A successful and ongoing partnership between the Griffith Centre for Coastal Management (GCCM) and the City of Gold Coast has been celebrated with the presentation of The Ashley Goldsworthy Award for Sustained Collaboration between Business and Higher Education 2014.
The honour — bestowed at the Business/Higher Education Round Table (B/HERT) annual awards in Melbourne on Thursday (November 20) — acknowledged the work of the two organisations over the past 15 years.
According to the award citation: “This highly successful and sustained collaborative partnership develops and delivers world’s best practice coastal research and management, benefitting the research sector, business and the Gold Coast community. Multiple awards reflect the scale and success of GCCM research and outreach.”
GCCM Director Professor Rodger Tomlinson said the award was a tribute to the persistence, goodwill and common focus between the Centre and the City of Gold Coast.
“It acknowledges a shared view that you need solid and applied research to underpin sound management strategies. This is very exciting for the Centre and for Griffith University in general,” he said.
Since its launch in 1999, GCCM has produced 165 collaborative research partnerships; $21.9 million in federal, state, local government and industry funding; and 250 peer-reviewed publications and 170 reports. GCCM personnel have presented at 150 conferences and delivered more than 50 seminars.
In terms of community engagement, GCCM has delivered programs to approximately 36,000 primary and secondary students, while national and international research collaborations have been implemented with institutions such as the Delft University of Technology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Sydney Coastal Councils Group, the University of New South Wales and Bond University.
The award also noted Professor Tomlinson’s professional standing, particularly senior appointments to Cooperative Research Centres, leadership within the Griffith Climate Change Response Program and convenorship of the Australian Climate Change Adaptation Research Network for Settlement and Infrastructure (Coastal node). He is also a Director of the Board of the Gold Coast Waterways Authority.
GCCM’s connection with the City of Gold Coast has secured major awards for innovative coastal practice. Among these, GCCM’s Coastal Community Education Program has won more than 50 national and local awards for dune care and Clean Beach Challenge activities.
Established in 1990, B/HERTpursues policies and collaboration to advance goals and improve the performance of business and tertiary education. B/HERT members include leaders in higher education, business, industry bodies and research institutions.