Seminars

In our daily research life, we work with data, software, tools and their integration to create workflows, analytical results and finally innovative products. Commercial software products and toolboxes are handy for this and can be great, convenient but also costly. On completion of most research projects, datasets and integrated workflows – normally in forms of program or work sequence codes and routines – and analytical results and their documentation are siloed in local, private storage locations with only a limited number having access. This practice limits the reach and impact of the research and doesn’t guarantee the security of the research outputs from data loss. Moreover, such practices limit reproducibility and can reduce efficiency for example when you revisit the datasets and code or integration workflows over time and realise you cannot workout head from tail”.

Here we contribute to the development of an AgReFed (Agricultural Research Federation) platform aimed at transforming our daily research to safely increase the reach and impact of our research output.  The AgReFed platform, provide a mechanism to distribute and share controlled, managed and licensed repositories that expose datasets, codes, workflows, research results and innovative products for more impactful research. For example, researchers can use tools such as Python, Jupyter (notebooks, labs, hubs), and GitHub opensource ecosystem to document your research works and make them more reproducible. You can use cloud servers with associated Virtual Machines and built-in environments to conduct your research works whenever and wherever without the need of costly commercial toolboxes.

The design and approach of the AgReFed platform can be applied beyond Agriculture to other research field across the humanities, arts, engineering and sciences.

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In a recent conversation with Worimi man Joshua Gilbert, the Centre for Applied Climate Sciences discussed agriculture and the potential benefits of incorporating Indigenous knowledge into farming practices. Indigenous peoples possess a wealth of knowledge about the land and climate, passed down through generations of stories. Unfortunately, this knowledge is often overlooked and disregarded, with academics frequently testing and challenging it.

As we face increasingly frequent and severe environmental challenges such as fires, floods, and droughts, it is crucial that both Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities work together to develop new, sustainable systems. Despite holding legal rights to almost 60% of Australia's land, Aboriginal people remain under-represented in conversations about agriculture and the environment. Only five Indigenous agricultural graduates complete university each year, and our voices are often tokenistically included in agri-political and environmental campaigns.

It is time to create meaningful partnerships and bridge this gap, tapping into the wealth and experience at Indigenous communities bring to the table. Together, we have the ability to create a brighter future for all.

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The Centre for Applied Climate Sciences along with other key organisations are engaging with 22 communities across Australia as part of the Drought Resilience Leaders Development Program to assist communities how to understand and manage impacts of future drought and climate change. The following Drought Resilience Leaders Programs talks are available for viewing.

• Goulburn Valley
• Murraylands
• North West Slopes Plains
• Northern Wheatbelt
• Western NSW

In this seminar, Vikram will begin by outlining a very brief history of decadal climate variability (DCV) research, followed by describing Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation (IPO) and other DCV phenomena. Then, major hypothesized mechanisms of DCV will be reviewed, followed by the current state of decadal climate predictability.

Vikram will show highlights of DCV impacts on various societal sectors in some countries including the USA, Australia, and India; and socio-economic and political consequences of DCV impacts in some of the Middle East-North Africa (MENA) and West African countries. These highlights will be followed by a description of stakeholder needs for DCV information in water and agriculture sectors.

Near the end of the seminar, Dr Vikram Mehta will outline an urgent need for developing DCV adaptation science in the context of recent IPCC Reports, followed by a discussion of possible constituents of such a science.

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Plaeoclimate data relating to hydroclimate variability over the past millennia have a vital contribution to make to the water sector globally. The water industry face considerable challenges accessing climate data sets that extend beyond the typical 100-year timespan of historical gauging stations. Without this information, capturing variability around the extremes of floods and droughts, makes stress-testing infrastructure design and changing patterns of water supply and demand next to impossible.

Practical challenges for the industry include:

1. accessing standardised and quality assured palaeoclimate data, and
2. an efficient process to determine which proxies are most relevant to a planning scenario, and geographic area, of interest.

This seminar presents details on constructing such a database - PalaeoWISE (Palaeoclimate Data for Water Industry and Security Planning), a fully integrated, and quality-assured database of relevant proxy data from the southern Hemisphere. The database and resultant correlations are then used to derive catchment-specific reconstructions for nine hydroclimate variables relevant to the water industry.

The benefits and implications of using this extended time series for water inflow modelling are also discussed. The approach can be applied to other areas and offers water managers and the scientific community a valuable resource to understand, and manage, for future climate changes.

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There is a ‘sustainability revolution’ underway and businesses are increasingly aware of the importance of climate action.

Al Gore recently described this transition as having the breadth and magnitude of the first industrial revolution but the speed of the digital revolution. The World Economic Forum ranks climate-related risks at the top of its global risks list and Australian company directors rate climate change as their number one priority for the federal government to address. These trends have been growing and will only accelerate.

The seminar explores:

• how and why the world is undergoing this climate, energy, and circular economy transition
• the drivers of the transition
• the role of the Taskforce for Climate-related Financial Disclosures in ‘cushioning’ shocks to the global economy
• how sectors and businesses can improve their governance and strategies to navigate the transition
• what are the opportunities and challenges for climate science, data, information and tools

Join Neil Plummer as he discusses how to best navigate business through the global climate and energy transition. Watch the seminar.

Presented by Associate Professor Ben Lyons from the UniSQ Rural Economies Centre of Excellence (RECoE), this seminar discussed how the Future Drought Fund has a range of programs investing in regional preparedness for drought and the regional drought resilience plans that have commenced with RECoE and their state government partners. Watch the seminar.

Banks, insurance companies and other financial organisations have a rapidly growing awareness associated with climate change risks. This awareness is now being integrated into financial decision-making and disclosures., whether voluntarily or via regulation. Assessment of future climate risk requires knowledge of how the climate will change on time and spatial scales that vary between business entities. Unfortunately, the rules by which climate science can be appropriately used to inform assessments of how climate change will impact financial risk have not yet been developed. We will summarize the demands by the business and finance community for reliable climate change information, and discuss where climate models can and cannot be used reliably to assess climate risk. 

Join Andy Pitman and Tanya Fielder as they discuss business risk and the emergence of climate analytics. Watch the seminar.

The Earth’s climate, and changes to it, impact our lives, well-being and economy in numerous ways, some positive and some negative. Managing the risks that arise from changes in the climate over the coming months, years and decades is one of the most pressing challenges that society faces, but there are also some opportunities. The provision and use of climate information in decision-making (i.e. climate services) are central to managing the risks and opportunities. I will provide an overview of the climate service landscape around the world, with examples of services, and thoughts on challenges and future directions.

Join Professor Chris Hewett as he discusses climate services for managing societal risks. Watch the seminar.

Presented by: Professor Jason Evans from the Climate Research Centre 

The climate system is global in nature and climate projections are created using Global Climate Models (GCMs) as the primary tools. With limited computational resources global models in CMIP6 use an average resolution of ~1.5°. This resolution is too coarse to capture local climate phenomena that are very important in some areas, including the influence of mountains and coastlines. It is also too coarse to capture some processes that are important in the production of climate extremes that are responsible for much of the climate related risk to human and natural systems. To overcome this limitation the global climate projections can be dynamically downscaled to higher resolutions. In this presentation Jason will describe dynamical downscaling, the evidence that it improves on global models, and when it is most useful. Along the way you’ll hear about some of the research he has been doing as well.

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Presented by: Dr Neal Hughes, Senior Economist, ABARES

This seminar summaries the recent ABARES research applying farm survey data and related models to measure the effects of climate variability on the financial outcomes of Australian farms, including ABARES recently developed drought impact indicators. More accurate estimates of the impacts of drought events on farm businesses can help both to inform government drought policy and to support new drought insurance products.

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Learn more:

• Defining drought from the perspective of Australian farmers
• Measuring drought risk
• Climate change impacts and adaptation on Australian farms

Presented by: Professor Scott Power

This presentation will discuss the latest climate change findings from Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's )IPCC) sixth assessment report, released in August 2021, and the implications/net consequences to water.

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