The Atmospheric and Oceanic Science Group at the School of Earth Sciences is involved in a wide range of research and teaching interests including meteorology, climatology and oceanography.

Key Researchers:
Prof Ian Simmonds: climate dynamics
A/Prof Kevin Walsh: tropical meteorology; climate change and climate variability
Prof David Karoly: climate variability and change, global warming, ozone depletion, climate dynamics
Prof Peter Rayner, Professorial Fellow: using satellite and in-situ measurements with models to quantify and understand the patterns and mechanisms of CO2 release and uptake with a focus on the tropics and southern hemisphere.

Undergraduate courses are available in Meteorology, Climatology and Oceanography from first year up to third year level studied as part of a Bachelor of Science degree. The School of Earth Sciences offers a full range of Honours and Postgraduate degree courses as well.

Other researchers in the Group:

Dr Alex Pezza: climate dynamics; extreme weather events; climate change; sea ice; cyclones
Dr James Screen: polar climate variability and change; sea ice and its role in climate; climate feedbacks; atmosphere-ice interactions; Southern Annular Mode
Dr Roger Dargaville: climate change and interactions with stratospheric ozone chemistry, global energy systems and carbon emissions, natural carbon fluxes from terrestrial and ocean systems
Dr Ailie Gallant: climate variability and change
Dr Joelle Gergis: palaeoclimatology, El Nino–Southern Oscillaion (ENSO), dendrochronology, historical climatology, environmental history, science communication
Dr Frank Drost:geophysics, climate dynamics, climate variability and change
Mr Kevin Keay: climatology and trends of midlatitude cyclones in the Southern Hemisphere, urban climatology, effects of weather on road accidents
Dr John Bye:atmosphere, oceans, climate, meteorology
Dr Andrew Watkins:Australian and global climate: ENSO: Antarctic studies

The Australian Centre of Excellence for Risk Analysis (ACERA) was established in the School of Botany at the University of Melbourne on March 1st, 2006, a result of a Federal Government election commitment. It develops the practice of risk analysis by creating and testing methods, protocols, analytical tools and procedures. Its work aims to benefit Government and the broader Australian community.

The Centre’s funding agreement is managed by the Bureau of Rural Sciences in the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry. Federal Government and partner contributions, including from the University of Melbourne, the Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute and the Australian Research Centre for Urban Ecology, provide funding of close to $2 million per year until June 30, 2009.

ACERA is a research network including initially the University of Queensland, the University of New South Wales, Monash University and the CSIRO. It draws on expertise throughout Australia and overseas.

The objectives of ACERA are to:

• research and develop state-of-the-art risk analysis methods across areas of interest to the Australian community. An early priority for the Centre has been the biosecurity risks confronting Australia
• engage the range of skills and sciences relevant to the analysis of risk, to ensure that Australia remains at the forefront of practical risk assessment. These skills and sciences relevant to the communication and perception of and response to risk
• document and communicate research findings to ensure governments and others engaged in risk analysis have access to state-of-the-art risk analysis methods and raise the community’s understanding of risk
• work to promote excellence in risk analysis in Australia
• work with the government in influencing international standards in risk analysis.

• Mapping Future Health Systems
• Working with Jurisdictions to Develop and Implement Health Workforce Policy
  
• Developing Innovative and Flexible Educational Models for the Future Health Workforce
  
• Ensuring Maintenance of Health Workforce Statistics and Data

AURIN is a $20 million initiative funded by the Australian Government's Super Science scheme. The University of Melbourne is the lead agent for the project.

AURIN’s key objectives are to:

• Enhance the understanding of urban resource use and management through the development of multifaceted research infrastructure

• Offer open access to data arising from AURIN to the built environment and urban research communities

• Enable the improved collection and integration of disparate built environment and urban research datasets, including improved modelling and visualisation capacities

• Improve our ability to locate, analyse and disseminate built environment and urban research datasets, including the development of protocols for integrating, analysing and accessing datasets

• Inform resource management and policy decision-making to support greater sustainability (environmental, social and economic) of Australian cities and regions

• Enhance our capability to undertake collaborative research domestically and on an international scale.

The Bushfire CRC’s mission is to enhance the management of the bushfire risk to the community in an economically and ecologically sustainable manner.

It includes the following objectives:

• To develop an internationally renowned centre of excellence to lead bushfire research in Australia
• To provide a research framework that will improve the effectiveness of bushfire management agencies
• To increase the self-sufficiency of communities in managing the risks from bushfires.

After an initial grant through the Australian Government’s CRC program in 2003 combined with substantial partner resources, the Bushfire CRC is now funded to 2013 to address key issues raised by recent major fires.

The fire and land management and emergency services industries are currently building on the outcomes of the Bushfire CRC for the longer term with a broader new research program to include changes in climate, demographics, technology, policy and industry, as well as the lessons of the February 2009 bushfires in Victoria.

CAPIM is a consortium of world class researchers from The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Water, DPI (Vic), RMIT, and EPA (Vic).

CAPIM creates a multidisciplinary research team to address the complicated issue of understanding the impact of pollution on the aquatic environment.

Our primary research location is at the The University of Melbourne's Bio 21 Molecular Science and Biotechnology Institute (Bio21 Institute) with additional nodes at The University of Melbourne Department of Zoology and School of Chemistry, DPI Queenscliff and Werribee and RMIT University Bundoora. CAPIM has six  major research streams across freshwater and estuarine environments currently employing 13 full time staff, and running nine postgraduate projects.

CAPIM's vision is to improve and secure aquatic ecosystem health by developing innovative approaches to pollution detection in inland waters and estuaries, and working with environmental management practitioners to reduce pollution impacts.

Research Personnel
Dr Vincent Pettigrove, CEO, leader Freshwater Research
Prof Ary Hoffmann, Director of Research, leader Biomarker research program.
A/Prof Spas Kolev, leader Novel Chemistry Research: Analytical Methods and Probes
A/Prof Steve Swearer, leader Estuarine Heavy Metals and EDC Research
Prof Mick Keough, leader Estuarine Research
Prof Dayanthi Nugegoda, RMIT, leader Freshwater EDC Research
Dr Graeme Allinson, Dept of Primary Industries, leader Emerging Micropollutants Research

The Centre is a multidisciplinary organisation, the core business of which is health services and policy research, and health economics.

CHPPE sits within the School of Population Health at The University of Melbourne. Its staff have expertise in program evaluation, health economics, economic evaluation, health law, epidemiology, social sciences and research methodology, and many have clinical backgrounds.

Teaching

The CHPPE offers graduate health professionals the opportunity to pursue further study through both course work or research higher degrees, and professional short courses.

Many of these courses are now available in both on-campus and off-campus in distance mode, with students able to choose traditional semester length format or block mode as their preferred study mode.

These courses are suitable for health professionals working in government, health services and health support organisations who want to take a leadership role in the fields of economic evaluation, health economics, health program evaluation or health services research.

Comprehensive specialist training programs in economic evaluation, health economics, health program evaluation or health services research and their associated research methods provide opportunities for both local and overseas students to develop higher order skills and conceptual understanding in theses areas.

In addition to specialist teaching and research training opportunities within the Master of Public Health, the Doctor of Public Health and the Doctor of Philosophy degrees the CHPPE provides specialised training courses for clients outside the university.

Research

The CHPPE undertakes evaluations of health programs and policies at international, national, state and local levels. Since its establishment, the CHPPE has attracted over $31 million in funding from key granting bodies such as the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) and from organisations such as Commonwealth and state/territory health departments that fund contract research. Over half of this funding has come directly to the CHPPE and the remaining funding has been shared with collaborating agencies. Since 2007, the CHPPE has focussed its research around four work streams: Primary Care, Health Economics, Mental Health, and Health Policy.

Click here for more information about research.

Mission

The mission of the CHPPE is to contribute to the health of the community through research, teaching and service relevant to health programs and policy.  It aims to do this by advancing relevant knowledge and addressing relevant issues productively and flexibly.  It also includes methodological development, exemplary practice and a varied program of teaching and training. It aims to achieve this mission by improving the community’s ability to critically evaluate the performance and funding of health policy and health programs.
History

The CHPPE's origins date back to 1991, when, as the Program Evaluation Unit (PEU), it was co-located with the Health Economics Unit (HEU) of Monash University.  The two units sat within what was originally known as the National Centre for Health Program Evaluation (NCHPE) and later became known as the Centre for Health Program Evaluation (CHPE). The CHPE was a research and teaching organisation established to undertake academic and applied evaluation of health programs, research into health systems and analysis of health policy. Its role also included the development of appropriate evaluation methodologies. In addition, it was responsible for promoting the teaching of health program evaluation and health economics, in order to increase the supply of trained specialists and improve the level of understanding in the health community.

The CHPE became a prolific contributor to the academic and policy debate on Australian health services, aiming to improve the effectiveness, efficiency and equity of these services. Together and independently, the PEU and the HEU attracted substantial funding for research and teaching, and produced high quality academic papers and technical reports.

Over time, the PEU and the HEU came to act as Centres in their own right. After 12 years together, the PEU and the HEU returned to their respective universities in 2003, and the CHPE ceased to exist as the overarching organisation. In 2006 the Program Evaluation Unit became the Centre for Health Policy, Programs and Economics.

MEGA Epidemiology aims to develop, promote and consolidate epidemiologic research and teaching.
The Centre delivers Graduate Coursework Programs in Epidemiology and Biostatistics, both of which have been recognised with Melbourne School of Population Health Teaching and Learning Awards.  Epidemiology and Biostatistics form the core subjects of the Master of Public Health, an internationally recognised professional entry degree into the public health professions and the Melbourne School of Population Health's most popular course, chosen by more than two thirds of the School's coursework students.

Major Research Projects within the Centre include Asthma, Allergy and Other Respiratory Disease; Family Studies of Cancer; The Melbourne Collaborative Cohort Study; Hereditary Haemochromatosis; Statistical Methods; and Community-Onset Staphylococcus aureus Household Cohort study.

The Centre houses the Australian Twin Registry (ATR), a voluntary national database of more than 35,000 twin and triplet pairs which is a valuable resource for medical research accessed by Australian and international investigators. The centre also has strong links with the Genetic Epidemiology Laboratory in the Department of Pathology, University of Melbourne which houses the largest medical biorepository in Australia and conducts molecular and genetic studies.

For more information regarding the achievements of the Centre for Molecular, Environmental, Genetic and Analytic (MEGA) Epidemiology, download the latest version of the Annual Report, below:

CREEL aims to engage in these legal matters with respect to contemporary developments and issues in Australia, Asia-Pacific, internationally, and in selected regions.

CREEL aims to promote research, (including RHD scholarship); teaching; and publication into the legal, regulatory and policy frameworks that engage with: the production and distribution of energy, including consideration of climate change regulation the sustainable development of natural resources the protection of the environment and the promotion of ecologically sustainable development the planning for, and provision of infrastructure in urban areas, and that associated with energy and resource development the recognition and protection of indigenous rights and interests in land and resources.

CREEL seeks to strengthen and establish links with other centres in Australia and overseas engaged in equivalent activities. It encourages involvement from industry, professions, government and universities in Australia and overseas in the Centre's activities.

CREEL directors' research strengths are in environmental law, international law, natural resource law, Indigenous land rights, the integration of law and science, and in planning and property law. Australian Research Council funding has enabled the following projects: 'Managing Competing Claims to Land and Resources - Is Property Law the Answer?' (L Godden. and M. Tehan) and 'The Implementation of Agreements and Treaties with Indigenous and Local Peoples in Postcolonial States' (with M. Langton, M. Tehan, L. Palmer).

The World Health Organization Gender policy (2002) explicitly acknowledges that sex - the biological facts of being female and male - and gender - the cultural norms that determine femininity and masculinity - have an important impact on health and wellbeing.Research on women’s health and gender emphasises the following themes:

• Cancer and preventative health care
• Gender and health inequities
• Mental health and well-being
• Sexual and reproductive health

CEED tackles the key gaps in environmental decision-making, monitoring and adaptive management through an integrated research program.Some areas of interest include:

• Spatial Planning for Landscape Restoration and Management;
• Biodiversity Decisions in Dynamic Systems;
• Rapidly-transforming Landscapes;
• Optimal Management of Multiple Threats and species;
• Decision-making Tools for Complex Environmental Problems;
• Optimal Monitoring and Evaluation;
• Biodiversity scenarios and forecasting;
• and many more.

Research will involve empirical work, analysis, synthesis, modelling and numerous workshops. We are very open to collaborative funding options with like-minded research groups and end-users. The research team will include more than ten postdoctoral research fellows and twenty PhD students. Aside from peer-reviewed papers, the research will be communicated through Decision Point – www.decision-point.com.au

UoM Researchers involved:

• A/Prof Michael McCarthy, CEED Deputy Director
• Dr Brendan Wintle, CEED Node Director, UoM
• Prof Pauline Ledigers, CEED Advisory Board

CCRSPI is a collaborative response to the opportunities and challenges posed by climate change for Australia’s primary industries.
CCRSPI operates under a mandate from the Primary Industry Ministerial Council and Primary Industry Standing Committee. CCRSPI partners are the federal, state and territory governments, the rural research and development corporations and the CSIRO.

Established in 2007, CCRSPI led the development of the climate change cross-sectoral strategy under the Australian Government's National Primary Industries Research, Development and Extension Framework.

CCRSPI is now leading the national collaboration, coordination and communication of climate change research, development and extension activity for Australia’s primary industries.

The research and training mission of the CRC is to continuously improve irrigation policy, tools and practices to make irrigation more sustainable.

The CRC for Irrigation Futures comprises 13 partners including the University of Melbourne (Faculty of Engineering and Melbourne School of Land and Environment). Its overall

At the University of Melbourne researchers are working on:system harmonisation through regional irrigation business partnerships to identify opportunities for improved management of surface and groundwater resources, to satisfy environmental and consumptive demand in catchments with irrigation industries.irrigation toolkits to improve enterprise performance and deliver innovation to the on-farm irrigation sector to improve production, profitability and sustainability of irrigation enterprises.

The program brings together three focused research and development areas that will make a difference to on-farm irrigation performance in Australia.education and training to build capacity at all levels of the industry and provide a lasting legacy beyond the life of the CRC.

CRCSI has funding to 2018 to provide research and education activities in three areas: Positioning; Automated Spatial Information Generation; and Spatial Infrastructures. These competencies are applied to five application areas: Agriculture, natural Resources & Climate Change; Defence; Energy utilities; Health; and Sustainable Urban Planning. CRCSI participants include over 60 SMEs; leading universities, and government agencies across the country and New Zealand.

The participants are listed in a  transition website.

CRCSI's achievements are recognised internationally and are summarised in the brochure available below.

eWater CRC is developing technologies and knowledge that will enhance the ability of the water and catchment management sector to make management decisions that are cost-effective, transparent, and scientifically defendable. It has research and development programs in the areas of: catchments and climate; ecological management; river systems; urban systems; and education and training.

Increases in the atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrous oxide (N2O) and methane (CH4) concentrations are believed to be the primary drivers of the greenhouse effect and the changes and increasing variability in global climate conditions. Climate change is expected to have a significant impact on Australia’s environment.

However, we currently have only a partial understanding of how greenhouse gases are cycled through the earth system, especially through terrestrial / biological processes. We need to know more about the processes influencing the source and sink mechanisms of the cycling of greenhouse gases if we are to increase the probability that policy and management interventions will be successful.

Research in the Forests, Climate Change and Greenhouse Group focuses on three major themes:

• Total greenhouse gas balance (CO2, N2O and CH4) in ecosystems
• Carbon balance and carbon sequestration potential of native and planted forests
• Impact of climate change on forest ecosystems

The Foundation was established in 2000 with a mission to create and disseminate research to increase the awareness and effectiveness of management practices that deliver better organisational performance and less wasteful products and processes.
The Foundation has produced a number of research papers and commissioned reports, including The Collaborative Games in 2001. A significant project has been on corporate sustainable development, funded by the Australian Business Foundation. The FSEDs latest project involves a significant multi-university ARC Linkage project on Work and Social Cohesion.

The Green Infrastructure Research Group is a collaboration of scientists at the University of Melbourne who are studying how we can maximise the environmental and economic benefits provided by plants in the urban environment. We seek to quantify, and demonstrate the benefits of green infrastructure which encompasses the network of designed and natural vegetation found in our cities and towns. Green infrastructure includes public parks, recreation areas, remnant vegetation, residential gardens and street trees, as well as innovative new urban greening technologies such as green roofs and green walls.

Urban Design and Green Infrastructure Network

The University of Melbourne’s Urban Design and Green Infrastructure Network was initiated in 2008 by the Office of the Provost as an Inter-disciplinary Steering Committee initiative.

The aims of the 2010 Inter-Disciplinary ‘UDGI’ Network are to:

1. Facilitate an application to the Federal government for the formation Cooperative Research Centre for Green, Healthy Cities and Towns, which is strongly supported by our stakeholders.
2. Design a multi-faculty green infrastructure subject to be taught at the Masters level.
3. Create a green infrastructure demonstration centre with our industry partners at the Burnley campus

Aims specified for 2009:

1. Increase collaboration across the University, government, and industry and enhance the development of constructive partnerships to promote the use of green infrastructure in cities
2. Stimulate novel ways of ameliorating climate change in urban infrastructure and green areas of Australia in partnership with key industry and government partners
3. Communicate the aesthetic, social, environmental and economic benefits of urban green infrastructure
4. Seek funding through the Victoria’s Science Agenda Investment Fund (VSAIF) and other sources to support existing research structures such as the MISS and possible new structures that will result in world class novel research into greening cities and adapting for climate change.

The Australian health sector faces major challenges, such as an ageing population, the rise in chronic disease, uneven access to specialist care, complex and costly diagnostic and therapeutic modalities, the healthcare consumer movement and health workforce shortages. New broadband technologies can contribute to improved healthcare delivery and personal wellbeing by enabling improvements in the quality and safety of care, access to services, and innovations in clinical care and health maintenance. Targeted home-based care and mobile care, linked or integrated health services, real-time and just-in-time monitoring of health and illness, personalisation of care using genomic information are some of the possibilities that are enabled by next generation broadband.

The Institute has a focus on health and biomedical informatics research actively promoted through the Health and Biomedical Research Unit.

 
Theme Leaders:

Fernando Martin-Sanchez
Health & Biomedical Informatics
fjms@unimelb.edu.au

Kathleen Gray
Health & Biomedical Informatics
kgray@unimelb.edu.au

Elizabeth Ozanne
Social Work
eao@unimelb.edu.au

ISSNIP is a research network addressing fundamental cross-disciplinary issues of sensor networks and information processing in large, complex, distributed interacting systems with direct applications in health, environment and security. It brings together researchers from the disciplines of mathematics, statistics, computing, biology, electrical engineering and mechanical engineering. ISSNIP aims to advance knowledge; deliver generic models, algorithms and implementations; develop directly end-product deployable intellectual property; and create human resources for future research and employment.

The environmental focus of ISSNIP encompasses a number of Great Barrier Reef monitoring projects utilising sensor networks technologies, including: DEST-ISL project on distributed sensor networks; Microsoft SensorMap for the GBR project; ARC LIEF BigNet sensor network testbed; participation in the NCRIS-IMOS Great Barrier Reef Ocean Observing System (GBROOS); and the Smart Environmental Monitoring Analysis Technologies (SEMAT) project; among others.

The University of Melbourne is developing solutions to address the challenge of designing and managing more sustainable cities.

This work brings together a diverse range of expertise across a broad number of disciplines to address the impact that cities have on the environment and the way in which we live.

Download the Low Carbon Cities brochure here: http://www.sustainable.unimelb.edu.au/files/mssi/Low-Carbon-Cities_Brochure.pdf

The McCaughey Centre aims to build knowledge about the social, economic and environmental foundations of community wellbeing and mental health.
A defining feature of all the Centre's research is a commitment to improving social and health equity and reducing health inequalities. The Centre undertakes research, policy development, teaching, workforce development and knowledge translation with a focus on:

• Reducing violence
• Reducing race-based discrimination
• Increasing social participation and inclusion
• Strengthening economic participation and security
• Addressing the impact of climate change on community wellbeing
• Improving intergenerational health and wellbeing
• Improving understanding of knowledge translation and exchange

The Melbourne Energy Institute is an access point for industry, government and community groups seeking to work with leading researchers on innovative solutions to our energy challenges.
MEI researches in the following areas: new energy resources; developing new ways to harness renewable energy; more efficient ways to use energy; secure energy waste and frame optimal laws and regulation to achieve energy outcomes.

Concerns about climate change, diminishing resources, and rising energy demand provide one of the key challenges of our time. To meet this challenge and advance research towards securing a sustainable, affordable energy supply into the future, the Melbourne Energy Institute takes an interdisciplinary and collaborative research approach.  

By bringing disciplined-based research strengths together and by engaging with stakeholders outside the University, the Energy Institute offers the critical capacity to rethink the way we generate, deliver and use energy.

The focus of the Melbourne Institute is: applied macroeconomic research; labour economics and social policy; and applied industrial economic research; and health economics research.

Alongside the core discipline – economics – the centre engages with sociologists, statisticians, demographers and management, accounting and finance specialists. The renowned datasets of the HILDA survey provide a significant evidence base for social policy in Australia.

Research in the social networks laboratory concentrates on the analysis of social networks, and in particular the development of exponential random graph models for social networks (p* models).
These models assume that a large-scale network emerges from combinations of local patterns of interaction among small overlapping subsets of people. Such patterns can often be interpreted as the result of a localized social process, a set of behaviours within each subset of individuals. As a result, these models provide ways to examine large scale network structures (the macro- or global level) as the ramification of overlapping and intersecting localized behavioural patterns (the micro- or local level).

Current Areas of Research

• Statistical models for networks and network-based processes
• The social epidemiology of mental health
• Co-evolution of state and market: Renaissance Florence
• The management of critical water resources: inter-organisational networks and organizational practices in the management of an urban waterway
• Networks and the spread of communicable diseases
• Models and methods for understanding human social networks

This Institute was established in 2009 to increase the impact of the University of Melbourne’s Indigenous programs and maximise the University’s contribution to Indigenous development.

The Murrup Barak now operates across three program areas:

1. Indigenous Student Program
   Services to support Indigenous students including recruitment, retention and on going support
2. Academic Programs
   Activities to enhance the productivity and impact of teaching, learning and research in Indigenous Studies
3. Partnerships and Development
   University-wide activities that create an enabling institutional environment and partnerships with external parties including Indigenous communities, corporations, government and not-for-profit organisations

This Initiative brings together our considerable research expertise from across the University in areas related to natural disasters. The research expertise covers all phases of the disaster management lifecycle including preparation, response and recovery and brings the University’s disciplinary strengths to bear in providing research solutions to Government and the Australian community.

NDMRI's Ares of Capacity:

• Environmental science and land management
• Social and community health and wellbeing
• Economics and regulation and policy
• Urban planning and infrastructure
• Data and communications
• Prediction and planning and preparation
• Response and management
• Recovery

The Obesity Consortium aims to foster new research, education and knowledge exchange around the care and prevention of obesity with state of the art and scientifically driven focus.

Recent publicity has made us all aware of the rise in the prevalence of obesity in Australia. The AusDiab study found that over 52% of women and 67% of men are either overweight or obese. The number of obese children and adolescents has doubled in the last 15 years. The UniMelb Obesity Consortium has been set up as a response to this serious health issue.

We are a large multifaceted group comprising of over 80 members from approximately 40 groups associated with the University of Melbourne. The groups have expertise that ranges from Public Health, Children and Adolescent Health Clinical Medicine with, obesity clinics that include integrated Medical and Surgical units, Clinical Research departments, Basic Science, Economics etc, who are all currently addressing the obesity problem from many different perspectives.

Our overall aim is to co-ordinate the efforts of the University of Melbourne and its affiliated institutions to tackle obesity using state of the art basic and clinical science and evidence-based individual therapy and public health measures.

The Centre (PCBRC) conducts research into many aspects of plant cell biology, abiotic stresses, plant pathogens and evolution. We offer scholarships, postgraduate research and staff employment opportunities in a leading organisation.

PCBRC was founded by Professor Adrienne Clarke and others in 1982 as a dedicated research centre within the School of Botany at the University of Melbourne.

Its Goals:

• Provide knowledge by maintaining internationally competitive research programs
• Train people through teaching undergraduate and postgraduate students
• Contribute expertise to industry, government and professional bodies, and
• Serve the community through discussions of issues of interest.

PICCC addresses the impacts of a changing climate, as well as adaptation and mitigation, with a focus is on production, environmental, policy and social issues at both the enterprise and landscape level.PICCC aims to advance the long term sustainability of Australia’s food and fibre production through knowledge generation and sharing, and capacity building.

The Centre is a forum for partners to plan, share and implement their new projects, strategic directions and improved outcomes. It provides leadership and increased capacity to undertake better research, development and extension.

What PICC does (and doesn't) do: http://www.piccc.org.au/about-piccc/what-piccc-does

The Research Unit in Public Cultures (RUPC) was established in 2012 and is housed in the School of Culture and Communication at the University of Melbourne.It focuses on transformations in public culture produced by new intersections of knowledge, media, space and mobility, within Australia and internationally.
 
Its work addresses four fundamental questions:

1. How is cultural knowledge is shaped by and against the global forces which articulate Australia's place in the world?
2. How have developments in technology altered public cultures?
3. How does the mobility of communication and peoples impact on the constitution of public knowledge and cultures?
4. How is public space is created, managed and accessed, specifically within digitised, urban environments?

The research project addresses major natural and human-induced hazards associated with extreme events, such as blast and impact (induced by accident or acts of terrorism), earthquakes, freak waves and tsunamis. The ultimate objective is to develop technologies which contribute to mitigating disasters immediately following such extreme events and facilitating the process of recovery. The long-term research strategy is to : (i) develop modelling techniques for simulating extreme events to assist in emergency responses and to identify conditions that are at high risk, (ii) develop technologies for retrofitting existing infrastructure in mitigating potential disasters (iii) develop new guidelines in planning, design and construction for improving the protection of our future infrastructure from extreme events, and (iv) develop effective logistic planning techniques to aid in the recovery process.

Project Leader: Nelson Lam
Staff: Priyan Mendis, Helen Goldsworthy, Lihai Zhang, Tuan Ngo, Cuong Kien Nguyen, Jack Yao, Elisa Lumantarna, Raymond Lumantarna,
Student: Yi Yang, Muneeb Ali, Ali Altheeb, Abdulrahman Albidah, Mohammad Fardipour, Hui Jiang, Vidal Paton Cole, Bidur Kafle, Hossein Agheshlui,Rojit Shahi
Collaborators: John Wilson (Swinburne University), Emad Gad (Swinburne University)
Primary Contact: Nelson Lam (ntkl@unimelb.edu.au)
Keywords: civil infrastructure; coherent structures; fluid structure interactions; infrastructure protection; spatial data infrastructure
Disciplines: Infrastructure Engineering
Themes: Sustainable Systems & Energy
Research Centre: Research Network for a Secure Australia (RNSA)

This website - smartgardenwatering.org.au - will calculate the amount of water your garden needs through the year, and help you produce a watering schedule. It will also help in planning for a water tank to replace mains water for all or part of your garden.

1. Check your water restrictions
2. Map your garden
3. Understanding watering needs
4. Creating watering schedule
5. Size a water tank
6. View a summary

Project description
The project was initiated by Geoff Connellan (School of Land and Environment, University of Melbourne) who obtained funding from the Smart Water Fund in 2005.

The garden water estimation tool was developed with the assistance of numerous horticultural and water management colleagues and specialists including Dr Peter May and Ms Liz Denman. Information used in the model was sourced from mulch and irrigation trials conducted at Burnley Campus and other scientific sources including plant, soil, climate and water references.

The computer interface development work was carried out at Department of Information Systems, University of Melbourne, Parkville. From early 2008, Dr Jon Pearce and Dr Wally Smith (Interactive design Group, the University of Melbourne) and John Murphy (Design4Use) set about the process of interpreting the mathematical watering model into a user-friendly web application. This included a user-centred design process followed by coding and graphical design work (from Paul Prickett and Nicholas Bruning at Involved).

MSSI hosts a key project of the National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility: Adaptation Research Network: the Social, Economic and Institutional Dimensions of Climate Change Adaptation (NCCARF-SEI) Network.

The Network Convenor, Dr Jon Barnett is an Australian Research Council Senior Research Fellow located in the Department of Resource Management and Geography at Melbourne University. He is also the Climate Change research theme leader at the Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute.

Climate change poses risks to a wide array of things that are important to people, including for example their health, jobs, homes and communities. Who is at risk, and how social groups respond to climate change will depend on their needs, values, cultures, capacities, institutional forms, and the environmental characteristics of the places they live.

Making good decisions about adaptation involves understanding the diverse goals of individuals, communities, and institutions, and the degree to which these are in conflict, and can be aligned. Decisions must be made under conditions of complex uncertainty. Successful implementation of adaptation strategies requires understanding how actors and institutions at each level and in each sector will enable or constrain responses.

Thus, regardless of the risks, places, and groups involved, adaptation is at its core a social issue. This NCCARF theme is therefore concerned with the following dimensions of climate adaptation:

• social dimensions the relationships between different people and groups, and patterns of behaviours, attitudes, and understanding reflected in (and transmitted by) culture that determine the goals of adaptation, the capacity to adapt, and the effectiveness of outcomes
• economic dimensions the economic activities embedded in society, primarily related to the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services through markets
• institutional dimensions the formal and informal rules as well as organisational arrangements governing human interactions, including social and economic activities

The SEI-network is driving thinking across sectors and disciplines in the complex social, economic and institutional dimensions of climate adaptation. An understanding of these dimensions will allow decision makers to develop more effective adaptation measures.


If you would like to participate in this Adaptation Research Network, please contact: Dr Jon Barnett on 03 8344 0819 or email jbarn@unimelb.edu.au, or Marie Waschka (NCCARF) on 07 5552 7735 or email m.waschka@griffith.edu.au

Uniwater activities are directed to four key water challenges, in a context of climate change and increased competition for water.
These are: developing effective water policies and institutions for 21st century, including planning, governance, accounting, regulation, markets and services, as well as ensuring the necessary reforms in a federation maximising the environmental return on investment in repair of rivers, groundwater and catchments, realising the potential of irrigated and dryland agriculture using less water, and having regard to effective: economic performance, environmental impact, resource use efficiency, and social support.providing reliable water supplied to Australia's growing cities in sustainable ways.

Uniwater is a joint initiative of Monash University and the University of Melbourne. It is a small unit that acts as an incubator/hub for research activities in water, with an emphasis on complex, inter-disciplinary activities. As well as conducting new research in water, Uniwater plays a strong role in creating practical applied knowledge; it attempts to bring together information, insight and understanding in forums involving a range of interested stakeholders. The aim of these forums is to create an active exchange of ideas and responses.

VCCCAR undertakes a program of climate change adaptation research and thereby contributing to the development of appropriate strategies to implement effective adaptation measures.

In early 2009 the Victorian Government announced in the Our Environment Our Future Sustainability Action Statement the establishment of a Centre for Research Excellence in climate change adaptation and committed $5 million over 5 years for its operation.

The University of Melbourne manages VCCCAR on behalf of the partner universities. The VCCCAR Director is Professor Rod Keenan, former Head of the Department of Forest and Ecosystem Science, Melbourne School of Land and Environment.

The Centre is an initial partnership between Melbourne, Latrobe, Monash and RMIT Universities but VCCCAR looks forward to expanding its membership and providing funding and other collaborative opportunities for participation by researchers from all Victorian universities. The Centre research program will involve multi-disciplinary and multi-institutional research teams to address priorities identified by the Victorian Government. It will also sponsor regional think-tanks, stage an annual forum and support a visiting fellowship program.

More information about VCCCAR's governance, research program, events and linkages can be found by relevant links within the centre's website.