Nicole Joffe
BSc Honours 2008
Supervisor Panel members
Associate Professor Jason Beringer
Professor Nigel Tapper
Research Focus
Climate change and human health. Looking at the future of human thermal comfort in Australian capital cities.
Current Research
My research utilises the outputs of a number of Global Climate Models (GCM) that were used in the Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change (IPCC), Fourth Assessment Report, published in 2007. I determine grid cells that are appropriately situated over each Australian capital city (excluding Hobart and Canberra) for these GCMs and extrapolate meteorological data for the periods 1981-2000, 2046-2065 and 2081-2100. I then use the temperature, humidity, wind speed and radiation data from the GCM, as well as the Bureau of Meteorology and undertake a number of calculations with the help of the program RayMan to establish the level of human thermal comfort of a office worker (appropriately dressed for the season), in each time frame and city. An inter-comparison to determine the temporal and spatial changes is then done. Furthermore, I use the GCM daily maximum and night time minimum temperatures in the Melbourne area to project the likelihood of Melbournians, over the age of 65, experiencing heat related mortality. This work on heat stress is based on a paper written by Professor Neville Nicholls, Carol Skinner, Margaret Loughnan and Professor Nigel Tapper.
Why Monash?
I am inspired by the enthusiasm, passion, knowledge and commitment of everyone in the School. Members of the School always have time for you and never hesitate to help you in any way possible. Studying climate at this time provides an opportunity to learn and develop ideas that can be genuinely useful to the broader community. There are real implications for the outcomes of your work.
What next?
I hope to use the skills gained in my honours year for further research or in part of a corporate or government team.