Search page

Ground C - Artificial intelligence, maths and modelling

Cognition and learning involve processes operating all the way from the molecular level to large networks of interconnected neurons, spanning nine orders of magnitude and involving electrical, chemical, and mechanical signals. To begin to understand how these complex processes operate requires interdisciplinary teams bringing skills and techniques from fields such as neuroscience, psychology, psychiatry, artificial intelligence, statistics, imaging, genetics, engineering and mathematical modelling.

Group D - Ageing, dementia, Alzheimer’s disease and end-of-life issues

This group will examine questions arising from population ageing and related end-of-life challenges for patients with dementia or other brain diseases. Above all else, this is an area at the intersection of research, clinical practice, ethics and public policy. Some of the questions for discussion include:

Think Tank 2013 - Steering committee

Chair

Professor Bob Williamson AO FAA FRS Honorary Senior Principal Fellow of the Murdoch Institute, University of Melbourne and Monash University

Cities in Future Earth: a summary of key considerations

The Cities in Future Earth conference was organised by the National Committee for Earth System Science and supported by the Department of the Environment.

2014 Theo Murphy High Flyers Think Tank – Climate change challenges to health: risks and opportunities

Introduction

The world’s climate is changing. General global warming has been observed over the past several decades. Associated with it are changes to the general circulation of the atmosphere and oceans, including to the vertical distribution of temperatures, atmospheric water vapour concentration, the incidence of extreme weather events, and sea-level rise, and concomitant changes to global biology as observed in shifts in the distribution of species and behavioural changes of both plants and animals.

Think Tank 2014 - Steering committee and invited experts

Steering committee

Emeritus Professor Bruce Armstrong AM FAA FAFPHM FRACP – co-Chair School of Public Health, University of Sydney

Think Tank 2014 - Early- and mid-career researcher participants

Return to Think Tank

Group 1. Temperature and extreme weather events

Many of the health impacts of climate act through societal or economic factors, or through various biological agents. There are some health impacts, however, that can be directly attributed to the climate itself. These include heat-related and cold-related mortality and morbidity, death and injury from river, flash, and coastal floods, and death and injury from wildfires. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC 2012) concluded:

Group 2. Infectious disease ecology and epidemiology

Infectious disease incidence will change as a result of global climate change. This is considered an indirect (McMichael, 2013) or secondary (Butler and Harley, 2010) effect. The elucidation of causal links between global climate change and infectious disease incidence is challenging, particularly because of interaction with other risk determinants including urbanisation, environmental changes, travel, ecology, human demographics, and societal factors.

Group 3. Food and water supplies

April 5, 2014: ‘Battles over water and food will erupt within the next 5-10 years as a result of climate change’, World Bank President Dr Jim Yong Kim MD

You are here