Written by the ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes
What is the Centre’s legacy?
The ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes has profoundly shaped our understanding of extreme weather events and their intricate connections to climate change and variability. Through pioneering research, the Centre has transformed our capacity to understand and predict climate extremes, leaving an enduring legacy of scientific discovery and technical innovation.
The Centre’s impact is multifaceted, encompassing groundbreaking achievements such as:
- Over 1200 High-Impact Publications: The Centre produced a remarkable body of work published in leading international journals, setting a benchmark for academic excellence.
- Cultivating Early Career Researchers: A thriving community of exceptional early career scientists emerged from the Centre, fostering a new generation of thought leaders in climate science.
- Advancing Software Engineering Standards: The Centre established enhanced standards, publishing code and data that now serve as foundational tools for future research endeavours.
- Science Literacy and Stakeholder Engagement: Through reports, briefing notes, submissions to government inquiries, and efforts to improve science literacy among stakeholders, the Centre amplified its influence beyond academia.
Collaboration was at the heart of the Centre’s success. It fostered an inclusive, diverse culture of national and international cooperation across multiple disciplines. This culture was underpinned by a community committed to open dialogue, respectful engagement, and robust intellectual debate.
The contributions of the leadership team, deputy directors, chief and partner investigators, advisory board members, portfolio leads, support staff, researchers, and students were integral to achieving this excellence.
The Centre’s legacy extends beyond breakthrough science and advanced predictions. It has established a culture of collaboration and nurtured a new generation of science leaders poised to influence Australian society for decades to come.
This enduring impact will continue to inform strategies and policies, helping reduce national and global vulnerabilities to climate extremes while enhancing resilience in the face of growing environmental challenges.