Monash Science awarded $35 million to lead new ARC Centre of Excellence for the Weather of the 21st Century

Monash University’s Faculty of Science has been awarded $35 million to lead the new ARC Centre for Excellence for the Weather of the 21st Century which will provide Australia with the knowledge, technology, and capital for evidence-based decision-making in response to future weather changes in the region.

The Centre will be based at Monash University and will support seven years of transformative interdisciplinary research.

The ARC announcement comes as the Monash University delegation joins COP27 (the Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC (COP 27)), which aims to pave the way for future efforts to effectively tackle the global challenge of climate change.

Internationally renowned climate scientist Professor Christian Jakob from the School of Earth, Atmosphere and Environment has been appointed Director of the new Centre.

"The warming of the Earth with climate change will change our day-to-day weather, an important resource on which our lives depend,” Professor Jakob said.

“W21C will generate the fundamental knowledge on the future of our weather resources and hazards that we need to implement our net-zero economy over the next few decades,” he said.

The Centre will work with more than 20 partner organisations to address climate science’s challenges in anticipating the likely weather patterns of a warmer world.

Monash Science Dean Professor Jordan Nash welcomed the ARC announcement.

“This is an outstanding outcome for our researchers who are world leaders in climate change science,” Professor Nash said.

“The Centre will transform climate research by focussing on what matters most to making critical and evidence-based decisions around weather and climate change.”

Professor Jakob said the Centre will develop insights and tools to address critical questions such as where to best place wind and solar farms, where to grow food and collect water, and how to prepare communities for future weather change.

“In doing so, the Centre will underpin the critical decisions we need to make to safeguard and improve the prosperity and resilience of Australia and its people,” Professor Jakob said.

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