* Background, virtual discussion-support system (DSS) * Project objectives and proposed methodologies * Project outcomes and outputs * Progress so far and planned activities * Future opportunities * Issues and barriers

1. 1
Investigating the impact of a web-based,
‘discussion-support’, agricultural-climate
information system on Australian farmers’
operational decision making
Roger Stone Shahbaz Mushtaq, Tek Maraseni, Torben Marcussen,
Helen Farley, Joanne Doyle, Adrian Stagg, Neil Martin
Collaborator
Janette Lindesay and Ganesh Keremane, and Matt Kealley
Presentation Outline
• Background, virtual discussion-support system (DSS)
• Project objectives and proposed methodologies
• Project outcomes and outputs
• Progress so far and planned activities
• Future opportunities
• Issues and barriers

2. 2
Background
• To manage climate and related risks, science is
increasingly being called upon to provide information for
complex decision making
• However, despite recent remarkable advances in climate
science, how science can best support complex
decision making remains an outstanding question
• Extensive evidence from the decision sciences shows
that good scientific information and decision support
tools (DST) alone is rarely sufficient to results in good
decisions
A ‘virtual’ Discussion-Support System
• Dynamic complex farming system requires whole
variety of contextualised set information (such as
ideas, values, rules, cultural and social etc.) for more
informed and effective decision.
• A web-based ‘virtual’ ‘discussion-support systems’
(DSS) have been increasingly suggested for
integrating climate variability and climate change with
practical farming operations by utilising cutting-edge
developments in educational web-based portals.

3. 3
• To improve climate knowledge by employing emerging tools to
help build consensus on the urgent and increasing needs for
information and knowledge services for climate change
responses;
• To develop a ‘virtual’ discussion-support system that will
improve the capability for integrating climate variability and
climate change (at a range of scales) with practical farming
operations.
• To assess the effectiveness of the ‘virtual’ discussion-support
system in building capacity for improved decision making by
engaging farmers and evaluation workshops.
Objectives
Approach and Methodology
• Application of new cutting edge climate models (such as SOI
Phase system, POAMA, ECMWF) to generate improved
understanding of climate variability and climate change
• Development of the web portal to host virtual’ discussion-
support system, climate and other relevant information
• 3D simulations to accurately depict real-world (2nd lifelike and
avatars actors, and scenarios relevant to the lives and practices
of farmers) -
• To assess the effectiveness of the ‘virtual’ discussion-support
system (what-if’ experiment and Agent-Based Models (ABM) and
Data Envelope Analysis etc.)
• Workshops, primary and secondary data collection

4. 4
Outputs and outcome
• CRN areas of focus
• Social and policy
• Participation in higher education
• Technology rich learning environments
• USQ and collaborative research capacity
• Increased cross-institutional collaborations
• Research and innovation
• An innovative decision support framework and tool,
ready to be scaled-up to reach millions of farmers across
the developing countries.
• Peer reviewed journal articles, conference presentations,
scientific reports and workshop reports.
Progress so far…
• Advertisement and selection of PhD (completed) and Postdoc
(in process)
• Project timelines and structure
• Brief synthesis and review
• Development of website (in progress)
• Creation of 2nd lifelike avatar actors
• Development of improved forecast and climate scenario to be
used in 2nd life (in progress)

5. 5
Activities for next 3-6 months
• Development of web-portal to host web-based discussion
support system
• Provide ‘seasonal climate outlook’ using for better
understanding of climate variability
• Attend a Canegrowers ‘typical shed’ meeting to more
realistically develop 2nd lifelike avatars
• Write climate scripts to be modelled in second life scenarios
• Finalise assessment frameworks, models and data
requirement
• Organise face-to-face meeting with collaborators
• Australia-India Scientific Research Fund (AISRF): the Indian
government and several universities have shown keen
interest in scaling-up the pilot APN project in order to reach
millions of farmers.
• Possibility of become major R&D & E instrument for Sugar
Industry and other industries
• Possible funding opportunities from the UN-WMO, Asian
Development Bank, World Bank, Australian Centre for
International Agriculture Research (ACIAR) and Ausaid.
Future opportunities

6. 6
Issues and Barriers
• Concerns about the available funding
• UniSa collaborator have not been fully on-board
• Any other??