Jaci is acting hub leader. Previously Jaci worked as Research Director for the Climate Intelligence Program and the lead of CSIRO’s Climate Science Centre. The Climate Intelligence Program translates vast and complex climate information into decision-ready formats and applications.
It is my absolute pleasure to be stepping into the acting Hub Leader role in the near term. Having held the role as CSIRO Research Director for the Climate Intelligence Program, I am very familiar with the work of this hub and excited to lead the hub as we design the next phase of our research. There have been many great developments in our fundamental science, and the way we deliver and empower society to use climate information. In the remaining years of the hub we will be working to ensure we finalise and capture these efforts and deliver them to our stakeholders.
Dr Jaci Brown visiting the ACCESS-NRI in her previous role with the Climate Science Centre. Source: CSIRO.
In this role, I am enjoying bringing together my experience in management and strategy development, along with my climate science background and passion for climate communication. And most of all I am really enjoying having more time to spend talking to our fabulous scientists – some I’m meeting for the first time and others I’ve worked with for over 20 years.
There is an accelerating demand for climate information. I was privileged to represent Australia’s climate research at the United Nations COP27 and COP28 in Egypt and Dubai over the last two years. It was an energising experience to see the huge demand for our expertise. One of the big challenges ahead is how we’re going to deliver on a scale to everybody who wants that information. Everybody needs climate information and we are seeing an expansion in our range of stakeholders across government, the private sector, and Australian communities. At the same time, we are still developing our climate knowledge and there is much to be done developing the ACCESS model for CMIP7, determining our carbon budget and getting climate information at high resolution.
In this hub, we’re also seeing an expansion of the scientific questions we are asking. with newly emerging science around compound extremes, projected extreme rain and tropical cyclones, pushing the edges of what we know. We are being challenged to find new ways to communicate this complex information to a growing and diverse audience.
I look forward to the rest of this year as we set up the Research Plans for 2025 and 2026 and see the fruits of our labour being picked up into real and successful adaptation and mitigation.