The AUS-ACCESS4EU newsletter details a number of ACCESS4EU projects in a two year programme to raise awareness of the current research and development landscape in Australia

AUS-ACCESS4EU

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The Australian National University

 AUS-ACCESS4EU   Newsletter – Issue four August 2011Welcome to the fourth and last issue of the AUS-ACCESS4EU newsletter. Thank you for your interest in this project of supporting EU access to Australian research programmes.AUS-ACCESS4EU is one of a number of ACCESS4EU projects in a two year programme to raise awareness of the current R&D landscape in Australia. Our aim is to enhance European Union and Australian cooperation in science  and innovation by investigating and reflecting upon the current state of  European researchers’ access to Australian funded research, technological development and innovation programmes and facilities.In this issue you will find:■■ Focus on research activities and infrastructure in Australia’s tropical environments■■ Success story – EU Health Event■■ Future events■■ Other news■■ The AUS-ACCESS4EU Project The partners involved in the project are:■■ International Bureau of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research at the German Aerospace  Centre (DLR) – Germany  ■■ Forum for European-Australian Science and Technology cooperation (FEAST) at  The Australian National University – (ANU) – Australia    ■■ Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) – Australia   ■■ The British Council – UKThis newsletter is produced by the British Council in conjunction with our partners.  If you have any comments or feedback, please do get in touch with us at the email address below.The AUS-ACCESS4EU team  Contact: aus-access4.eu@britishcouncil.orgFocus on Research Activities in Australia’s  Tropical Environment Australia encompasses a vast range of terrestrial and marine ecosystems, from the tropical north to temperate and semi-desert regions to the Southern Ocean and Antarctic territories. Australian researchers are working to understand these ecosystems and to learn how to better manage and protect them. Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS)www.aims.gov.auAIMS is Australia’s tropical marine research agency. The institute has the capacity to investigate topics from broad-scale ecology to microbiology, and is committed to the protection and sustainable use of Australia’s marine resources. Its research programmes support the management of tropical marine environments around the world, with a primary focus on the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area, the pristine Ningaloo Marine Park in Western Australia and northwest Australia.AIMS’ headquarters is located near Townsville, Queensland, in a scientific zone surrounded by a national park and marine reserve. This strategic position, close to the geographical centre of the Great Barrier Reef and with access to clean seawater, provides for a fast transition from the sea to the laboratory.AIMS takes a leading role in many international coral reef research initiatives, including CReefs, a field programme within the Global Census of Marine Life (CoML), and the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network. Through partnerships with international marine science organisations such as the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), AIMS is improving its ability to address issues of national and international importance.Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authoritywww.gbrmpa.gov.auThe Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) is the Australian Government agency responsible for the Great Barrier Reef’s planning and management through the control, care and development of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. The Authority aims to address key risks affecting the outlook for the Great Barrier Reef such as ecosystem resilience, climate change, water quality and the impact of fishing. It also works to ensure that management delivers ecologically sustainable use of the Great Barrier Reef. This involves liaising with traditional owners, industry, reef users, other governments and the community.© CSIROARC Centres of Excellence and the environmentwww.arc.gov.au/ncgp/ce/ce_default.htmThe Australian Research Council’s (ARC) Centres of Excellence scheme was established in 2003 to address designated National Research Priorities. The scheme aims to enhance and develop Australia’s research excellence through highly innovative and collaborative research, as well as build Australia’s human capacity in a range of research areas.Two ARC Centres of Excellence that have been funded to work on the sustainable use and management of the environment are the ARC Centres of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies and for Environmental Decisions.ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studieswww.coralcoe.org.au/The ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies undertakes world-best integrated research for sustainable use and management of coral reefs.The Centre is a partnership of James Cook University, the Australian Institute of Marine Science, The Australian National University, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, The University of Queensland and the University of Western Australia. The Centre of Excellence cements Australia’s leading contribution to coral reef sciences, and fosters stronger collaborative links between the major partners and 24 other leading institutions in nine countries. Collectively, the Centre creates the world’s largest concentration of coral reef scientists.The Centre of Excellence focuses on 8 research programmes:■■ Evolutionary and environmental change; ■■ Understanding and managing coral reef biodiversity; ■■ Marine reserves and reef connectivity; ■■ Genetic, molecular and physiological processes; ■■ Resilience of linked social-ecological systems; ■■ Conservation planning for a sustainable future; ■■ Policy development, institutions and governance of coral reefs; and ■■ Genomics and metagenomics of coral reefs. The Centre of Excellence takes a leading role in multi-national research programmes. It is the largest single institutional contributor to the Global Coral Reef Targeted Research Programme, funded by the World Bank, and is an Institutional Member of the Resilience Alliance. The Centre of Excellence has strong links to the Census of Marine Life project, and to coral reef management agencies worldwide, particularly the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority in Townsville.© CSIRO© CSIROARC Centre of Excellence for Environmental Decisions (CEED)www.ceed.edu.au CEED aims to generate the fundamental knowledge and tools needed to make the best use of available resources for conservation by providing new techniques for assessing what resources are required and innovative ways for learning from our investment decisions.Areas of interest include: ■■ Spatial Planning for Landscape Restoration and Management; ■■ Biodiversity Decisions in Dynamic Systems; ■■ Rapidly-transforming Landscapes; ■■ Optimal Management of Multiple Threats and species; ■■ Decision-making Tools for Complex Environmental Problems; ■■ Optimal Monitoring and Evaluation; and■■ Biodiversity scenarios and forecasting. Collaborating and Partner Organisations are the Universities of Melbourne and Western Australia; the Australian National University; RMIT University; Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research- UFZ Germany; The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel; Stellenbosch University, South Africa; CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems, Australia; Imperial College, UK; University of Helsinki, Finland and US Geological Survey, USADecision Point is CEED’s monthly magazine presenting articles, views and ideas on environmental decision making, biodiversity, conservation planning and monitoring. www.ceed.edu.au/dpoint-news The Atlas of Living Australiawww.ala.org.au The Atlas of Living Australia is an initiative to improve access to essential information on Australia’s biodiversity by providing tools for researchers and others to access, combine and map data on Australian species. The Atlas project is a partnership between the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), the Australian natural history collections community and the Australian Government.The Atlas offers:■■ A page for each Australian plant, animal and fungi with photos, descriptions, distribution maps and observations;■■ Lists of scientific and common names for Australian species;■■ Identification keys and tools;■■ Information on the specimens in Australian collections at museums, herbaria and other institutions;■■ Mapping tools to analyse and visualise biodiversity and environmental data and trends;■■ Information and tools for citizen science projects;■■ Tools to track biodiversity and ecological environmental changes over time;■■ Open source tools to download and use; and■■ Australian nodes of international biodiversity databases and tools, e.g. Biodiversity Heritage Library.Success story opportunities for  doing health research in third countries Access4EU info-sessions, Brussels 9 June 2011Brussels hosted two info days on Access4EU. The aim of the workshops was to promote opportunities for European researchers interested in undertaking Health research in Third Countries.The first info-session was part of the official programme of the FP7 Health Infoday organised by the European Commission. During the parallel session on international cooperation chaired by Mr Indridi Benediktsson (European Commission, DG RTD, Directorate Health Horizontal Aspects and Coordination), representatives of eight Third Countries presented the research and innovation programmes in their respective countries. Countries represented included: Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand, Russia, South Korea, South Africa and the United States of America. With 3-minute presentations, each speaker highlighted the opportunities for European researchers under these programmes. Close to a hundred people from all over the world participated at this ‘teaser’ session, which also served to promote the evening session where ample time was reserved for networking.Left: Participants during the parallel session on International Cooperation. Right: Participants of  the Health Infoday at the Access4EU information booth. (copyright BodilPalmberg/EuropaMedia)Outside the conference hall, the participants of the Health info day were welcomed by an Access4EU–booth with brochures and other promotional materials showcasing the range of Access4EU projects.The second info-session was organised in cooperation with eight Access4EU projects at Crowne Plaza Europa Hotels. In total, over 90 people participated at this Access4EU dissemination and networking event. Dedicated ‘country tables’ gave participants the opportunitiy to meet the country representatives and discuss the possibilities for cooperation. Later, a series of eight 10-minute presentations was initiated. After a quick welcome by Mr Ben Kubbinga (Agency for the Promotion of European Research), Mr Philippe Froissard (European Commission, DG RTD, International Cooperation Projects) explained the rationale behind the Access4EU initiative. Subsequently, the following speakers presented the research opportunities in their respective countries: Mr Gerd Ruecker for Australia, Ms Sharon Irwin for Canada, Mr R.P. Singh for India, Ms Karla Falloon for New Zealand, Ms Natalia Mielech for Russia, Ms Sinead Quigley for South Korea, Mr Iqbal Parker for South Africa and Mr David Bruce Conn for the USA.	   	  Speakers at the Access4EU event at Crowne Plaza: Mr Philippe Froissard (European Commission), Mr Gerd Ruecker for Australia, Ms Sharon Irwin for Canada, Mr R.P. Singh for India, Ms Karla Falloon for New Zealand,Ms Natalia Mielech for Russia, Ms Sinead Quigley for South Korea, Mr Iqbal Parker for South Africa, Mr David Bruce Conn for the USA and Mr Ben Kubbinga (APRE). (copyright Bodil Palmberg/EuropaMedia)Presentations can be downloaded here: www.access4.eu/healthinfoday2011 To conclude the presentations a networking cocktail party was organised where participants had the opportunity to discuss in more detail how they can set up collaborations with Third Country research programmes. Participants came from all over the world and though most participants indicated that they were generally interested in the opportunities outside Europe, many had a preference for the following countries: Australia, Canada, New Zealand, India, Russia, South Africa and the USA.	  	  Audience of the Access4EU event a Crowne Plaza Europa Hotel. (copyright Bodil Palmberg/ EuropaMedia)International Conference Energy & Meteorology (ICEM)Tuesday 8th – Friday 11th November 2011 Gold Coast, Queensland, AustraliaEnergy & Meteorology 2011 provides a great opportunity to network with scientists, engineers, economists, policy makers and other specialists working at the nexus between weather, climate and energy. More information at: www.icem2011.org/index.htmlCreative Innovation 2011 (Ci2011)Wednesday 16th – Friday 18th November 2011 Melbourne, AustraliaThe conference will bring together delegates from all sectors to discuss the challenges that impact global business and society, growth and sustainability issues facing the business environments of Asia Pacific, learning institutions and workplaces of the future and best practice for leaders and organisations in a super-connected world.More information at:  www.creativeinnovationglobal.com.au/ci2011/25th International Congress for Conservation Biology (ICCB 2011)Monday 5th - Friday 9th December 2011 Auckland, New ZealandThe Society for Conservation Biology International Congress for Conservation Biology (ICCB) is recognized as the most important international meeting for conservation professionals and studentsMore information at: www.conbio.org/201112th International Coral Reef Symposium (ICRS 2012)Monday 9th - Friday 13th July 2012  Cairns, AustraliaThe world’s leading natural scientists, resource managers, conservationists, economists, educators and graduate students will meet together in Cairns to progress coral reef science, management and conservation.James Cook University (www.jcu.edu.au) and the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies (www.coralcoe.org.au) are proud to host the 12th International Coral Reef Symposium (ICRS 2012) and welcome the return of this event to Australia for the first time since 1988. More information at: www.icrs2012.comWillem van Aken, © CSIROLucy Potts, © CSIROFuture eventsOther newsWorld Class Tropical Research Centre Opened in Townsville, Queensland 12 July 2011Gene Secrets of the Reef Revealed5 July 2011Streamlined process for trans-Tasman patents5 July 2011Australia’s World Class Biotechnology on Show29 June 2011How water spiders breathe below the surface28 June 2011The Maia X-ray Microprobe Element Imaging System developed for use at the Australian Synchrotron by CSIRO and Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York has won a prestigious R&D 100 Award23 June 2011New R&D Tax Credit will start on 1 July 201115 June 2011Ocean acidification makes clownfish hard of hearing7 June 2011Dhimurru Aboriginal Corporation, Rio-Tinto Alcan Gove and CSIRO are celebrating winning the prestigious Biodiversity category of the United Nations Association of Australia World Environment Day Awards tonight3 June 2011Willem van Aken, © CSIROThe AUS-ACCESS4EU project set out to promote research cooperation between the EU and Australia. We’ve identified opportunities for EU researchers to access Australian funding programmes and shared details of the programmes through our interactive website and a series of information days across Europe from Stockholm through to London, Paris, Bonn, Vienna, Rome, Madrid and Brussels. We’ve established good working relationships with key programme owners in Australia and encouraged them to be more explicit in their openness to European researchers in their programmes. In addition, we have explored policy issues that will facilitate and foster more S&T collaboration. We’ve increased the visibility of information on the benefits of more internationalised research support and investigated the use of metrics of reciprocity in funding international research and innovation cooperation. We have also highlighted the need for improved data collection to give a clearer picture of current trends in international engagement, and engaged programme owners in that conversation.Along with all this, the German, British and Australian partnership has been an excellent example of international cooperation in action. FEAST is our cousin project and their staff has been integral to this project. FEAST will continue until June 2012.  Their website – www.feast.org – has a wealth of information on Australian research strengths, capabilities and opportunities and on mobility issues. We’ve benefited from the valuable and generous contributions of programme owners and policy makers, Learned Academies, fellow ACCESS4EU projects, the British Council, embassies and individual researchers in Australia and Europe.The AUS-ACCESS4EU ProjectNick Pitsas, © CSIROFind out more You can find a wide range of information about research and innovation programmes  open to EU researchers in the RTDI programme database on the ACCESS4EU web portal at http://www.access4.eu Information in the database is updated continuously. You are able to search by country, programme type and thematic area and retrieve a programme description and information on the closing date, eligibility requirements, how to apply, the budget and contact details and a programme weblink.You can also find out more about research opportunities in Australia by contacting your  National Contact Point (NCP):■ National Contact Points in Australia http://www.feast.org/index/ncp  ■ National Contact Points in Europe http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/ncp_en.html www.aus-access4.euAUS-ACCESS4EU is an ACCESS4EU project funded under the 7th European Framework Programme for Research and Technical Development (FP7), CAPACITIES programme, International Cooperation.

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