Sarah Perkins-Kirkpatrick

Sarah Perkins-Kirkpatrick is an Australian climate scientist and expert in heatwave research. She was awarded a NSW Young Tall Poppy in 2013 and received the Dorothy Hill award in 2021.[1] She has extensive science communication experience.

Sarah Perkins-Kirkpatrick
Perkins-Kirkpatrick in December 2020
Born1983
Sydney, Australia
NationalityAustralian
OccupationScientist
Known forHeatwave research

Career

Perkins-Kirkpatrick is a climate scientist working on heatwave events, including how heatwaves are defined, trends of heatwaves, projected future changes, physical drivers of heatwaves, and anthropogenic influences driving observed events. She was awarded an ARC DECRA, and then subsequently, awarded an ARC Future Fellowship at the Climate Change Research Centre at UNSW. She was at the UNSW Climate Change Research Centre from the years 20122 to 2022, and then moved to UNSW Canberra.[2] She was awarded the Young Tall Poppy prize for communication in science skills in 2013.[3] She has spent much of her career providing commentary on climate change and heatwaves.

"The less we warm the planet, the less bad heatwave changes will be. They’re not looking good."[4]

Perkins-Kirkpatrick has completed two postdoctoral fellowships, one at the CSIRO division of Marine and Atmospheric Research, and a second at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate System Science. She has held and undertaken workshops Internationally, in both Australia and in the Pacific Islands, where she was communicating the science of climate change amongst community groups which had little experience or literacy in climate science. Perkins-Kirkpatrick also held a role on the World Meteorological Organisation's Expert Team – in the sector on Climate Risk and Sector specific Climate Indices. In 2011, she also took part in the event where scientists communicate with politicians, called Science meets Parliament.

Perkins-Kirkpatrick specialises in researching and science communication of climate change, climate projections, extreme events, as well as, heatwaves, and extreme heat events. She has recently worked in marine heatwaves, such as the marine heatwave along the coast of South-East Australia in 2022.[5]

Perkins-Kirkpatrick is also a member of the core group of the Resilient Futures Collective, part of UNSW. The Resilient Futures Collective focusses on research on droughts, floods, bushfires, and cyclones, which cause damage and disruption to rural and regional communities. The Collective examines how risk reduction through good governance, planning, and vulnerability analyses can minimise the impacts of natural disasters.[6]

Awards
  • 2021 – Dorothy Hill Medal from the Australian Academy of Science.[1]
  • 2017 – ARC Future Fellowship, from the Australian Research Council.[3]
  • 2016 – Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society Early Career Researcher Award.[2]
  • 2014 – ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate System Science Director's Prize.[2]
  • 2014 – Named one of UNSW's "Rising Stars who will Change the World".[2]
  • 2013 – NSW Young Tall Poppy.[7]

Media

Perkins-Kirkpatrick has written for and been quoted in the International and Australian media many times,[8] describing the impacts and science behind climate change and heatwaves, and more recently, marine heatwaves.[9] Her research has been described, and she has participated in media interviews, in Cosmos,[4] Carbon Brief,[9] as well as provided commentary on the BBC,[10][11] Triple J's Hack, Radio National,[12] the Sydney Morning Herald,[13][14] the 7:30 Report, Science.[8] She has participated in radio interviews, print media, and written regular blog posts on heatwaves and the impacts of climate change.

References
  1. "2021 awardees". Australian Academy of Science. Retrieved 7 April 2022.
  2. "Sarah Perkins-Kirkpatrick". www.unsw.adfa.edu.au. Retrieved 8 April 2022.
  3. "Dr Sarah Perkins-Kirkpatrick". www.ccrc.unsw.edu.au. Climate Change Research Centre (CCRC). Retrieved 7 April 2022.
  4. Perkins-Kirkpatrick, Sarah (12 November 2021). "Taking the world's temperature with a heatwave expert". cosmosmagazine.com. Retrieved 7 April 2022.
  5. Oliver, Eric C. J.; Donat, Markus G.; Burrows, Michael T.; Moore, Pippa J.; Smale, Dan A.; Alexander, Lisa V.; Benthuysen, Jessica A.; Feng, Ming; Sen Gupta, Alex; Hobday, Alistair J.; Holbrook, Neil J. (10 April 2018). "Longer and more frequent marine heatwaves over the past century". Nature Communications. 9 (1): 1324. Bibcode:2018NatCo...9.1324O. doi:10.1038/s41467-018-03732-9. ISSN 2041-1723. PMC 5893591. PMID 29636482.
  6. "Resilient Futures Collective". Institute for Global Development – UNSW Sydney. Retrieved 12 April 2022.
  7. "2013 NSW Award Winners". AIPS. Retrieved 8 April 2022.
  8. Lewis, Dyani (7 February 2014). "Heat Wave Forecasts Debut in Scorching Australia". Science. 343 (6171): 587. doi:10.1126/science.343.6171.587. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 24503824.
  9. Tandon, Ayesha (26 July 2021). "Climate change will drive rise in 'record-shattering' heat extremes". Carbon Brief. Retrieved 7 April 2022.
  10. "BBC World Service - Science In Action". BBC. Retrieved 7 April 2022.
  11. "Australia sweats over extreme hot weather". BBC News. 30 November 2014. Retrieved 7 April 2022.
  12. "More heatwaves since 1950 - and more to come". ABC Radio National. 11 October 2013. Retrieved 7 April 2022.
  13. Perkins, Sarah (10 October 2013). "Sydney heatwave: Is it hot enough for you?". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 7 April 2022.
  14. Phillips, Nicky (9 October 2013). "New climates for Melbourne, Sydney predicted". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 7 April 2022.
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