In 2023, the ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes produced several high-impact briefing notes, garnering global attention for the Centre’s research and researchers.
What is a Briefing note? A briefing note is a targeted publication by the Centre of Excellence that educates and informs a specific audience about a scientific question or concept. Briefing notes can be tailored for many different audiences and purposes.
The Engagement and Impact team works with researchers to tailor content for their target audience, produce high-quality imagery, and design and distribute briefing notes to audiences.
Preparing Australia and the World for El Niño The most successful Briefing note of 2023 was led by early career researcher Ruby Lieber. “What is El Niño’s impact on Australia’s weather and climate?” was the most popular article on climateextremes.org. au, with over 8,000 page views and links to over 200 websites. It was quoted in an El Niño explainer article produced by The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age and referenced in The Washington Post.
Ruby also appeared as an expert on Channel 7’s Weekend Sunrise program to explain the El Niño phenomenon for the Australian community. Ruby is now recognised as one of Australia’s most effective new science communicators on the El Niño phenomenon.
Explaining Climate Modelling for Different Audiences One of the major projects for the year was a series of Briefing notes and web articles explaining climate models to different audiences. The Centre’s climate modelling hub explained the concepts behind climate models for three different audiences: climate model beginners, climate model stakeholders and climate model experts.
These were underpinned by the Briefing notes “Climate modelling — an overview”, “A closer look at climate modelling” and three climate modelling related research briefings produced by early career researchers. The Engagement and Impact team worked with researchers over a number of months to tailor the content for different audiences and levels of scientific literacy, producing high-quality designs and a glossary to help the community understand climate modelling terminology.
Australian Research with Global Reach The Centre’s briefing notes and reports were also featured on a stall at the World Climate Research Programme conference in Kigali, Rwanda, and web traffic to the Centre’s Briefing notes came from countries all over the world, including the United States, United Kingdom, India, China, France and more.
ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes – Annual Report 2023
From the Chair of the Advisory Board
Climate Science Leaders of the Future
Weather and Climate Interactions Research Program
Attribution and Risk Research Program
Ocean Extremes Research Program
Computational Modelling Systems
Governance, Management and our Commitment to Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
