Centre affiliation and funding requests

Please note this important reminder as we move to a post-ARCCSS era. Even though the ARCCSS centre has officially come to the end of its ARC funding, the graduate program and all of the support it offers will continue on for all centre students – ARCCSS and CLEX. This includes winter schools, centre workshops, writing workshop, CMS support etc.

For ARCCSS students you still keep your ARCCSS affiliation, especially in regards to any publications related to your degree. The Centre has also ensured we have funding available for any travel you may require for the remainder of your candidature. So, please continue to report your activities via Clever and, if you do require funding, follow the usual procedures. Talk to your supervisor first and then submit a funding request via Clever if they think it is appropriate.

Winter School 2018

We held our 6th annual winter school in June. This year was a transitional ARCCSS-CLEX winter school on Climate Extremes and High Impact Weather. As usual we accepted Australian and New Zealand graduate students regardless of their affiliation with the centre and welcomed 60 participants from ten universities. All lectures were recorded and are available on our website. In addition to the lectures, participants worked on climate extremes mini-projects throughout the week. You can read Steefan Contractor’s account of his project experience in this newsletter.

The week ended with a Researcher Communication workshop facilitated by Dr Merryn McKinnon from ANU’s Centre for Public Awareness of Science. Merryn ran exercises on how to best communicate who you are and why you do what you do both written and orally.

Participants worked on an elevator pitch exercise and re-worked their bios. The key messages were to know who your audience is, know what you want to achieve and, importantly, make it interesting and relevant. Don’t just list your CV.

I did these exercises during my time on the Homeward Bound program and found them so useful I knew I had to bring them back to the CoE community. Though I admit doing them in a lecture room at ANU wasn’t quite the same as on a rocking ship in Antarctica.

You can see an example of the outcome these exercises below where I am bravely sharing the pre and post-Homeward Bound versions of my bio. In the old version I provide a traditional, and dare I say boring, summary of my CV that barely touches on my work in graduate student development. This was a wasted opportunity that unfortunately sat on the ARCCSS website for many years.  Winter school participants should now also all have updated versions of their bio.

Please send these through to Alvin for updating on our CoE websites. Employers often look at our student bio pages when they have positions available, make the most of this opportunity!

Careers and job applications

I have had a LOT of conversations with our students and ECRs about jobs and the job application process lately. In response I have a couple of researcher development seminars coming up that address these topics. I am also more than happy to look over CVs, job applications, or simply have a phone/zoom chat with anyone who is after some career advice at any time. Please feel free to reach out.

Melissa Bio version 1 (do not use as a prototype!)

Dr Melissa Hart completed her Bachelor of Science (Hons) (2011) and PhD (2007) in atmospheric science at Macquarie University Australia. During her PhD she worked part-time at the well-respected air quality consultancy Holmes Air Sciences.

She then spent two years as a postdoctoral research at Portland State University, Oregon, working on the National Science Foundation-funded Feedbacks between Urban Systems and Environment (FUSE) project. This was followed by five years in a faculty position in the Department of Geography, the University of Hong Kong, China.

Dr Hart’s main research focus is in the area of urban climate, in particular the impact of land-use, surface characteristics and anthropogenic activities on the climate of cities, and quantification of the magnitude of the urban heat island. She is also working in the area of air pollution meteorology, in particular air pollution impacts from hazard reduction burns.

Dr Hart holds an honorary position in the Department of Geography, the University of Hong Kong, and is a member of the Science Advisory Panel for ClimateWatch Hong Kong and China, and the Bureau of Meteorology’s Course Advisory Committee.

Dr Hart has extensive international experience in tertiary education at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.

Melissa Bio version 2

As the Graduate Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate System Science, Melissa Hart has developed a national, cross-institutional graduate program. This program provides the vital combination of breadth, depth, support, and collaboration not always seen in the Australian PhD.  To date it has trained over 120 PhD students.

As a researcher, Melissa looks at the impact of cities on climate and climate on cities, and meteorological controls on air pollution.

Melissa is a passionate advocate for gender equity in science and is the chair of the Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society’s equity and diversity committee, and a proud participant of the 2018 Homeward Bound Women in STEMM leadership initiative.