Australia-Spain Water Forum


Here is a re-post of a text that I wrote and that was originally published in the blog of the Geocoastal Research Group which is the group that I belong to in the University of Sydney.

In my “spare” time I do a lot of things[1]; these include disparate things such as volunteering at sausage sizzles (I was at Mitre 10 yesterday) and being part of the board of the association of Spanish Researchers in Australia-Pacific (SRAP). This post is not about sausage sizzles, although I have to say that there is some “science” there to be explored. This post is about the Australia-Spain Water Forum, a science dissemination event that I am organizing as part of the SRAP.

Back in 2014 the president of the SRAP, Luis Salvador-Carulla, the director of the Instituto Cervantes in Sydney, Victor Ugarte, and myself started talking about organizing a round table about water from different perspectives. The idea was to have a scientist, a manager and an artist (or something like that) and have a lively debate about water issues. This sounded like a very cool idea and it was to happen in late 2014. Unfortunately we did not get the funding last year and so it had to be postponed to this year.

This year we searched and found greater financial support and the humble round table grew and grew until becoming a 3 day event that will be held at beautiful SIMS between the 29th and the 31st of October 2015. The first day we start in the afternoon with a round table on water scarcity and management following on a cultural and historic perspective on water. The second day includes the science of coasts, science and industry and sustainable water. The third day, only until lunch time, is a special session about Spanish and European researchers in Australia where there will be discussions about European collaboration.

The event, thanks to our funding partners and sponsors, is free and open to everyone. We have worked very hard to curate a broad program that appeals to scientist and managers and also to the general public. The process has been complicated at times, with many nights devoted to it (remember that I do this in my “spare” time). So, why should scientists do science dissemination? To transfer our knowledge: to get away from our “ivory towers” and share our knowledge and skills.

This is the first time that I organize a science dissemination event, and I am quite nervous about the final result. I hope that everything goes well and reflects the hours that many of us in the SRAP have put into the organization of this event.

It would be great to have as many people attending as possible (and to have your feedback afterwards).  Did I mention that there will be a cocktail on the first day, tapas and black paella on the second and a paella on the third?

You can register here

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[1] The question remains open as to whether scientists should or should not have “spare” time. Some scientists might feel that having “spare” time means that I don’t work my science hard enough (as in 24/7)


Ana Vila-Concejo

About Ana Vila-Concejo

My career started in Spain, where I did my undergraduate and MSc studying urban beaches at the University of Vigo; and Portugal, where I completed my PhD at the University of Algarve investigating the short and medium term evolution of tidal inlets in a barrier island system. Then I moved to Australia and started looking into the morphodynamics of flood-tide deltas in wave-dominated coasts within the framework of an ARC funded linkage project which was based in Port Stephens. In 2010 I started researching the morphodynamics of sand aprons in reef platforms. In 2011 I was awarded an ARC Future Fellowship to continue the studies in the dynamics of coral sands. Since 2012, I am the Director of One Tree Island Research Station. I am interested in the contemporary processes and morphodynamics of coastal systems. I started with siliciclastic temperate environments and I am now also interested in the dynamics of carbonate (coral) sand. My present studies on coral sand are mostly based on fieldwork campaigns undertaken in While I am presently dedicating most of my time to carbonate sand I remain insterested in low energy beaches, tidal inlets, overwash, coastal erosion, hazards and coastal management. I am a keen fieldworker and have experience in acquiring and processing hydrodynamic, topographic and bathymetric data. I have also worked with fluorescent tracers for studying sediment transport processes. At present, I am also using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) as a tool to analyse recent and present data. While I am presently dedicating most of my time to carbonate sand I remain insterested in low energy beaches, tidal inlets, overwash, coastal erosion, hazards and coastal management. I am a keen fieldworker and have experience in acquiring and processing hydrodynamic, topographic and bathymetric data.