Gabby O’Connor’s exciting new exhibition is inspired by the science that is in constant motion on the icy continent. It is being held at at Pātaka ART+MUSEUM in Porirua from 19 June – 18 September 2016.
[Pātaka] Gabby O’Connor’s Studio Antarctica installation is the result of a creative collaboration between contemporary fine art and cutting edge scientific research. In 2015 O’Connor spent several weeks in Antarctica working in a shipping container laboratory on sea ice 4 metres thick over 500 metre deep McMurdo Sound. While making and researching her art, O’Connor helped world-renowned scientific research team, K131, document ice platelet structures found in these sub-zero oceans. This is part of a long-term art + science alliance that explores intersections between the two disciplines.
Studio Antarctica, the installation, is in three interconnected parts that reveals the processes of the project through photography, painting and drawing, a multi-channel video projection and a site specific sculptural work made from packaging tape and light.
The Deep South National Science Challenge is proud to be associated with this exciting project!
Deep South Director Professor Dave Frame joins Dr Daniel Rutledge in a public webinar to introduce the Deep South’s developing Impacts and Implications programme.
A series of public webinars were held early this month to introduce the Deep South’s developing Impacts & Implications Programme.
At least 120 people from 65 stakeholder or researcher organisations participated in the webinars to hear more about the Impacts and Implications programme. The programme will help New Zealanders thrive in a changing climate by bolstering and coordinating New Zealand’s capacity to anticipate potential impacts, understand the implications, and plan and adapt accordingly.
Programme leader Dr Daniel Rutledge said: “We were very pleased with the level of interest and representation from around the country, and with the thoughtful questions and discussion that resulted.”
The webinar began with an introduction to the Deep South National Science Challenge from its Director, Professor Dave Frame. This was followed by an overview of the Deep South’s Impacts & Implications Programme by Dr Daniel Rutledge. Daniel described the programme’s focus on extreme weather events, drought, sea level rise and shifts in temperature, rainfall and wind statistics. He outlined opportunities for funding and partnership.
The webinar format was chosen to maximise the potential for participation by keeping travel costs and time commitment low. It was welcomed by participants who were thankful for the opportunity to participate.
To register as a potential partner and to find out more about the Impacts and Implications Programme, please send an email to [email protected] and register your interest as follows:
Potential Partner – you want to actively engage in future programme development and potentially become a partner by leading or contributing to a bid to the funds
Representative User – you want to actively engage in and help direct future I&I development on behalf of your community, organisation, industry, iwi, etc. but do not intend at this stage to lead or contribute to a bid to the funds
Please understand that registering interest as a Potential Partner or Representative User does not guarantee your active participation. As signalled at the webinar, we need to be strategic about how we proceed to achieve balance between our broad remit and resources.
The Wai O Papa/Waterlands Exhibition is the first of a series of public exhibitions which explore how sea level rise might act as a catalyst for the restoration of well-being to the land, the water and its peoples.
Exhibition details
See the flyer below for more details about this exhibition, its opening times and venue.
Expressions of interest are being sought for the role of Science Leadership Team (SLT) member for the Impacts and Implications Programme of The Deep South National Science Challenge.
The Impacts and Implications science leadership position will provide critical science and planning support to the Deep South Challenge. The successful candidate will draw on their extensive knowledge and research networks (both national and international) to ensure the wider research programme contributes to the Deep South objective and mission and will provide support to individual research projects to ensure they are delivered on time, to spec and within budget.
This position is available Up to 0.2 FTE for a two-year term, with opportunity to re-apply thereafter.
The Deep South Challenge is pleased to announce its first Contestable Funding round.
The Deep South Challenge has built an effective Mission-centred core research plan centred on five research programmes:
Engagement
Vision Mātauranga
Impacts and Implications
Earth System Modelling and Prediction
Processes and Observations.
Contestable funding request for proposals
In addition to programme-oriented funding, the Deep South is now conducting an open “Contestable Fund” process that invites ideas for focal area-based research aligned to any, including possibly two or more, of the five programmes. More information on the programmes, focal areas, and the contestable funding process can be found in the below documents.
The Deep South Science Challenge Engagement Programme is currently seeking talented people and potential projects that can help turn our vision— “improving New Zealanders’ ability and capacity to make decisions informed by DSC-related research”—into a reality.
This workstream is responsible for organising engagement activities targeted to the general public. It will also have responsibility for media and social-media, internal communications processes, establishing linkages with other partners in climate change engagement, and coordination of the engagement advisory committee and funding processes.
We are currently seeking a part-time coordinator for this workstream. Closing date: February 3rd, 2016.
People who have ideas for projects and engagement activities that would help deliver this workstream can apply for funding support through either an Engagement Expression of Intent (EoI) process or the Contestable Fund.
The Programme will be channelling its resources into coordination and delivery of four workstreams. Each workstream is connected to realising the overall goal and objectives outlined in the latest Engagement Update.
Budget
The proposed distribution of the Engagement budget by work streams is shown below:
Engagement Programme budget
Individuals or groups with ideas for activities that can deliver on any of these work streams are encouraged to consider the two funding opportunities described below. Further details about these work streams and associated coordination opportunities below.
How to apply for funding for a DSC Engagement project
Funding for projects that contribute to the Deep South Challenge (DSC) Engagement Programme goal and objectives is available through either the DSC Engagement Programme Expressions of Intent (EOI) process, or the more general DSC Contestable process.
The Engagement EoI process is appropriate for applications of approximately $2-10k and is assessed quarterly. Please download the below form for more details and submit completed forms to [email protected].
For larger projects (up to $300k), applicants are encouraged to consider the DSC Contestable process, please click here for more details.
This is an annual funding round. We especially encourage applications that consider how an Engagement component might complement or collaborate with DSC science research that has either been funded, or is being proposed.
Workstreams
Broad and Internal Engagement
This workstream is responsible for organising engagement activities targeted to the general public. It will also have responsibility for media and social-media, internal communications processes, establishing linkages with other partners in climate change engagement, and coordination of the engagement advisory committee and funding processes.
We are currently seeking a part-time coordinator for this workstream. Closing date: February 3rd, 2016.
People who have ideas for projects and engagement activities that would help deliver this workstream can apply for funding support through either an Engagement Expression of Intent (EoI) process or the Contestable Fund.
In order to help profile the breadth and diversity of DSC research occurring around the country, we are also keen to work closely with scientists and media officers from all DSC partner organisations. To help facilitate this, we have created:
an email list for DSC media partners. Please subscribe on the Deep South Challenge website here.
This workstream is responsible for providing training and support to a range of intermediaries and other community and sector leaders to enable them to communicate about climate change more accurately and effectively. It will also facilitate climate change engagement activities across New Zealand.
During 2016, while we are building up our programme, the DSC is seeking to partner with external organisations that have common interests and goals related to climate change engagement. Please contact us if you are interested in partnering on a capacity-building or training activity that might fit within the Engagement Programme goal and objectives. We are particularly interested in supporting activities that enhance national capacity in climate change engagement, and/or the ability to facilitate activities related to climate change science (especially earth system modeling), impacts and implications, and adaptation. We are open to discussing activities tailored to a specific sector, or a more general audience.
Tailored Engagement
This workstream 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. An important role of this work stream is to ensure that these outcomes can be upscaled to better support decision-making about climate change in key sectors across New Zealand.
We are currently seeking to open discussions with individuals or groups who might be interested in facilitating this workstream. While we are clear on the scope of work, we are very open to how such a contract might be managed.
The successful individual or group will be responsible for strategic development of mechanisms to support decision-making related to climate risks such as extreme weather events, changes in mean weather, droughts, and sea level rise. Part of the role involves identification of key sectors that can be usefully infomed by DSC research outcomes, will be impacted by these changes and also able to implement and leverage adaptive behaviour.
This will involve identifying and building targeted relationships with key sectors, which may include regions with a high population density and those providing services to that population (eg, utilities, transport, energy and water); other infrastructure providers (eg, building, property and insurance industries); finance (banking); local, regional, and central government; Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) and active local communities; primary industries (agriculture, forestry, fisheries); and the recreation and tourism industries.
The role will also be responsible for developing and supporting appropriate initiatives and co-creation of engagement activities to ensure DSC research both responds to, and informs, these key sectors in their decision-making related to climate change.
Evaluation and Research
This workstream 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. This workstream is being managed internally within the programme, but we welcome interest from individuals or groups with experience and interest in collaborating on this workstream.
Contact
If you would like more detail on the Engagement Strategy, or to discuss any of the above opportunities, please contact the DSC Engagement Programme Lead, Dr Rhian Salmon, on [email protected]
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.
