Lesley Ann Hughes

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Lesley Ann Hughes is an Australian academic and climate scientist. Hughes is Distinguished Professor of Biology and Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research Integrity and Development) at Macquarie University. [1] She is also Director, Biodiversity Node, at the NSW Office of Environment & Heritage Climate Adaptation Research Hub and a Councillor at the independent Climate Council. [2] From 2011 to 2013, she was a Commissioner of the Australian Government’s Climate Commission (established by the Gillard government in 2011 but abolished by the Abbott government in 2013). Hughes was one of five Australian Lead Authors who worked on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fourth & Fifth Assessment Reports in 2007. [3] She works at the Centre for Smart Green Cities. [4] [5] Upon accepting her Leadership award in 2019, Hughes spoke on having hope and optimism in the face of climate change. Reasons included "Money, technology, the law, governments, people power, and kids'. Her full speech can be found at the Australian Museum blog website. [6]

Contents

Career

Hughes’ research has mainly focused on the impacts of climate change on species and ecosystems. She graduated from the University of Sydney in 1981 with a Bachelor of Science (First Class Honours) before completing a PhD at Macquarie University in 1990. Hughes’ previous roles include Head of the Department of Biological Sciences at Macquarie University (2009-2011); Chair of the Tasmanian Climate Action Council (2012-2014); Co-director of the Climate Futures Research Centre at Macquarie University (2012-2014) and Co-convenor of the Terrestrial Biodiversity Adaptation Research Network for National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility (2009-2013). [7]

Hughes has been a Climate Councillor with the Climate Council, Australia's leading climate change communications organisation, since 2013. She regularly co-authors reports [8] on climate change and its impacts, and is a frequent commentator in the media. [9] [10] [11]

Gender equity and women in STEM

Hughes has a history of advocating for women in science, giving talks and participating in women in science and women in climate science events, [12] [13] [14] in addition to working on the science and gender equity Athena Swan program at her university. [15] [16] [17] She is also renowned for standing up to politicians and their scepticism against scientific evidence. [18] [19]

Published works

Book chapters

Journal articles

Science communication

Hughes has worked extensively on communicating the science of climate change around Australia. In her acceptance speech for the 2019 Australian Museum Research Institute Lifetime Achievement Award, she listed "six reasons for hope in the face of climate change". Number 6 was 'Kids', and the school strike for climate started by Greta Thunberg:

Greta’s urging that schoolkids should strike for climate action has been a global phenomenon. Last March, an estimated 1.5 million students in more than 100 countries around the world joined her call. In July, the secretary general of OPEC, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries declared Thunberg, and other young climate activists as the "greatest threat" to the fossil fuel industry. I’m sure they took this as a great compliment!". [23]

Her work has been published in The Monthly, describing the balance between the depression of climate change, while trying to maintain optimism, in an article titled "When planetary catastrophe is your day job". [24] Hughes has also published on how individual cities are leading climate policy, in the absence of national leadership in climate change. She has also contributed an article to The Conversation about the impacts of climate change on human health, in 2011, citing that this is the most important decade to act to prevent significant impacts to human health:

There will also be economic impacts of rising temperatures via the impact on occupational health. People who work outside, in unventilated environments, in mines and agricultural industries, for example, are vulnerable to the impacts of excessive heat. Any increase in the number of days lost due to heat will have an impact on productivity, with flow-on impacts to the economy. [25]

In June 2019 she spoke at a "women in science" event at the Sydney Mechanics School of Art on climate change. [26]

Awards

Hughes publications can be found at ORCID. [29]

Related Research Articles

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References

  1. ↑ "Lesley Hughes — Macquarie University". researchers.mq.edu.au.
  2. ↑ "Lesley Hughes, Author at Climate Council". Climate Council.
  3. ↑ "IPCC - Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change". www.ipcc.ch.
  4. ↑ "MQ Centre for Smart Green Cities". Macquarie University. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
  5. ↑ "Lesley Hughes – Prizes". Macquarie University. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
  6. ↑ "Six reasons for hope in the face of climate change: Professor Lesley Hughes". The Australian Museum. Retrieved 26 August 2019.
  7. ↑ "Prof Lesley Hughes". Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
  8. ↑ "Lesley Hughes, Author". Climate Council.
  9. ↑ "Climate change 'threat multiplier' ignored in national environment laws". Sydney Morning Herald. 14 June 2020.
  10. ↑ "Australia must hit net zero by 2050 to meet Paris: scientists". Sydney Morning Herald. 24 February 2020.
  11. ↑ "What's Behind Australia's Historic Fires". NPR.
  12. ↑ Hofstetter, Dominic (16 March 2019). "Climate Change: An Example of a Gender-Related Leadership Crisis". Medium. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
  13. ↑ "20 women making waves in the climate change debate". Road to Paris - ICSU. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
  14. ↑ "Events Search - Events". Events - University of Tasmania, Australia. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
  15. ↑ clwadmin. "Leading Women in Climate Change Panel". www.leadershipforwomen.com.au. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
  16. ↑ "Weathering the change".
  17. ↑ Dominic Hofstetter (16 March 2019). "Climate Change: An Example of a Gender-Related Leadership Crisis". Medium. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
  18. ↑ "20 women making waves in the climate change debate". Road to Paris - ICSU. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
  19. ↑ "Lesley Hughes". Road to Paris - ICSU. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
  20. ↑ PUBLISHING, CSIRO (1 May 2017). The Australian Bird Guide.
  21. ↑ "Fifth Assessment Report - Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability". www.ipcc.ch.
  22. ↑ Adam Stow; Norman Maclean; Gregory I. Holwell (22 December 2014). Austral Ark: The State of Wildlife in Australia and New Zealand. Cambridge University Press. ISBN   978-1-316-19452-2.
  23. ↑ "Six reasons for hope in the face of climate change: Professor Lesley Hughes". The Australian Museum. Retrieved 20 September 2019.
  24. ↑ "When planetary catastrophe is your day job". The Monthly. 1 June 2018. Retrieved 25 July 2019.
  25. ↑ Hughes, Lesley. "Australians can't ignore the health impacts of climate change". The Conversation. Retrieved 25 July 2019.
  26. ↑ "Dist. Prof. Lesley Hughes — Climate Change and our Life Support System". Sydney Mechanics' School of Arts (SMSA). Retrieved 10 August 2019.
  27. ↑ "Pioneering Australian ecologist wins 2019 Australian Museum Research Institute Lifetime Achievement Award". AAP Medianet. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
  28. ↑ "Awards". Climate Council. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
  29. ↑ "ORCID". orcid.org. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
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