CCRC Team: Postgraduate students

Kat is interested in the impacts of climate change on catchment hydrology and water resources in the snow-affected catchments within the Murray-Darling Basin.  Her research will involve using regional climate and rainfall-runoff modelling tools that are spatially informed by satellite data to assess the range of potential impacts on catchment hydrology associated with future climate change.

Email: k.bormann@student.unsw.edu.au

Click here for more information and contact details for Kat Bormann.

Hamish is interested in the ability of regional climate models to capture bushfire weather.

Email: h.clarke@student.unsw.edu.au  

Tim is currently studying the large-scale impacts of anthropogenic aerosols on atmospheric-oceanic circulation. He is also interested in understanding how both anthropogenic and volcanic aerosols modulate oceanic heat content, and impact the Asia monsoon.

Email: tim.cowan@csiro.au

Annika is interested in issues of development and climate change adaptation. Her PhD research is focused on climate change adaptation finance in the Pacific. Specifically, she is interested in how aid and external finance for climate change adaptation impact adaptive capacity and affect the process and outcomes of climate change adaptation initiatives in Pacific Island Countries.

Email: annika.dean@student.unsw.edu.au

Annette is investigating the feedback relationship between terrestrial processes (e.g. soil moisture, land cover change) and precipitation and how this is represented in the hydrological cycle. The aim is to improve the coupling between the land surface and atmosphere in existing models to contribute to more realistic representations of the present global climate and increase our understanding of how this will evolve with climate change.

Email: a.hirsch@student.unsw.edu.au

The last 3000 years in the northern hemisphere encompasses a range of climate extremes, including relative warmth (including the latter part of the twentieth century and the so-called ‘Medieval Warm Period’) and cooling (the ‘Little Ice Age’). The climate mechanisms of these changes remains unresolved. Using the University of Victoria (UVic) Earth System Climate Model, this project will investigate different mechanisms of past climate change by exploring the impact of changing atmospheric circulation (with a particular focus on the southern hemisphere) on global climate and ocean circulation. To test the outputs, 14C and palaeoclimate reconstruction comparisons will be made regionally and globally.

David is interested in coupled ocean-atmosphere modelling, focusing on
oceanic modes of variability in the Australian region. He plans to use
fluid dynamic theory to further develop our understanding of these modes
of variability.

Email: david.hutchinson@student.unsw.edu.au

Agata is interested in extreme events in particular extreme rainfall events such as East Coast Lows. Her work will focus on the climatology of past extreme rainfall events as well as investigating what these events might look like in future.

Email: A.Imielska@bom.gov.au

Karin is interested in representations of ocean biology in coupled global biogeochemical climate models, and how they relate to the ocean carbon dioxide sink. She is currently implementing calcifiers in the UVic ESCM and exploring the sensitivity of equilibrium states to model parameterisation. Additional research interests include biogeochemical shifts in deep time, and coupled economic and climate modelling.

Email: k.kvale@student.unsw.edu.au  

Tim is interested in the numerical modelling of sub-grid scale
physical processes within global ocean models.

Email: t.leslie@unsw.edu.au  

Ian is interested in projections of future regional climate conditions. He is investigating the effect on the results of climate change impact assessments of choices made in the process of generating future climate data.  The focus of his work is the impact of climate change on wheat cropping in New South Wales.

Email: i.macadam@unsw.edu.au  

Nicola is interested in the subduction of heat into the ocean. Her research will focus on how the ocean heat content is affected by the additional input of energy into the Earth’s system due to climate change.

Email: n.maher@student.unsw.edu.au

Penelope is interested in cloud physics and is investigating how changes in the treatment of convection in GCMs improve simulations of atmospheric
variability including rainfall over Australia.

Email: penelope.maher@student.unsw.edu.au  

Little is known about climatic variability of southeast Australia before instrumental record keeping begun some 100 years ago. My project will analyse wetland sediments from Murray Darling Basin floodplain wetlands in order to identify flood and drought phases. Using a multi-proxy approach (i.e. diatoms, XRF, particle size, L.O.I) to reconstruct the hydrological regime of the region, I will focus on the last 2000 years with the aim of producing a high-resolution sub-decadal reconstruction. Such data will assist climate model development and management decisions relating to water availability in the future.

Email: dan.anthony.miller@gmail.com

Sarah is interested in how quickly Australia can transition to become a low (or no) carbon country. She uses a range of different governance mechanisms and projects in developed and less developed countries to understand the economic, political and social drivers to these kinds of transitions.
 

Shirley is interested in modeling biophysical interactions in the oceans. Her PhD will focus on understanding the distribution of nutrients using Lagrangian techniques.

Email: xuerong.qin@student.unsw.edu.au

Click here for personal web page.

Nina is interested in the carbon exchange between the ocean and the atmosphere. Her research will evaluate the past, present and future evolution of the global carbon cycle using numerical climate models.

Email:n.ridder@student.unsw.edu.au  

Tristan is interested in developing an independent measure of the global oceanic absorption of carbon dioxide, in order to better understand the oceans role in regulating atmospheric carbon dioxide levels.

Email: t.sasse@student.unsw.edu.au

Emily's research will investigate seasonal and diurnal variability of carbonate parameters in southern Great Barrier Reef waters. These observations will help characterize the risk of this region to ocean acidification.

Email: e.shaw@student.unsw.edu.au

Graham’s research investigates Antarctic sea ice variability and trends. His current PhD work involves evaluating the relationships between Antarctic sea ice and large-scale patterns of climate variability, in addition to understanding contemporary sea ice trends and the mechanisms associated with these. Additional research interests include the Southern Annular Mode and polar climatology..

Email: g.simpkins@student.unsw.edu.au
Webpage: http://web.science.unsw.edu.au/~grahamsimpkins/

Focusing on the Atherton Tablelands, Jess will investigate lacustrine sediment cores using multi-proxy analysis and comprehensive dating to determine the extent of environment and climate change in tropical Australia during the last 3000 years. The findings will be compared to regional and global palaeorecords.

Email: jessica.roe@unsw.edu.au

Bevan is interested in the social dimensions of climate change. His research investigates the alternative energy futures for the Latrobe Valley region and how a transition to a more sustainable future could occur.

Email: b.warren@student.unsw.edu.au