Staff at the Transects for Environmental Monitoring and Decision Making (TREND) take their science so seriously they turned up to work one weekend in October – at the Earth Station festival.
The festival, created by the organisers of the internationally renowned WOMADelaide, was held at Belair National Park near Adelaide.
The festival was the first opportunity for the TREND team to get out, raise awareness and involve the community in the research they are doing.
Community involvement is integral to TREND’s work, and the team was keen to meet people and talk about its citizen science program. Generating baseline data and monitoring key South Australian ecosystems and agricultural regions is a major challenge for scientists. However, interested citizens can contribute by generating data themselves. The TREND team was heartened that, at the festival, they were able to sign up a list of people interested in getting involved.
TREND leaders were at the festival to talk about their work and create links with other organisations and the community to make sure TREND provides a useful and relevant service. Professor Andy Lowe (terrestrial ecosystems), Professor Corey Bradshaw (marine ecosystems), and Dr Peter Hayman and Dr Jason Tanner (primary productivity) helped festival-goers understand the important research that is being conducted across environmental gradients in South Australia.
Many festival-goers were curious about TREND. One of them was guest speaker Cate Blanchett, who was interested in discussing the importance of environmental research in tracking change across the Australian continent. The TREND team is following up with potential collaborators and contributors. Find out all the latest about TREND at the recently updated website.
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Cate Blanchett (left) chats with Professor Andy Lowe (centre) and Dr | Earth Station festival crowds learn about TREND’s work |
