There is an exciting opportunity for a PhD candidate to work on a collaborative project between the Australian Bureau of Meteorology, and the vegetation modelling team at the Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment (HIE) based in Western Sydney.
The project will bring new knowledge of Australian plant physiology and ecology into the numerical weather prediction (NWP) systems run by the Bureau of Meteorology. NWP systems include a land surface scheme which describes the feedbacks from the land surface to the atmosphere. The goal of the project is to modify the operational land surface scheme currently in use in Australia to represent the phenology and ecology of the major Australian plant functional types, leveraging extensive knowledge of vegetation dynamics developed at HIE.
Benefits:
Research with impact: the project will have a significant impact on how the land surface is modelled in Australia and consequently on the quality of weather predictions and projections
Industry exposure:
The student will work closely with researchers at the
Bureau and contribute to the development of an operational weather service
Funding: A $10,000 pa top-up scholarship is available
Requirements:
The successful candidate must gain a main-round scholarship to Western Sydney University. Details and criteria available here:
https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.westernsydney.edu.au/schools/grs/scholarships/main_round_scholarships__;!!KGKeukY!0qQAAnhKX82GJBv17ik9hXSQA6VPKGZE_gbYcdbXY7celduHfNCfeOoixAp2sfdzRRfoEDH-zLIyfU_tbfpv$
In addition, candidates must have skills in programming and data analytics, and a keen interest in Australian ecosystems
Closing date: 17th September 2023. For further details contact Belinda Medlyn directly: b.medlyn@westernsydney.edu.au
