PhD student Nena Bulovic from the Centre for Water in the Minerals Industry, was one of only 19 early-career researchers from across Australia and New Zealand invited to participate in the third Australian Climate and Water Summer Institute (SI) hosted by the Australian National University.
The SI ran over the 2018 / 2019 summer break and was made up of a two-week ‘bootcamp’ and a four-week project planning and execution phase that finished off with the annual OzEWEX workshop.
During the ‘bootcamp’, participants learned about and received training in current national water and climate related datasets and tools through visits to federal agencies such as the Bureau of Meteorology, Geoscience Australia, and CSIRO.
At the end of the two weeks, participants self-organised into small groups and developed water and climate related research projects in collaboration with partner agencies, addressing issues of national significance.
Nena and her team developed and tested a few methods for remotely monitoring water storage volumes over time using satellite imagery in combination with Lidar data, and they applied the methods to the Menindee Lakes complex in NSW as a case study. The project was established in partnership with the Murray-Darling Basin Authority and Geoscience Australia, in the hope of assisting regulators with monitoring water users for compliance purposes.
All groups presented their projects at the two-day OzEWEX workshop (proceedings and presentations available here) where they received valuable feedback. The workshop also gave them the opportunity to learn about new research in the area and the chance to network with Australian industry and research professionals.
Nena said the SI was not only a great opportunity to learn new research / coding skills and gain knowledge on fantastic freely available national datasets, but to also have fun while developing new friendships, networks and collaborations across the country.
Nena is planning to give a presentation on her SI experience and an overview on the vast array of freely available datasets for researchers and where / how to access them.
More details to come
