Client

What I did

Every 4 or 5 years, each business unit in CSIRO is reviewed by a panel of external reviewers. The panel is supplied in advance with a comprehensive report describing each research program in the business unit’s portfolio.

In 2018, I edited the 7 program reports (>63,000 words) for the Land and Water business unit:

water resource management
environmental contamination mitigation and biotechnology
basin management outcomes
biodiversity, ecosystem knowledge and services
landscape intensification
synthetic biology
adaptive urban social systems.

I offered advice on the structure of the reports and edited each report (substantive and copyedit).

Each report had a different author so my role included bringing a consistent style and voice to the reports.

I also edited 15 short (1-2 page) case studies. Some required a copyedit while others required more of a substantive edit.

Topics:

noble gases as environmental tracers in groundwater research
CSIRO’s noble gas measurement facility – the first in the southern hemisphere
hydroclimate research to support adaptation to climate change in south-east Australia
streamflow forecasting
the Water Information Research and Development Alliance (WIRADA)
the case for a national environmental prediction capability
adaptive management for sustainable forestry in Indonesia and Vietnam
harnessing artificial intelligence to halt the biodiversity crisis
the Atlas of Living Australia – Indigenous ecological knowledge
analysing biodiversity data at unprecedented resolutions (innovation in cloud computing and data storage)
science diplomacy – research for river basins
coordinating Great Barrier Reef-related research
monitoring the world’s rangelands and pastures with GEOGLAM RAPP
CSIRO Knowledge Network
sequestering carbon – science to support national policy and land management.

Image: By Peterdownunder [CC BY-SA 3.0], from Wikimedia Commons