Complexity in climate impact assessment: a methodology to address extremes. It is something of a truism that the events and states of the changing environment that affect society tend to fall in the extremes. My goal is to develop a model-based methodology to characterize the extremes that are not usually predicted by climate models. Key extremes of importance to stakeholders in Australia and around the world include coastal flooding and fire. These events, in the context of regional climate var ....Complexity in climate impact assessment: a methodology to address extremes. It is something of a truism that the events and states of the changing environment that affect society tend to fall in the extremes. My goal is to develop a model-based methodology to characterize the extremes that are not usually predicted by climate models. Key extremes of importance to stakeholders in Australia and around the world include coastal flooding and fire. These events, in the context of regional climate variation, will act as test cases for the methodology. From this work, the likelihood of policy-relevant events in the future can be evaluated, with a robust assessment of the uncertainty.Read moreRead less
Reducing health inequities and social exclusion: improved theory, understanding and policies. This research will provide knowledge to help understanding of why some groups are less healthy and less included in the mainstream of society than others. Research evidence indicates that reducing differences in health status & making more citizens included in the activities of society has overall health benefits & is good for economic development. The program will provide Australian and other governmen ....Reducing health inequities and social exclusion: improved theory, understanding and policies. This research will provide knowledge to help understanding of why some groups are less healthy and less included in the mainstream of society than others. Research evidence indicates that reducing differences in health status & making more citizens included in the activities of society has overall health benefits & is good for economic development. The program will provide Australian and other governments with much improved evidence about what works, what does not work in terms of improving population health and so enable better decisions about which public programs to invest in. Thus the research conducted under this program will inform ways in which Australian and overseas populations can achieve long and more productive livesRead moreRead less
Adaptive and Integrated Resource Allocation. By leveraging progress in communication technologies, adaptive and integrated optimization systems will open innovative application areas critical to Australia, yet outside the scope of existing optimization technology. For instance, they will dispatch and reallocate ambulances in real time, help contain pandemics, allocate resources dynamically to extinguish bushfires, and assist in failure recovery of energy infrastrutures. These systems will also s ....Adaptive and Integrated Resource Allocation. By leveraging progress in communication technologies, adaptive and integrated optimization systems will open innovative application areas critical to Australia, yet outside the scope of existing optimization technology. For instance, they will dispatch and reallocate ambulances in real time, help contain pandemics, allocate resources dynamically to extinguish bushfires, and assist in failure recovery of energy infrastrutures. These systems will also solve existing logistics and manufacturing applications better, making these industries more effective and reactive. The project also aims at establishing a center of excellence in optimization in Melbourne with an international reputation in research, teaching, and industrial collaboration.Read moreRead less
Integrating economics and science for land, water and biodiversity policy. Australian government programs for land and water conservation involve expenditure of billions of dollars, combined with much larger contributions from program participants. However, various problems with these programs have been identified. This research will assist program investors to better target funding, to employ more appropriate policy mechanisms, and to operate in a cost-effective way, achieving the most highly v ....Integrating economics and science for land, water and biodiversity policy. Australian government programs for land and water conservation involve expenditure of billions of dollars, combined with much larger contributions from program participants. However, various problems with these programs have been identified. This research will assist program investors to better target funding, to employ more appropriate policy mechanisms, and to operate in a cost-effective way, achieving the most highly valued environmental outcomes that can be achieved with the available budget. The project will develop improved theories, frameworks and economic models, integrating information from physical, biological and social sciences, and decision tools for use by environmental decision makers.Read moreRead less