Open Polytech associate professor to assess climate change

Thursday, 31 May 2012, 2:18 pm
Press Release: Open Polytechnic

31 May 2012

Open Polytechnic associate professor receives research grant to assess the impacts of climate change

Open Polytechnic associate professor Dr Gregory De Costa has been awarded a $100,000 research grant from the Asia Pacific Network for Global Change Research (APN-GCR).

“Results of the project will be developed into a management tool to deal with global climate change and its resulting impact on land and water resources in selected Asia Pacific sites. As well as establishing a composite model to forecast changes in land and water resources due to seawater level change, we will also develop a technical and human dimension management strategy. This will increase the profile and awareness of global change, its effect, mitigation and management,” says Dr De Costa.

Administered by APN-GCR and funded by the US National Science Foundation, the US Global Change Research Program and the Ministry of Science Japan, Dr De Costa will lead an international research team towards identifying the effects of climate change by looking at loss of land surface and changes to water resources resulting from rises in sea level.

“Climate change is often discussed as the cause of changes in sea levels, temperature and weather patterns. In our research we are seeking to establish what changes are occurring due to rising sea levels in order to develop the means to manage such changes,” says Dr De Costa.

Commencing the project next month, Dr De Costa will lead a team of university professors and industry leaders from India, Sri Lanka, Japan and Indonesia. As well as leading the project, Dr De Costa will also detail the research work and outputs, as well as coordinate with local and international counterparts.

“Because it is an international research team from Japan, India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and New Zealand, we will be conducting the research using data from specific sites in these locations. We will disseminate our research findings to policy makers by holding a series of workshops in each country,” says Dr De Costa.

Dr De Costa, who also leads the Civil Engineering major in the Open Polytechnic’s engineering technology degree, says the project is expected to take two years.

ENDS

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