Southern NSW Drought Resilience Adoption and Innovation Hub
Welcome to the Southern NSW Drought Resilience Adoption and Innovation Hub: a consortium of nine regional partners including primary producers, Indigenous, industry and community groups, researchers, entrepreneurs, education institutions, resource management practitioners and government agencies.
Charles Sturt University is proud to lead the Southern NSW Innovation Hub, one of eight hubs being established across Australia to combat drought and form the epicentre of user-driven innovation, research and adoption and facilitate transformational change through the co-design of research, development, extension, adoption and commercialisation (RDEA&C) activities.
Based at Charles Sturt University in Wagga Wagga, the Southern NSW Innovation Hub will enable regional stakeholders to have a voice in drought resilience activities, collaborate with experts, gain access to resources, and participate in adoption programs such as workshops, seminars and field days.
Program highlights
Economic resilience for an innovative and profitable agricultural sector
Social resilience for resourceful and adaptable communities
Environmental resilience for sustainable and improved functioning of farming landscapes
About the Hub
The northern boundary of the Southern NSW Innovation Hub is described by a line from Broken Hill to Cobar, which joins the Macquarie catchment northern boundary near Quambone. We include most of the Macquarie River catchment, specifically the higher elevation areas in the upper reaches and Macquarie River-dependent irrigation areas, and lower reaches of the Darling River, south of 32 degrees latitude.
The Hub boundary follows the western and southern edges of the Hunter catchment and joins the northern edges of the Sydney Catchment near Kandos and meets the coast near the mouth of the Hawkesbury River. The Hub's southern and western boundaries are the VIC and SA state borders.
More information on the Australian Government Future Drought Fund
Events and news
Expanded Horizons webinar
>> Be inspired and challenged to do things differently <<
Let Southern NSW Innovation Hub introduce you to speakers from a range of industries, backgrounds and passions as we all look for novel thinking and new ideas. Expanded Horizons is a monthly webinar series giving you the space to think outside your industry, region and ‘normal’.
Expanded Horizons will return in February 2023 with a line-up of speakers ready to inspire and challenge.
Past events
Science to Practice Forum 2022
The Future Drought Fund’s three-day Science to Practice Forum was an opportunity for the Southern NSW Hub and its partners to showcase different aspects of the Hub and its activities. Hub staff hosted a live viewing site at Charles Sturt University Wagga, Hub Director Cindy Cassidy joined from the Canberra studio, introducing Jo Eady, Director, RuralScope who presented the Southern NSW Hub showcase: Mindset shifts and their power in collaboration. Hub Partner Holbrook Landcare also featured, with Executive Officer Dr Alison Southwell presenting Walking the Talk of Drought Innovation. Hub partner Irrigation Research and Extension Committee (IREC) hosted a field event on the final day with their trials update and Hub node launch with a live cross update to the forum as part of the wrap-up.
A key activity in the SNSW Drought Resilience Hub’s (the Hub) Operational Plan is to develop a baseline understanding of farmer and community perceptions of drought.
This Defining Drought - Then & Now survey is a Hub initiative from which the deidentified, aggregated results will contribute to regional conversations aimed at establishing a common understanding of drought among the communities of southern and central New South Wales.
The survey takes approximately 5-10 minutes, can be completed anonymously, and has been tailored to different interest groups.
Hub Media Releases
Come on a journey of Co-Design
Co-design is a keystone for the fundamental changes that the Southern NSW Innovation Hub is enabling across our communities . The Hub is implementing Co-design across our activities and footprint. This is an approach to designing “with” and not “for” or “to” people. On the front line is the Hub’s extensive network Knowledge Brokers is actively learning co-design principles and processes to then work in community with our people to identify and support projects and activities that will create more resilient agricultural systems, landscapes and communities across the region.
As a part of the co-design process, a series of articles is being compiled to share information, resources, answer questions and offer tips and tools to support co-design work across the Southern NSW Innovation Hub and beyond. These regular articles are designed to challenge, teach, and motivate Knowledge Brokers to explore and use co-design in their work (and it will have relevance beyond the work environment too.) All updates are written by the team of Jo Eady, a human centred facilitator, strategic designer with a keen interest in social change based in Victoria and Dale Stringer, innovation specialist and chief knowledge broker with Southern NSW Innovation Hub.
Because the concepts of co-design have relevance beyond the Hub and the Knowledge Broker network, we’re making the articles available to all.
Get involved
As a regional stakeholder, the Southern NSW Drought Resilience Hub gives you a voice in drought resilience activities and an opportunity to collaborate with experts, gain access to resources, and participate in extension and adoption programs such as workshops, seminars and field days.
or email the Hub direct on southernNSWhub@csu.edu.au
Funding and collaborators
Partners
- Charles Sturt University (Hub lead)
- Australian National University (ANU)
- Farming Systems Groups Alliance (represented by FarmLlink and include Central West Farming Systems, FarmLink Research Ltd, Holbrook Landcare Network, Irrigated Cropping Council, Irrigation Research & Extension Committee, Riverine Plains, Southern Growers, Monaro Farming Systems and Tablelands Farming Systems).
- Local Land Services (LLS)
- NSW Department of Primary Industries (NSW DPI)
- Rural Aid
- University of Canberra (UC)
- University of Wollongong (UoW).
Funding Acknowledgment
The Southern NSW Drought Resilience Adoption and Innovation Hub received funding from the Australian Government’s Future Drought Fund.