and uses of the data (seasonal predictions for farmers, daily to multi-day predictions of emergency services), and
• methods to deliver this large volume of information and data so it is accessible, compatible with a range of modelling systems and can be used to inform decision making processes.

Hub early career researchers and PhD affiliates also had the chance to showcase their research through lightning lecture and poster sessions which provided a great opportunity to engage with their peers and communicate the key findings of their research.

While this was the first Science Symposium held by the Hub, its success in driving cross-project discussion and collaboration and in bringing together researchers from across our partner organisations to showcase the research of the Hub highlights the importance of holding annual symposiums into the future.