News from ACEMS

One of the biggest threats to the Great Barrier Reef is pollution from land making its way downstream by way of the many rivers and streams that flow into coastal waters along the reef. New statistical tools developed by ACEMS researchers could lead to the deployment of more low-cost sensors to monitor what is in those rivers and streams.

A new QUT-led study has developed a statistical toolbox to help avoid seagrass loss which provides shelter, food and oxygen to fish and at-risk species like dugongs and green turtles.

The research has been published in Methods in Ecology and Evolution describing key monitoring and management designs to maximise seagrass resilience to human activities, to better inform seagrass dredging operations and development of coastal areas.

ACEMS Associate Investigator Giang Nguyen was named a South Australian Tall Poppy.

ACEMS Chief Investigator Kate Smith-Miles led the development of a new online tool that stress-tests an algorithm, showing where an algorithm will work well, and more importantly, where it could be unreliable.

ACEMS PhD Student Alex Cooper takes home not one, but a pair of best student presentations at two major conferences.

Research published in Nature Communications reveals a considerable chance for an ice-free Arctic Ocean at global warming limits stipulated in the Paris Agreement. Scientists from South Korea, Australia and the USA used results from climate models and a new statistical approach to calculate the likelihood for Arctic sea ice to disappear at different warming levels.

ACEMS would like to congratulate Professor Sir Peter Donnelly for being knighted for his research looking into the relationship between human genetics and disease.

Professor Donnelly received the Knight Bachelor medal in the Queen's Birthday honours 2019. Professor Donnelly also played a key role in the creation of ACEMS, as one of the founding members of the Centre's Governance Advisory Board.

To ACEMS' mathematicians like the University of Melbourne’s Dr Nick Beaton, Professor Jan de Gier and Professor Tony Guttmann, ‘beyond reasonable doubt’ simply isn’t good enough. To them, a mathematical proof is ‘beyond any doubt’ – and it is a thing of beauty.

The Australian Academy of Science names ACEMS Associate Investigator David Balding as one of its 2019 Fellows.