The Deep South Challenge is proud to be partnering a free public talk in Wellington; Navigating climate change: communication and politics, by Associate Professor Maxwell Boykoff, University of Colorado-Boulder, USA.
About the talk
In the 21st century, effective science communication helps citizens to link academic research and policy with their everyday lives. In this talk, Maxwell Boykoff will highlight how various communication approaches function, and why they succeed or fail to ‘meet people where they are’. Ultimately, he argues that climate conversations are generally stuck: the scale of response – shaped in part by discussions and deliberations in the public arena – has not yet risen to the scale of the challenge.
“We need to be more effective in harnessing the power of communication and creativity and to confront what works where, when and why in climate change communications,” says Boykoff.
This is the second of a three-part series exploring aspects of modern day science communication.
Further speakers
Presentation by Associate Professor Maxwell Boykoff and discussion with Professor David Frame, Director, Deep South National Science Challenge, chaired by Peter Griffin, Director, Science Media Centre.
Associate Professor Boykoff is visiting Wellington thanks to support from the Deep South Science Challenge.
Details and tickets
When: 6 pm Tuesday, 9 February 2016
Where: Royal Society of New Zealand, 11 Turnbull Street, Thorndon, Wellington
Please visit the following site to book your tickets:
The Deep South Challenge (DSC) has five programmes, one of which is focused on “Engagement”, a word that means many things to many people. Over the past six months, we have been putting considerable thought into what “engagement” means in the context of this Challenge, and what we hope to achieve through the Engagement programme.
This has led to the development of an Engagement Strategy, which was endorsed by the Board in December 2015, subject to some minor amendments and feedback from our Independent Science Panel in February 2016. We intend to make the strategy document publicly available, and cite-able, after the DSC Board meeting in March 2016. A draft version of the strategy is, however, available upon request from the programme lead for Engagement, Rhian Salmon.
Key aspects of the strategy (all still pending final finessing), include a high level goal, six objectives, and four workstreams.
The high-level goal of the Engagement programme is to contribute to improving New Zealanders’ ability and capacity to make decisions informed by DSC-related research, which includes enhanced modelling capacity, improved predictions of future climate and its impacts and implications, and new understanding of Antarctic and Southern Ocean processes.
This will be delivered by focusing on six objectives:
Ensuring that DSC research responds to the needs of New Zealanders
Establishing broad public communication and two-way engagement about DSC-related climate change research to increase New Zealanders’ awareness of, and ability to access and use, DSC research outcomes such that they inform climate-related decisions
Strengthening channels with key audiences and sectors with regard to DSC-related climate change research to build sector-specific interest in, and capacity to understand and use, this information to enable more informed decision-making
Building capability for engagement about climate change among experts and intermediaries (especially related to modeling, impacts and implications, and adaptation), and contributing expertise to engagement led by external partners, to ensure effective communication and dialogue through and beyond the duration of the DSC
Maintaining communication of DSC progress (to the public, key stakeholders, funders, DSC researchers and committees)
Evaluating the DSC engagement programme to ensure that the programme delivers on its goal, and contributing to academic literature through research on factors enhancing the effectiveness of climate-change engagement.
These objectives will be delivered through four workstreams, which will operate under the oversight of the Science Leadership Team, Technical Advisory Committee on Engagement, and a representative-user group.
The four workstreams identify areas of coordination that require a particular skill-set. These workstreams will be coordinated by between 1-4 positions, with the exact distribution of work depending on applicants, their capabilities, and availability. The four workstreams are:
Broad public and Internal Engagement; responsible for organisation of, partnering with, and development of content for, engagement activities for the general public. This workstream will also have responsibility for media and social-media, internal communications processes, establishing linkages with other partners in climate change engagement, coordination of the advisory committee, and funding processes.
Capacity-building for Engagement will be responsible for providing training and support to a range of intermediaries and other community and sector leaders to enable them to communicate more accurately and effectively and to facilitate climate change engagement activities across New Zealand. The DSC will seek to co-fund these capacity-building activities by partnering with external organisations with common interests and goals.
Tailored Engagement will work closely with, and be supplemented by, the emerging Impacts & Implications programme to ensure key decision-making groups are informing, and informed by, DSC-related science. During 2016, the Climate Change Impacts and Implications (CCII) programme will share its outcomes and learnings, which include not only biogeophysical impacts and their implications for adaptation, but also identification of key decision-making areas and audiences. This workstream will ensure these outcomes can be upscaled to better support decision-making about climate change in key sectors across New Zealand. It will also be responsible for coordination of the representative user group.
Evaluation and Research will ensure that the Engagement programme is achieving its goal and objectives by continually assessing the effectiveness of engagement activities, the results of which will also inform research on effective engagement on climate change.
More details on funding opportunities for activities that help fulfil the goal and objectives will be made available in January. There will be two main routes for this:
Major projects that require considerable investment are advised to apply via the DSC Contestable process. More details can be found on the Deep South website here.
The Engagement programme will also establish a process in early 2016 whereby applicants can apply for smaller levels of funding (eg $1-10k). This will be assessed quarterly, with a maximum of $80k distributed across a given year.
Contact
For more information on the Engagement programme and its implementation (including employment and funding opportunities), please email Rhian Salmon.
The Deep South Challenge has built an effective Mission-centred core research plan centred on five research programmes.
These programmes are as follows:
Engagement
Vision Mātauranga
Impacts & Implications
Processes & Observations
Earth Systems Modelling & Prediction
To date, the Challenge has funded research projects that will help achieve the objectives of specific programmes including principally Vision Mātauranga, Processes & Observations, and Earth Systems Modelling & Prediction.
Further programme-oriented funding will take place in 2016, focussed primarily on the Impacts & Implications programme. Also, the Engagement Programme will have on-going funding available to support a range of activities that will help improve New Zealanders’ ability and capacity to make decisions informed by Deep South Challenge-related research.
In addition to programme-oriented funding, The Deep South will conduct an open “Contestable Fund” process that invites ideas for research that is Mission-relevant- research aligned to any or several of the five programmes. The following information outlines the scope and timetable for the Contestable Fund process.
This information is being released now (18 December 2015) to enable initial project thinking to commence before the release of the Contestable Fund Request for Proposals (RfP) on 8 February 2016.
Proposals will be due seven weeks later, on 25 March 2016.
Available funding and timing
The Deep South Challenge Board has allocated up to $3,000,000 (excl. GST) of funding for the Deep South Contestable Fund over the three-year period from July 2016 to June 2019.
The Contestable Funding will be administered through two funding cycles, each totalling up to $1,500,000 (excl. GST).
These funding cycles will overlap.
Funding Cycle 1 projects will commence 1 July 2016 and be completed by 30 June 2018.
Funding Cycle 2 projects will commence 1 July 2017 and be completed by 30 June 2019.
Projects can apply for a maximum of $300,000 (excl. GST) for up to two years.
Under exceptional circumstances, projects in Funding Cycle 1 may apply for up to three years (i.e., completed by 30 June 2019) but will remain capped at a maximum of $300,000 (excl. GST).
Applicants are advised that whilst they can apply for up to $300,000 (excl. GST) per project, projects of lesser values (e.g., $50,000, $150,000 excl. GST etc.) are encouraged.
The Contestable Fund RfP released on 8 February 2016 will call for Proposals for Funding Cycle 1 only.
The Contestable Fund RfP for Funding Cycle 2 will take place at a later date.
Contestable fund scope
The Challenge invites proposals for projects that will help deliver the overall mission and contribute to the success of the Challenge. It is vital that applicants understand this core requirement when drafting proposals. Applicants are encouraged to contact the relevant Deep South Science Leadership Team (SLT) member to discuss their proposal ideas to ensure that it is Deep South Mission-relevant.
Focal areas
The Challenge invites proposals targeted towards at least one of the following four focal areas:
Seed Funding
Co-Funding
Blue Sky
Cross-challenge Collaboration.
Seed Funding: Seed funding includes research that is not immediately Challenge-relevant, but which invests in capability in areas of mutual interest that we expect will become more relevant to the Challenge over time. A major assessment criterion will be whether the proposed activity is expected to grow in importance and relevance with respect to the Deep South mission.
Co-Funding: Research that can cost-effectively augment or enhance existing, planned activities in ways that could benefit both the original research and the Challenge. A major assessment criterion will be whether the proposed activity has strong synergies with other Deep-South funded research such that increased return on investment (e.g., in terms of research papers) can be expected from both the proposed and the existing research projects.
Blue Sky: Research that is more speculative and risky but potentially of high impact for the Challenge. The Challenge as a whole is mission-driven (i.e. not Blue-Sky); however the potential value of curiosity-driven research is recognised.
Cross-challenge Collaboration: Research that is integrative and collaborative and furthers the mutual interests of at least one other National Science Challenge and the Deep South. Cross-challenge collaboration projects must demonstrate co-funding by at least one other National Science Challenge.
Contestable fund information summary
The Deep South Contestable Fund Request for Proposals (RfP) for Funding Cycle 1 will be released via the Deep South website on 8 February 2016
Upon the release of the RfP (8 February 2016) a status summary will be provided for each Challenge Programme
Applicants will be required to stipulate the Challenge Programme (or Programmes) and Focal area (or areas) that their proposal falls under
On 8 February 2016 interested applicants will be provided with a proposal template to complete and proposal assessment criteria.
Understanding our future climate so New Zealanders can adapt and thrive is the aim of the Deep South National Science Challenge, which today announced its first allocation of funds to improve predictions of climate change.
The Deep South Challenge is one of 11 Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment-funded challenges aimed at taking a more strategic approach to science investment.
The first funding allocations will see over $9 million spent on six projects over four years. These projects will begin the process of developing New Zealand’s first world-class numerical earth system model to simulate current climate and possible future climates under different scenarios of future global greenhouse gas emissions. The model will help advance understanding of southern hemisphere influences on the global climate.
By systematically incorporating those influences, model simulations will help sharpen our understanding of the potential changing climate around New Zealand. This will substantially improve our ability to anticipate possible impacts and implications on our key climate-sensitive economic sectors, infrastructure and natural resources.
It will be underpinned by improved knowledge and observations of climate processes in the Southern Ocean and Antarctica – our “Deep South”.
The first allocated funding will go to the following projects:
Establishing a New Zealand Earth System Modelling capability, led by NIWA
Targeted observation and process-informed modelling of Antarctic sea ice, led by the University of Otago
Improving predictions and understanding of the Deep South drivers of New Zealand’s climate, led by Victoria University of Wellington
Reducing biases in the representation of clouds and aerosols in the NZ Earth System Modelling, led by the University of Canterbury
Assessing and validating the earth system model using modern and historic observations, led by Bodeker Scientific
The Southern Ocean in a warming world and its influence on New Zealand’s climate, led by the University of Auckland
The challenge is being delivered through five programmes: Processes and Observations, Earth System Modelling and Prediction, Vision Matauranga, Impacts and Implications, and Engagement.
To ensure the Deep South Challenge benefits all New Zealanders, it is developing innovative engagement practices to make sure the science is relevant and useful to Māori, industry, regulators, planners and communities.
This will give New Zealanders a greater level of certainty in their planning and decision-making in the face of a changing climate.
The collaborative approach will ensure the science remains focused on and directed by societal needs, helps build capability within Māori, stakeholder organisations and communities, and is used by all.
Deep South Director, Professor Dave Frame, said “Modelling the earth system is the only way to coherently integrate the diverse processes that govern the climate. This is the first time New Zealand has invested in this kind of capability, which is really at the centre of modern physical climate science. If we’re to plan and execute sensible responses to climate change, we have to have a good understanding of how the climate works and how it is likely to change.
The Community Climate Change Forum is an opportunity for the people of Central Otago to have their voices heard on the issue of climate change.
Rather than present information to a passive audience, the goal of the event is to solicit ideas from across the local community as to how Central Otago might respond to both the threats and opportunities posed by climate change. Three short talks over dinner will set the stage for the main roundtable discussion. The forum is free and is being organised by Bodeker Scientific and MAD4CO (Making a Difference for Central Otago) under the sponsorship of the Deep South National Science Challenge.
For more information or to register please visit the link below:
We invite you to complete this brief survey about the climate change engagement activities that your organisation conducts.
The survey has been developed to “take a pulse” on engagement activities occurring around the country. This will help us to make strategic decisions with regard to our engagement programme, and also hopefully be a useful resource to everyone working in this space. Please share widely.
If you have any questions about the survey, or would like to know more about the Deep South Challenge and its engagement programme, please contact [email protected]. For technical questions or issues about the survey, please contact [email protected]. You can also subscribe to updates from the Challenge at http://www.deepsouthchallenge.co.nz/updates
Hei ngā maunga, hei ngā reo, hei ngā iwi, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā tātou katoa. Tēnā koutou i ō tātou aituā maha e hinga atu nā, e takoto mai rā i ō tātou marae. Koutou te hunga para i te huarahi, haere koutou. Hoki atu ki te okiokinga mō te tangata i te wāhi ngaro. Tātou e takatū tonu nei hei urupā mō rātou, tēnā anō tātou katoa.
Tēnei mātou a Taihoro Nukurangi, a NIWA e korihi nei, e mihi kau atu ki ngā tōpito e whā, ki ngā tini kārangatanga maha, ki ngā whare wānanga otiiā ngā wāhi mahi rangahau puta noa i te motu.
Nau mai, haere mai ki tō tātou kaupapa, e kiiā nei ko te `Komata o te tonga’, me kī `Deep South’, tētehi o Ngā Wero Pūtaiao-ā-motu. Ko tōna kaupapa matua, ko te wāhanga Pūnaha Hihiko e hāngai pū tonu ki ngā rerekētanga o te āhuarangi me ōna tikanga katoa. Heoti anō rā, he pānui tēnei ki a koutou, he pūtea e wātea ana mō te hunga mātanga rangahau Māori. Nō reira pānuihia mai ngā whakamārama e whai ake nei.
This Challenge will enable New Zealanders to adapt, manage risk, and thrive in a changing climate. Working with our communities and industry, we will guide planning and policy to enhance resilience and exploit opportunities. This will be built on improved predictions of future climate, supported by new understanding of Antarctic and Southern Ocean processes. The Challenge will focus on the effects of a changing climate on key climate sensitive economic sectors, infrastructure and natural resources.
Research that is substantive and transformative will be undertaken in the Deep South National Science Challenge across five key programmes:
Engagement
Vision Mātauranga
Impacts and Implications
Earth System Modelling and Prediction
Processes and Observations
The Deep South Challenge is now seeking proposals that will contribute transformative research outcomes for Māori and wider Aotearoa/New Zealand through the Science Programme: Vision Mātauranga.
This programme will give effect to the MBIE Vision Mātauranga policy through strategic planning and research. Project proposals will be built around the four research themes identified in the Deep South Challenge Research and Business Plan. These four themes were determined through direct engagement with senior Māori advisors and researchers involved with Māori-specific climate change matters and decision-making. The four research themes are:
Potential projects will be funded up to a maximum of $250k (excl. GST). It is anticipated that successful applicants will commence their projects on 1 October 2015 or as soon as practicable thereafter, for a period of up to 24 months.
Applications will need to complete the first three documents as listed below. The fourth document is provided to demonstrate how projects will be assessed. Please pass on this information to other investigators involved in your project.
New Zealanders have just experienced one of the driest summers on record – great for beachgoers and cricket lovers, but far from ideal for farmers and orchardists relying on rain to maintain productivity.
This year’s ‘big dry’ comes just two years after the last widespread summer drought, which is estimated to have cost the rural sector $1 billion in lost earnings.
New Zealand’s climate appears to be changing. Droughts seem more intense and frequent, windstorms more violent, rainstorms and snowstorms more crippling. The rural sector in particular has faced unprecedented challenge brought about by recent extreme weather events.
So is this the new reality? Is our climate changing faster than first thought? How should the country respond to what’s happening and prepare for what’s yet to come?
Deep South, one of 11 National Science Challenges confirmed by the Government following wide stakeholder and public consultation, will seek answers to these critically important questions.
Professor David Frame, an internationally renowned climate researcher at Victoria University of Wellington, recently appointed Director of the NIWA-hosted Challenge, says scientists are making progress in understanding the links between extreme weather events and climate change.
“Climate scientists are adopting techniques from medical researchers to establish how the odds of various events, like droughts, are likely to change in the coming decades.”
“We are making progress, but different events have different meteorological drivers, and in some cases we can’t yet say as much as we would like because models can’t yet simulate all the relevant features.”
“What we can say, however, is that the extreme events we’ve experienced recently are a cause for people to think about how they prepare for a changing climate. Most New Zealanders now have an appreciation of the kind of weather the country could experience increasingly in the years to come. They understand the need to prepare for its impacts now.”
Deep South will significantly intensify research into the nature of New Zealand’s changing climate, and the likely impacts of that change on New Zealand society over the coming decades and centuries. Studies will focus on Antarctica and the Southern Ocean (our ‘Deep South’), areas that play an important part in shaping weather systems and long-term climate patterns affecting New Zealand. Research in this part of the world has been piecemeal, or lacking altogether, until now.
Leading-edge technology, including a new Earth Systems Model that will utilise the advanced processing power of NIWA’s supercomputer in Wellington, and unprecedented multi-sector collaboration will be keys to the success of the challenge.
“Deep South will bring together the country’s most respected thought leaders working at the interface of science, business and public policy,” says Roger France, Chairman of the Deep South Governance Board. “Their goal is to transform the way New Zealanders can adapt, manage risk and thrive in a changing climate. Their work will focus on drought, freshwater availability, flooding, coastal erosion and damaging storms, and their impacts on businesspeople, planners, regulators, Māori and New Zealand communities as a whole.”
“This is an ambitious undertaking that has the potential to transform New Zealand society,” says Dr Rob Murdoch, NIWA’s General Manager of Research, who played a pivotal role in shaping the mission and terms of reference for Deep South. “We shouldn’t underestimate the work involved but we believe that by combining our collective strength and expertise and directing it into world-class research projects we have the ability to address one of the world’s most important issues.”
Partners in the challenge are NIWA, Antarctica New Zealand, GNS Science, Landcare Research, New Zealand Antarctic Research Institute, University of Otago and Victoria University of Wellington.
The Minister, Steven Joyce, officially launched the Deep South National Science Challenge (NSC) at the NIWA Wellington campus on 5 August 2014. The launch was well attended, and Prof Dave Frame (Victoria University of Wellington) provided a great introduction to the science of the Deep South.
Establishment of the Deep South NSC
The Science Board of the Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment (MBIE) approved funding of $24 million to 30 June 2018 to support the Deep South proposal submitted in late April 2014. This included initial funding of $450,000 for an establishment phase. This funding was subject to the following pre-contract conditions, which have now been met:
A budget for the use of the $450,000.
Establishment of the independent Governance Board Chair to the satisfaction of the MBIE Science Board Chair.
An agreed interim Management Group.
There were also a number of contract conditions that needed to be addressed:
Submission (by mid-December 2014) of a detailed Research Plan and Business Plan that refines the proposal research strategy and programme out to 30 June 2018.
Appointment of the Governance Board, Director and Management Group.
The interim Governance Group and Management Group (see Deep South website for membership of these Groups) are currently in the process of advancing initiatives (outline further below) to meet the above contract conditions. This includes contract negotiations between MBIE and NIWA (as Contract holder and on behalf of the research provider parties to the Deep South), and signing of the Contract is expected to occur within the next month.
The MBIE Science Board also stressed the following points that need to be considered as the Deep South progresses over the coming years:
The Challenge needs to stay true to its mission and vision (see the Deep South website for the MBIE approved mission and vision).
The Challenge needs to avoid reverting to ‘business as usual’ throughout its duration. This will require rigorous independent governance and excellent management arrangements.
The balance of effort between the planned research and the communication, outreach and research uptake activities needs to be maintained throughout the duration of the Challenge.
Governance – appointment of the permanent Chair
We are pleased to announce that Roger France has agreed to Chair the Governance Board of Deep South. Roger’s early career focussed on finance, both nationally and internationally. He was the Chief Financial Officer for Allied Farmers Co-operative Ltd and Freightway Holdings Ltd, and was a member of the Management Board of Pricewaterhouse Cooper. Roger is currently a Director of Air New Zealand, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare Corporation and Orion Health Group, and has been a Director for the Fonterra Co-operative Group. He was appointed to the Council of the University of Auckland in 2001, and was Chancellor from 2009-2012. Roger is excited by the mission that the Deep South aims to address, and brings a wealth of experience in governance to the Challenge. This is an exciting and significant appointment which will help advance the establishment of the Deep South.
Establishment of the Deep South website
Over the past few weeks we have been establishing an independent website for the Deep South NSC. Clearly the website will require considerable development, and is expected to change and evolve over the life of the Challenge. One of the primary purposes of setting up the website as soon as practicable was to ensure that we had a vehicle for communicating information about the Challenge to the wider science community and stakeholders. We have established a subscription system via the website for future access to Deep South Newsletters.
Process for appointment of Director
The interim Governance Group is currently in the process of advancing the appointment of the permanent Director for the Deep South. Information on the recruitment process and a Position Description for the Director will be available on the Deep South website shortly. Rob Murdoch will continue to be the interim Director until such time as the permanent Director is appointed.
Appointment of Challenge Manager
The interim Governance Group is pleased to announce that Richard Nottage will undertake the role of Challenge Manager. In this role Richard will provide project and management support for the Deep South Director. Richard is currently fulfilling a similar role for the New Zealand Climate Change Centre. As such, he is familiar with climate issues and stakeholders. Richard will be a valuable member of the Deep South Management Group, and will be assisting the interim Director with organisation of activities associated with the development of the Research Plan over the coming months.
Research plan workshops
Over the coming two months the interim Management Group will be organising workshops and meetings to advance the Research Plan for Deep South that will need to be submitted by mid-December. These workshops will be based on further developing and prioritising the research work over the next five years associated with each of the proposed research programmes provided in the proposal outline approved by the MBIE Science Board. These workshops will seek input from representatives not only from the science sector, but also climate sensitive industry sectors, central and local government, Maori and communities. Planning for these workshops is currently underway, and further information will be made available on the website as it becomes available.
