Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (TERN) Background

The objective of the TERN is to provide infrastructure that builds on the significant past and present investments of State, Territory and Commonwealth Governments to facilitate the development of an integrated approach to understanding Australia’s ecosystems.

The TERN infrastructure will provide the capacity to collect and integrate data on key ecosystem components for a range of terrestrial ecosystems. This capacity will enable researchers to conduct experiments, undertake analyses, and construct models, that contribute to the development of a dynamic and holistic understanding of Australian ecosystems at both large (including national and regional) and small scales (such as catchments or habitat).

On this page

The Scoping Process

Draft TERN Roadmap

Commencement of facilitation phase

Scoping Timeline

Key Events and Documents

Contacts

The Scoping Process

The NCRIS Committee instituted a scoping process within the research community prior to developing a full investment proposal for the Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network. During May - December 2006, the NCRIS Committee undertook consultations to further refine the scope of the TERN.

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Draft TERN Roadmap

A Draft TERN Roadmap (2.3 MB) was prepared in consultation with Dr Graeme Pearman, having regard to scoping workshops held in July 2006 together with written comments provided by a range of individual organisations. A refined version of the document is now providing the basis for the NCRIS facilitation process and the development of a TERN investment plan. The Draft TERN Roadmap provided a replacement for the description of the TERN that was included in the NCRIS Roadmap.

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Commencement of facilitation phase

Further information regarding the role and responsibilities of NCRIS facilitators is available in section 2.2 of the NCRIS Investment Framework (114.7 KB).

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Scoping Timeline

Date (2006)	Activity
18 - 19 May	Circulation of requests for information to stakeholders
2 June	Deadline for inputs to inform issues paper
Late June	Issues paper circulated
6 July & 12 July	National workshops held in Melbourne (6 July), Brisbane (12 July) and Perth (17 July - to be confirmed) open to all interested stakeholders for each capability
22 June	TERN discussion paper circulated
July - August	Draft Revised TERN Roadmap prepared taking into account outcomes of the workshops
September - October	Draft Revised TERN Roadmap circulated to stakeholders for comment
November	NCRIS Committee considers TERN Roadmap and identifies suitable facilitator
December	Start of facilitation process

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Key Events and Documents

Scoping workshops and discussion paper

Three national workshops were held in July 2006 to further develop the TERN proposal. These were held in:

Melbourne on 6 July 2006
Brisbane on 12 July 2006
Perth on 17 July 2006

A TERN Discussion Paper formed the basis of discussion at the national workshops. The Discussion Paper detailed the NCRIS Committee’s understanding of the issues and possible implementation options.

TERN Discussion paper: PDF PDF Document (58.4 KB) RTF (174.1 KB)