[Aqualist] ARC Centre of Excellence announcement today

[Simon Haberle]

Dear Colleagues,

A great win for Quaternary research in Australia today with the announcement of 2 new Centres of Excellence with significant components related to past climate and human impact in Australia and the region. Congratulations to all!


1) ARC Centre of Excellence of Australian Biodiversity and Heritage

Centre Director: Professor Richard Roberts

Administering Organisation: University of Wollongong

The ARC Centre of Excellence of Australian Biodiversity and Heritage will create a world-class interdisciplinary research programme to understand Australia's unique biodiversity and heritage. The Centre will track the changes to Australia's environment to examine the processes responsible for the changes and the lessons that can be used to continue to adapt to Australia's changing environment. The Centre will support connections between the sciences and humanities and train future generations of researchers to deal with future global challenges and inform policy in an interdisciplinary context.

Participating Organisations:The Australian National University; James Cook University; The University of New South Wales; The University of Adelaide; Monash University; University of Tasmania; Queensland Museum; Australian Museum; Scarp Archaeology Pty Ltd; South Australian Museum; State Library of New South Wales; Bioplatforms Australia Ltd; University of Savoy; University of Papua New Guinea; University of Colorado, Boulder; Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History; Natural History Museum of Denmark; Papua New Guinea National Museum and Art Gallery; Indonesian National Centre for Archaeology.

ARC funding: $33,750,000


2) ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes

Centre Director: Professor Andrew Pitman

Administering Organisation: The University of New South Wales

Project summary: This Centre aims to transform understanding of past and present climate extremes and revolutionise Australia's capability to predict them into the future. Climate extremes cost Australia up to $4 billion a year and will intensify over coming decades. This Centre's blue-sky research will discover processes that explain the behaviour of present and future climate extremes. It will use its researchers, data, modelling, collaboration, graduate programme and early career researcher mentoring to transform Australia's capacity to predict climate extremes. This research is expected to make Australia more resilient to climate extremes and minimise risks from climate extremes to the Australian environment, society and economy.

Participating Organisations:Monash University; University of Tasmania; The University of Melbourne; The Australian National University; Bureau of Meteorology; Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation; National Computational Infrastructure; Risk Frontiers Group Pty Ltd; Office of Environment and Heritage; Met Office, UK; Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich; Laboratoire Atmosphères, Milieux, Observations Spatiales (LATMOS)/French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS)/Institut national des sciences de l'univers (INSU)/Institut Pierre Simon Laplace (IPSL); National Center for Atmospheric Research, University of Arizona, USA; National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory; Max Planck Institute for Meteorology; NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.

ARC funding: $30,050,000