The Griffith Centre for Coastal Management (GCCM) has won two major categories and been acknowledged in a third at the prestigious 2015 Australian Coastal Awards.
Announced in Melbourne on Thursday (March 12), the GCCM won the Research category, for its overall research program, and the Community Engagement category.
Meanwhile, the Centre’s QSurge project — funded by the Queensland Government and involving real-time storm tide risk assessment — received Special Mention in the Planning and Management category.
A delighted GCCM Director,Professor Rodger Tomlinson, said the awards reflected both the high quality of applied research emanating from the Centre and the continuing close connection with coastal communities.
“The Centre is providing important research and driving activities that are benefitting coastal communities, particularly on the Gold Coast,” said Professor Tomlinson.
“That kind of commitment has been there since the launch of the Centre in 1999 and will be ongoing. For example, only last year we signed another five-year agreement extending our partnership with the City of Gold Coast.”
The Australian Coastal Awards are conducted by the National Sea Change Taskforce (NCST), which supports and advances the interests of coastal councils and their constituencies.
Its charter includes providing national leadership in addressing the impact of sea change; collaborating with all levels of government to develop a coordinated approach to managing population and tourism growth in coastal areas; and helping coastal councils increase their capacity to respond to coastal issues, including projected climate change impacts and adaptation.
“The awards were introduced last year to acknowledge excellence across a range of areas, so to win two categories says much for the work we are doing here at the Centre,” said Professor Tomlinson.
The awards are the latest success for the Centre. In November, the partnership between the GCCM and City of Gold Coast was honoured with the presentation of The Ashley Goldsworthy Award for Sustained Collaboration between Business and Higher Education.
Presented at the Business/Higher Education Round Table in Melbourne, it acknowledged the work of the two organisations over the past 15 years.