The SA Climate Leaders Awards recognises the achievements of individuals and organisations who take action to address climate change in South Australia. Entries for the 2018 awards were received from many different industries and sectors, including local councils, the building industry, community organisations and more.

The Environment Institute had two members nominated for this outstanding award. Associate Professor Seth Westra, a leading researcher in the fields of hydrology, water resources and climate risk. Seth has made deep contributions to understanding how climate change is intensifying the global hydrological cycle, with over 90 peer-reviewed publications, including three in Nature Climate Change. Seth has created a lasting impact through his work supporting Australia’s flood engineers and planners to account for the impacts of climate change, and through his development of free and open-access software tools for stress testing climate-sensitive systems.

Dr Manuel Peter Solis, a University of Adelaide Law lecturer, has advocated to progressively integrate climate change into the law curriculum and is working towards making South Australia a recognised leader in climate change education and research. Since its maiden offering in 2017, about 100 law students from diverse backgrounds, including indigenous students, completed Climate Change Law with the number expected to grow in the coming years.

We would like to congratulate these two outstanding champions and announce Associate Professor Seth Westra as the Winner of the Individual Category of this award.

A special mention to Professor Bronwyn Gillanders working in a combined effort of researchers, government, industry and scientists with the Goyder Institute to contribute to climate impact research projects. They were finalists in the Government category.

View all of the finalists and winners here.