UOW Global Challenges is excited to announce and welcome Senior Professor Sharon Robinson as the new Executive Director of the Global Challenges Program.
is the challenge leader for the Global Challenges Sustaining Coastal and Marine Zones challenge and is internationally renowned for her expertise in interdisciplinary studies on Antarctic plants and climate change.
Robinson says she is delighted to be taking on leadership of the Global Challenges Program and the opportunity it brings to build and promote interdisciplinary research at UOW.
鈥淥ver recent months the Global Challenges Program has shown it is able to respond quickly to new challenges that face our region and the world - from drought, bushfires and floods to the current COVID pandemic. These regional and global challenges require research across many disciplines to enable us to create a new resilient future for our planet and its people.
鈥淭he Global Challenges Program is a vital part of UOW鈥檚 toolbox for leading our research, training and mentorship as we recover from these disasters and build a brighter future.鈥�
Professor Robinson鈥檚 role as Executive Director of UOW Global Challenges is effective immediately and is initially for a three year period until 30 June 2023.
Deputy Vice Chancellor, Research and Innovation Division, Professor Jenny Martin will work with the leadership team of the Global Challenges Program on filling the role of Leader of the Building Resilient Communities challenge in the coming weeks.
In the meantime, Building Resilient Communities will continue to benefit from the expertise of Research Officer, Tasch Arndt as the main point of contact for this challenge. Tasch brings a depth of academic and practical knowledge to the Building Resilient Communities challenge, and she has demonstrated her ability to work with teams to develop new ideas since she joined the team six months ago.
Senior Professor Sharon Robinson
Executive Director, UOW Global Challenges
Challenge Leader, Sustaining Coastal & Marine Zones
is internationally renowned for her interdisciplinary studies on Antarctic plants and climate change. She pioneered the use of the radiocarbon bomb spike to date Antarctic plants showing that individual mosses are hundreds of years old. She has demonstrated that stable isotopic signatures and other chemical markers in these mosses provide a record of Antarctic coastal climate change and ozone depletion. The long-term monitoring system for Antarctic vegetation she developed has provided the first evidence that climate drying is affecting East Antarctic moss beds and her team are developing remote sensing technologies to assess ecosystem health in Antarctica non destructively. As a member of the United Nations Environment Programme Environmental Effects Assessment (UNEP EEAP) Panel she has highlighted how ozone depletion is impacting ecosystems across the Southern Hemisphere, through its effects on climate.
Professor Robinson was educated in the UK. After completing her PhD at University College London in 1990, she held postdoctoral positions in the USA and Australia before moving to 51茶馆 in 1996. She first visited East Antarctica in 1996 and has since been on 13 expeditions with the Australian and Chilean Antarctic programs to both continental and maritime Antarctica, and Macquarie Island. She is passionate about conserving Antarctica鈥檚 unique biodiversity, and a strong role model for diversity in STEMM, including through her Faculty role within the Homeward Bound leadership program. She was formerly UOWs Associate Dean Graduate Research and is currently Challenge Leader for the Sustaining Coastal and Marine Zones within the 51茶馆鈥檚 Global Challenges Program. She is Deputy Director, Science Implementation for the Securing Antarctica鈥檚 Environmental Future (SAEF) program (2020-26) funded through the Australian Research Council (ARC) Special Research Initiative in Excellence in Antarctic Science.
Professor Robinson says she is delighted to be taking on leadership of the Global Challenges Program and the opportunity it brings to build and promote interdisciplinary research at UOW. Over recent months the GCP has shown it is able to respond quickly to new challenges that face our region and the world -from drought, bushfires and floods to the current COVID pandemic. These regional and global challenges require research across many disciplines to enable us to create a new resilient future for our planet and its people. We are in the defining decade where we need to take rapid action to mitigate climate change. The Sustainable Development Goals represent a blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all, and many countries, including Australia, have demonstrated in their response to COVID, that it is possible to take fast, effective and remarkable action to save lives. The Global Challenges Program is a vital part of UOW鈥檚 toolbox for leading our research, training and mentorship as we recover from these disasters and build a brighter future.