Held on the 13th Aug 2019
at 6pm to
7:30pm
Have you ever wondered how marine plastics are transported around the world? What their impact on marine life is? And how the community can help reduce the amount of plastics entering the ocean? We tackle these issues through four short talks and a Q&A forum with local experts.
- Dr Heidi Auman
- Dr David Griffin
- Dr Lauren Roman
- Councillor Bill Harvey
- Hosted by Dr Louise Grimmer.
Heidi is an Adjunct Lecturer at the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS) and has studied human impacts on seabirds for much of the past 30 years. A pioneer on the research of plastics ingestion, she lived on remote Midway Atoll for seven years, studying plastic debris and contaminants in albatross. Heidi has also explored the effects of plastics in sub-Antarctic and Tasmanian seabirds, contaminants in Great Lakes waterbirds, and junk food on Hobart gulls. As a science communicator, Heidi describes how our environmental footprint has reached the farthest corners of our planet, often with disturbing consequences.
David is an oceanographer at CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere. He specialises in ocean currents: how they can be measured, how they can be simulated by computers and how this helps solve tricky questions about drifting objects. For example, when a piece of the wing from the missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 was found on Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean in 2015, David used his knowledge of ocean drift to calculate where the aircraft must have impacted the ocean back in 2014.
Lauren is a postdoctoral researcher at CSIRO. Her research focuses on marine debris (plastics and other litter in the ocean), and the impact of debris on wildlife. Her research combines laboratory analysis and statistical modelling to quantify litter in the ocean, investigate drivers of marine debris, and understand its effect on wildlife. Lauren has a lifelong passion for birds, and is interested in research that can be applied to the conservation of threatened and declining species.
Bill was first elected to the City of Hobart Council in 2007. He has degrees in Urban Studies, Education and Environmental Management and amongst other things, has taught in China, Malaysia and Tasmania underpinned by a philosophy of education for sustainability. He’s obsessed with urban sustainability, climate change, biodiversity and resolving the waste and plastic pollution crisis.
This forum is jointly presented by members of the Australian Meteorological & Oceanographic Society (AMOS) and Australian Marine Sciences Association (AMSA). A selection of posters entered in a competition aimed at helping initiate questions and comments during the panel discussion can be viewed beforehand. The talks will be followed by a panel discussion and questions form the audience.
Refreshments from 5.30pm.
This event will be broadcast live through the University's Livestream channel - https://livestream.com/universityoftasmania. You can watch live or at a later date.
