[Coral-List] Australia re-funds ARC Centre

[Hughes, Terry]

I'm pleased to announce that the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, recent host of the 12th ICRS in Cairns, has been awarded a further seven years of funding by the Australian Research Council, for 2014-2020. The continuing Centre will be reorganized into three Research Programs - People and Ecosystems,  Ecosystem Dynamics: Past, Present and Future and Responding to a Changing World.

The vision of the Centre is to provide understanding of coral reefs and their interaction with people, in order to foster their sustainable use, secure the benefits they provide to tropical societies and economies, and enhance the effectiveness of coral reef management world-wide. Currently, the Centre supports 45 postdoctoral Research Fellows, 30 Chief and Partner Investigators, and close to 200 graduate students. Our fieldwork each year is undertaken in 25 countries.

Early in 2014 the Centre will be recruiting approximately 12-15 postdoctoral Research Fellows (including new Professorial Fellows) in the social and biological sciences. The Centre will also be providing new scholarships for postgraduate students in all three of the new research programs. Please watch for updates at http://www.coralcoe.org.au/

The expanding Centre will be headquartered at James Cook University, with additional nodes at the Australian National University, the University of Queensland and the University of Western Australia. The Centre is also very pleased to have among its Partners the Australian Institute of Marine Science, the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, the International Union for Conservation of Nature, Stanford University (the Center for Ocean Solutions), and WorldFish.

We wish all of you a peaceful and contented New Year.

Terry Hughes, Director
ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies