The latest coastal research is now at the fingertips of councils and developers with the launch of Coastal Research, a web portal to national, regional and local research on Australian coasts.
Stakeholders will also be able to find publications related to the research listed on the website, and links to data and metadata. Researchers will be able to upload their current and past coastal research projects, and explore future research interests and needs.
CSIRO developed the portal, and the project was funded by CSIRO and one of the newest TERN facilities, the Australian Coastal Ecosystem Facility (ACEF).
The Director of ACEF, Dr Andy Steven, who works in the CSIRO Wealth from Oceans Flagship, said CSIRO committed to create the portal when it learned that many local councils were unaware how much coastal research exists.
‘By creating a central web portal we’ve given them access to the latest data, so they’ll be able to better evaluate proposals for their communities,’ Andy says. ‘The website will also allow scientists and decision makers to investigate possible collaborations, to promote scientific research, and to identify where there may be research gaps.’
The web portal has short, acronym-free research summaries, and it provides links to freely available data and research under Creative Commons licence. TERN will manage the website.
Published in TERN e-Newsletter March 2012
