Mission

To enhance the adaptive capacity of Australia’s marine biodiversity and resources to climate change risks through the effective integration of our knowledge of conditions, responses and interactions involving marine biodiversity, living marine resources, socioeconomic issues, policy, management and governance.

The degree of adaptive capacity present in social or ecological systems is central to their resilience. Resilience means having the ability to bounce back from disturbance, to reorganize and regenerate systems and structures in order to adapt to new situations, and the capacity to transform them if necessary. A central concern for resilient systems is the quality of the connections and the information flowing between different components and subsystems. Many environmental and resource management issues arise from various failures of connection, coordination and communication, whether between levels of government or among individual agencies, at the science/policy interface, or between the physical and social sciences. Good environmental governance, policy and management results from inclusion of all relevant stakeholders’ contributions, combining knowledge from different sources, and when feedback signals are routinely incorporated into planning and action. 

The role of the Integration theme is to facilitate communication, collaboration and cooperation among the Network’s diverse paradigms of biophysical, social, economic, and policy knowledge and practice; to facilitate stakeholder input into adaptation strategy development for the marine system through national workshops; and to facilitate the communication of learnings to the policy sphere and their incorporation into adaptation policy and planning. 

In the first of three phases of activity, the Integration group will lead an initiative to determine the current resilience status of the marine social-ecological system. In the second activity phase, the Integration theme will be concerned to chart the potential for abrupt change in the marine social-ecological system and particularly identifying the conditions under which resilience may be lost. In the third phase, the focus is on enhancing the resilience of the marine system through building adaptive capacity and identifying pathways to adaptation implementation.

Meet the Integration Team

Theme Leader
A/Prof Neil Holbrook is Convenor of the Adaptation Research Network for Marine Biodiversity and Resources; Associate Professor of Climatology and Climate Change at the University of Tasmania; Associate Editor of the Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Journal and past Associate Editor of Journal of Climate [2006-2008] and Executive Secretary of the International Commission on Climate of IAMAS/IUGG. Neil is an international expert in the regional- to large-scale ocean and climate dynamics of the South Pacific, oceanic Rossby waves, climate predictability, extremes and climate change risks. He is interested in the complex feedbacks in climate change science, impacts and adaptation.


Co-theme Leader
Dr Paul Marshall is Director of the Climate Change Group in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority. He leads national and international initiatives to understand climate vulnerability of coral reef systems and provide adaptation guidance for conservation practitioners and resource-dependent industries and communities. He is particularly interested in integrating knowledge to support practical adaptation measures in tropical marine systems.

Network Coordinator
Clare Brooker manages the Graduate School program for postgraduate students and early career researchers, and the Research support grant program which offers support to honours and masters students undertaking research into Marine Climate Change Adaptation.  As a stakeholder liaison and event coordinator she has organised and played a significant role in the implementation of Focussed strategy meetings to discuss priority issues surrounding climate change adaptation for Marine Biodiversity and Resources.  Clare also plays a significant role in database management and the development of systems for collaboration, and manages deadlines and reporting.


Publicity Officer
Laura Purcell manages the Marine Adaptation Network’s website, membership registration and the collation and distribution of Information Sheets and the quarterly Marine Adaptation Bulletin.  Please .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) Laura if you would like hard copy versions of the Network’s publications and/or you are interested in contributing an article to the bulletin.




Partner Organisers
A/Prof Ian Goodwin (Macquarie University) has experience in the fields of environmental geoscience, coastal geoscience, climatology, environmental hazard definition and management. Ian is an international expert on sea-level change and coastal response, wave climatology, longshore sediment transport, and large-scale coastal behaviour. His work is unique, as he has developed an integrated approach to researching.




Prof Nathan Bindoff is the Professor of Physical Oceanography at the University of Tasmania, and CSIRO Marine Research Laboratories, Director of the Tasmanian Partnership for Advanced Computing (TPAC) and Project Leader of the Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre‘s (ACE CRC) Modelling Program. I am a physical oceanographer, specialising in ocean climate and the earth’s climate system.




Research Fellow
Dr. Julie Davidson (University of Tasmania) is a social scientist with backgrounds in urban geography and environmental studies. She has expertise in sustainability governance, natural resource governance, environmental planning, and qualitative research methods. As Research Fellow for the Integration Theme she ties social, ecological and economic factors into thoughts about adaptation.