Dr Davina White and Dr Kane Aldridge both members of the Environment Institute and from the School of Earth & Environmental Sciences at The University of Adelaide, recently attended the “Australian Academy of Sciences High Flyers Think Tank” in Brisbane.

Dr Davina White

Davina and Kane were the only two University of Adelaide candidates to be nominated and selected to attended the Think Tank, which is held annually to discuss topics of national importance. This year the theme was “Stressed Ecosystems: Better Decisions for Australia’s Future”. Four Australian ecosystems were discussed as case studies Queensland’s Surat and Bowen Basins, Melbourne’s peri-urban grasslands, the Ningaloo Marine Park, and the Murray-Darling Basin.

Dr Kane Aldridge

Discussions focused on the capability of scientific models to support decision-making and facilitate the management of Australian ecosystems. The recommendations from the discussions of the four case studies offer options for a ‘way forward’ to underpin government policy development and research prioritisation, and will be published as proceedings and made available on the Academy’s website.