Latest news with #Minderoo
Sydney Morning Herald
29-07-2025
- Business
- Sydney Morning Herald
Forrests' foundation tips $3.3 million into WA's regional arts sector
'This partnership is about strategically aligning resources and amplifying impact to give the regional arts sector and artists the long-term support they need to thrive,' Hartman said. Regional Arts WA chief executive Dr Pilar Kasat described the partnership with Minderoo as a pivotal moment. 'Minderoo has been supporting Regional Arts WA since 2019. But this takes the investment to a whole other level,' Kasat said. 'It is a ten-fold increase on anything that has gone before. It is a game-changer for us. 'This is the beginning of something much bigger and an open invitation for others to help shape and strengthen the future impact of the regional arts sector. 'This money will be used in a very strategic way to enable all those organisations in the Regional Arts Network to source funds locally and obtain further funds from the state and federal governments.' Kasat believed one of the major problems for regional arts organisations was the fragmented nature of funding. Each time an organisation plans a program they have to apply to a range of bodies at a federal, state and local council level as well as approach philanthropic organisations such as Minderoo. 'The subsidised sector is extremely grateful for the support we receive. But it is a problem when so many resources are consumed in applying for that funding. There has to be a better way of supporting regional organisations,' Kasat said. 'One of our aims with the Minderoo partnership is to pilot what we are calling the Creative Collaboration Fund. Hopefully, we will be able to streamline the process of applying for funding and open up new avenues for support.' Kasat said another major problem facing organisations such as Regional Arts WA was that investment typically does did cover the cost of running the company or administering the projects. 'In the Pay It What It Takes report published in 2022, Social Ventures Australia came up with a figure saying that any not-for-profit organisation needs to put aside 25 to 30 per cent of the total amount of funding to cover your own costs so you are not depleting your own organisation,' Kasat said. 'This is why the Minderoo partnership is so important. Over 70 per cent of the resources will be directed to 20 organisations who are part of the Regional Arts Network and their communities while less than 30 per cent will come to Regional Arts WA to deliver this project and continue our advocacy.' The partnership with Minderoo also means they are backing the vision of Thrive!, an investment framework Kasat and her team spent many months evolving. Kasat believed supporting regional arts had never been more important because of the challenges faced by those who lived outside the metropolitan area, including higher rates of mental health issues. Loading She also believed it was important to challenge the notion that art produced in the regions was not as significant as art produced in the city. And in some aspects of the arts, such as a work having a sense of place, rural artists excel even more than those in the city. 'Not everyone wants to exhibit, for example, but everyone should have the opportunity to engage with art,' she said.
The Age
29-07-2025
- Business
- The Age
Forrests' foundation tips $3.3 million into WA's regional arts sector
'This partnership is about strategically aligning resources and amplifying impact to give the regional arts sector and artists the long-term support they need to thrive,' Hartman said. Regional Arts WA chief executive Dr Pilar Kasat described the partnership with Minderoo as a pivotal moment. 'Minderoo has been supporting Regional Arts WA since 2019. But this takes the investment to a whole other level,' Kasat said. 'It is a ten-fold increase on anything that has gone before. It is a game-changer for us. 'This is the beginning of something much bigger and an open invitation for others to help shape and strengthen the future impact of the regional arts sector. 'This money will be used in a very strategic way to enable all those organisations in the Regional Arts Network to source funds locally and obtain further funds from the state and federal governments.' Kasat believed one of the major problems for regional arts organisations was the fragmented nature of funding. Each time an organisation plans a program they have to apply to a range of bodies at a federal, state and local council level as well as approach philanthropic organisations such as Minderoo. 'The subsidised sector is extremely grateful for the support we receive. But it is a problem when so many resources are consumed in applying for that funding. There has to be a better way of supporting regional organisations,' Kasat said. 'One of our aims with the Minderoo partnership is to pilot what we are calling the Creative Collaboration Fund. Hopefully, we will be able to streamline the process of applying for funding and open up new avenues for support.' Kasat said another major problem facing organisations such as Regional Arts WA was that investment typically does did cover the cost of running the company or administering the projects. 'In the Pay It What It Takes report published in 2022, Social Ventures Australia came up with a figure saying that any not-for-profit organisation needs to put aside 25 to 30 per cent of the total amount of funding to cover your own costs so you are not depleting your own organisation,' Kasat said. 'This is why the Minderoo partnership is so important. Over 70 per cent of the resources will be directed to 20 organisations who are part of the Regional Arts Network and their communities while less than 30 per cent will come to Regional Arts WA to deliver this project and continue our advocacy.' The partnership with Minderoo also means they are backing the vision of Thrive!, an investment framework Kasat and her team spent many months evolving. Kasat believed supporting regional arts had never been more important because of the challenges faced by those who lived outside the metropolitan area, including higher rates of mental health issues. Loading She also believed it was important to challenge the notion that art produced in the regions was not as significant as art produced in the city. And in some aspects of the arts, such as a work having a sense of place, rural artists excel even more than those in the city. 'Not everyone wants to exhibit, for example, but everyone should have the opportunity to engage with art,' she said.
Sydney Morning Herald
24-07-2025
- Science
- Sydney Morning Herald
How just two litres of water can uncover the mysteries of the sea
How do you detect the presence of a bony-eared assfish, lurking 3000 metres below the surface of the ocean? By testing for evidence of its urine, of course. Scientists have spent the past three years painstakingly mapping the DNA of Australia's oceans, filtering the waters to collect the DNA 'breadcrumbs' animals leave behind. From just two litres of water, they can identify the DNA of every creature that has passed through the environment over the previous hours and days, allowing them to collect evidence of the animals' presence without nets and ropes. A multiyear project run by Minderoo Foundation and Parks Australia, spanning 13 dedicated voyages and several secondary voyages, has identified 257,497 marine vertebrates across Australian marine parks spanning 4000 kilometres north to south, and 6000 kilometres east to west. The environmental DNA (eDNA) project has not only spotlit where rare and threatened marine species are, but has also inadvertently discovered species previously unknown to science. 'Of course, we see more of them in places like deep-sea ecosystems, where people haven't gone before and surveyed the biodiversity down there,' said Professor Michael Bunce, the head of OceanOmics at Minderoo. 'What's going to be crucial is putting protections around some of these special places before they disappear.' Bony-eared assfish – a form of cusk-eel – are delicate creatures resembling a cross between a jellyfish and a tadpole, and are found in tropical and subtropical waters to depths of up to 4000 metres. Identifying them would usually involve extracting them from the depths of the ocean, thereby killing them. Other mid- and deep-sea creatures identified by the research teams include similarly intriguingly named rattails, slimeheads, pearlfish, slickheads and lanternfish. Despite rapid advances in scientific knowledge, oceans remain the great unknown, with estimates there could be up to 500,000 marine species in Australia's oceans, including corals, plankton and shellfish – of which just 33,000 have been identified. Work to sequence the DNA of marine life is slow and painstaking, but Bunce said Minderoo Foundation had set a goal to sequence the genetic 'barcodes' of all 5000 known marine fish, a task that is about halfway complete. A further 500 vertebrates call Australian waters home, including seabirds, whales, sealions and dolphins. The organisation is one of the partners of the national science agency CSIRO, which has set an ambitious target to create a national biodiversity DNA library for Australia, which it says would offer enormous fisheries, biosecurity and environmental benefits. The $11.8 million multiyear eDNA partnership between Minderoo Foundation and Parks Australia took seawater samples from a range of ocean environments, from tropical reefs to 6000 metres below the surface of the water. Bunce said sea creatures shed DNA in various ways, but mostly from the waste they expel. 'They're defecating and urinating in the water columns, so we're literally swimming around in a whole pile of DNA ... and that's kind of cool and gross at the same time,' he said. After animals shed DNA, it can be detectable for between a few hours and a few days before it is broken down by water movements, temperatures, UV radiation and other factors. DNA is broken down more rapidly in shallow and warm waters, while in cold and dark deep-sea settings, it can persist for a week or more. While all animals contain those genetic breadcrumbs, which are scattered through our oceans, different species lose DNA in different ways. Bunce said turtles and sea snakes slough smaller amounts of DNA as they move through water, making them more difficult to detect, while baitfish were easily identified as they were eaten in great numbers and expelled out the back ends of larger species. Not that there is such a thing as a perfect science – Bunce said researchers joked about the cats, dogs and salmon apparently detected in remote oceans, their DNA deposited into pristine waters from boats above. Armed with more than a quarter of a million observations of sea creatures, the project's leaders then turned their sights to offering their science to the Australian public, and the world. Minderoo Foundation's new OceanOmics eDNA Dashboard, launched today, combines artificial intelligence with eDNA to allow users to explore the data by species or marine park, or to 'chat' with AI to interrogate the data. A Minderoo spokesman said the dashboard would be 'a game-changer for marine conservation as everyday Australians can now visualise the ocean in an entirely new way'. Dr Philipp Bayer, principal of computational biology at Minderoo Foundation, said scientists had recovered more than 1.2 billion DNA sequence readings from their surveys, with each two-litre eDNA seawater sample averaging 62 different marine species detections. Scientists made almost 258,000 marine vertebrate eDNA observations, including 2019 bony fish species and 95 cartilaginous fish (sharks, rays and chimaeras) species. 'This is a lot of data,' Bayer said. 'To make sense of it all, and enable people to interact with the data, we co-developed a dashboard that allows users to explore the living fabric of our oceans at scale. 'The dashboard focuses on making complex science accessible. While we can't see DNA, we can read it – and now we can visualise the output too.' Environment and Water Minister Murray Watt welcomed the innovation, describing it as a game-changer for marine conservation. 'We can now 'visualise' the ocean in an entirely new way – from threatened handfish to whale sharks, we're gaining insights that were unimaginable just a few years ago,' he said. 'By co-investing in world-leading science like this, we're better equipped to protect the incredible biodiversity in our marine parks and make evidence-based decisions for the future.'
The Age
24-07-2025
- Science
- The Age
How just two litres of water can uncover the mysteries of the sea
How do you detect the presence of a bony-eared assfish, lurking 3000 metres below the surface of the ocean? By testing for evidence of its urine, of course. Scientists have spent the past three years painstakingly mapping the DNA of Australia's oceans, filtering the waters to collect the DNA 'breadcrumbs' animals leave behind. From just two litres of water, they can identify the DNA of every creature that has passed through the environment over the previous hours and days, allowing them to collect evidence of the animals' presence without nets and ropes. A multiyear project run by Minderoo Foundation and Parks Australia, spanning 13 dedicated voyages and several secondary voyages, has identified 257,497 marine vertebrates across Australian marine parks spanning 4000 kilometres north to south, and 6000 kilometres east to west. The environmental DNA (eDNA) project has not only spotlit where rare and threatened marine species are, but has also inadvertently discovered species previously unknown to science. 'Of course, we see more of them in places like deep-sea ecosystems, where people haven't gone before and surveyed the biodiversity down there,' said Professor Michael Bunce, the head of OceanOmics at Minderoo. 'What's going to be crucial is putting protections around some of these special places before they disappear.' Bony-eared assfish – a form of cusk-eel – are delicate creatures resembling a cross between a jellyfish and a tadpole, and are found in tropical and subtropical waters to depths of up to 4000 metres. Identifying them would usually involve extracting them from the depths of the ocean, thereby killing them. Other mid- and deep-sea creatures identified by the research teams include similarly intriguingly named rattails, slimeheads, pearlfish, slickheads and lanternfish. Despite rapid advances in scientific knowledge, oceans remain the great unknown, with estimates there could be up to 500,000 marine species in Australia's oceans, including corals, plankton and shellfish – of which just 33,000 have been identified. Work to sequence the DNA of marine life is slow and painstaking, but Bunce said Minderoo Foundation had set a goal to sequence the genetic 'barcodes' of all 5000 known marine fish, a task that is about halfway complete. A further 500 vertebrates call Australian waters home, including seabirds, whales, sealions and dolphins. The organisation is one of the partners of the national science agency CSIRO, which has set an ambitious target to create a national biodiversity DNA library for Australia, which it says would offer enormous fisheries, biosecurity and environmental benefits. The $11.8 million multiyear eDNA partnership between Minderoo Foundation and Parks Australia took seawater samples from a range of ocean environments, from tropical reefs to 6000 metres below the surface of the water. Bunce said sea creatures shed DNA in various ways, but mostly from the waste they expel. 'They're defecating and urinating in the water columns, so we're literally swimming around in a whole pile of DNA ... and that's kind of cool and gross at the same time,' he said. After animals shed DNA, it can be detectable for between a few hours and a few days before it is broken down by water movements, temperatures, UV radiation and other factors. DNA is broken down more rapidly in shallow and warm waters, while in cold and dark deep-sea settings, it can persist for a week or more. While all animals contain those genetic breadcrumbs, which are scattered through our oceans, different species lose DNA in different ways. Bunce said turtles and sea snakes slough smaller amounts of DNA as they move through water, making them more difficult to detect, while baitfish were easily identified as they were eaten in great numbers and expelled out the back ends of larger species. Not that there is such a thing as a perfect science – Bunce said researchers joked about the cats, dogs and salmon apparently detected in remote oceans, their DNA deposited into pristine waters from boats above. Armed with more than a quarter of a million observations of sea creatures, the project's leaders then turned their sights to offering their science to the Australian public, and the world. Minderoo Foundation's new OceanOmics eDNA Dashboard, launched today, combines artificial intelligence with eDNA to allow users to explore the data by species or marine park, or to 'chat' with AI to interrogate the data. A Minderoo spokesman said the dashboard would be 'a game-changer for marine conservation as everyday Australians can now visualise the ocean in an entirely new way'. Dr Philipp Bayer, principal of computational biology at Minderoo Foundation, said scientists had recovered more than 1.2 billion DNA sequence readings from their surveys, with each two-litre eDNA seawater sample averaging 62 different marine species detections. Scientists made almost 258,000 marine vertebrate eDNA observations, including 2019 bony fish species and 95 cartilaginous fish (sharks, rays and chimaeras) species. 'This is a lot of data,' Bayer said. 'To make sense of it all, and enable people to interact with the data, we co-developed a dashboard that allows users to explore the living fabric of our oceans at scale. 'The dashboard focuses on making complex science accessible. While we can't see DNA, we can read it – and now we can visualise the output too.' Environment and Water Minister Murray Watt welcomed the innovation, describing it as a game-changer for marine conservation. 'We can now 'visualise' the ocean in an entirely new way – from threatened handfish to whale sharks, we're gaining insights that were unimaginable just a few years ago,' he said. 'By co-investing in world-leading science like this, we're better equipped to protect the incredible biodiversity in our marine parks and make evidence-based decisions for the future.'
NZ Herald
08-05-2025
- Science
- NZ Herald
Pacific Rally sailors collect ocean data for climate change study
'It allows us to understand the health and function of the world's biggest ocean and the impact of climate change,' he said. 'It's bringing everyday people with us on this journey and allows us to collect samples at scale that was impossible before.' Citizens of the Sea is a not-for-profit charitable trust formed through a partnership between Cawthron Institute and New Zealand Geographic. It aims to empower citizen scientists to collect ocean data at scale and at a fraction of the cost of traditional research vessels. A new collaboration between Minderoo Foundation and Citizens of the Sea was also unveiled. Minderoo is a philanthropic organisation that seeks to uplift communities, support gender equality, protect natural ecosystems and respond to emerging threats and challenges. Pochon said Minderoo's support 'enables us to push the boundaries of what's possible in ocean data collection'. 'We are demonstrating that citizen-led science can generate high-quality ocean health data, much faster and at a fraction of the cost.' It's the second year of the data collection project. During last year's Pacific Rally, 26 participating vessels collected over 800 eDNA samples, along with environmental data, across 1.5 million square km of ocean. Pochon said gathering data was important to understand the impact of climate change on biodiversity. He hoped the data would also help detect problematic organisms like pathogens and harmful algae blooms, and where endangered species were going and how to protect them. 'We've seen a massive impact of changing temperatures over the last four years everywhere, to the point where we're really unsure what the real impact is on marine biomes. 'Being able to capture biodiversity data at a large scale – it's a game changer for scientists.' The technology will enable the collection of more than 500 samples during the 2025 Pacific Rally. Once collected, the data will be shared with global scientific communities and government NGOs via Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), an international organisation that makes scientific data on biodiversity available via the internet using web services. Jenny Ling is a senior journalist at the Northern Advocate. She has a special interest in covering human interest stories, along with finance, roading, and animal welfare issues.
