#AAD #Antarctic #Antarctica #research
Quick read The head of the Australian Antarctic Division has warned staff this year that the upcoming research season will be reviewed with a view to finding $25 million in "rebates". The head of the Australian Antarctic Division this year warned staff that the upcoming research season would be reviewed with a view to finding $25 million in "rebates". The AAD was $42 million over budget last year, with senator Peter Wish-Wilson criticizing the "staggering level of incompetence in the department's governance". A former Australian Antarctic Division researcher has said stress from funding uncertainty is now making it "very difficult to do science" at the agency, telling senators he quit because of his dentist's advice. Professor Dana Bergstrom, leading Antarctic ecologist and former AAD senior fellow, gave evidence to a Senate committee sitting in Hobart on Thursday examining concerns about $25 million funding "reduction". He told the inquest that he felt constant stress and pressure about the lack of funding for research projects, and that his dentist's advice prompted him to resign. "My dentist told me that I had four cracked molars caused by teeth grinding," Professor Bergstrom said. “I've reached a point now where it's very difficult to do science at AAD. "For my whole career, there's been a deep paternalism in the Australian Antarctic Program and you're just dealing with that. Now it's paternalism plus patronage." Professor Bergstrom called for better funding to investigate the penguin deaths. Professor Bergstrom said he felt "physically hurt" by deaths of 10,000 Emperor penguin chicks this winter, but said the department needed to fund more basic studies to better investigate issue. Even if research projects are recognized and approved as important, that doesn't necessarily mean they will receive funding, he told senators. "When you get projects approved and you don't get support, it's a disappointment to all Australian Antarctic Division scientists," he said. “You go through the process of getting a project approved… but every year you have to ask logistics for funding.” 'There's no reason for me to stay' Researcher says department is dysfunctional Another former AAD scientist, Andrew Davidson, described how staff changes in the department often left him "torn". "When had explain to my staff how thin ice they were on, would come me and say 'Look, can you offer anything for me in terms of permanence?'" Andrew Davidson has spent more than thirty years studying Antarctica. He said he is trying to establish collaborations outside the department to compensate for staff shortages. "There was nothing functional left in my abilities, so there was no reason for me to stay." $42m in research cuts after AAD 'extraordinarily spent' AAD chief executive Emma Campbell told staff that the department "cannot afford all available positions" because it had to find "discounts" of $25 million, about 16 per cent of
