Croak and dagger

corey bradshawAs might have been expected, the news that the Abbott government will be putting $1 million a year into the less-than-normally unhinged warmist Bjorn Lomborg’s stay at the University of Western Australia has driven the college of climate cardinals to something very close to apoplexy. Remember, Lomborg accepts and endorses the dubious theory that mankind’s preference for heat, light and carbon-fuelled prosperity is affecting the weather, it’s just that he begs to differ on the efficacy of spending large sums to hobble economic growth when there are so many better purposes to which  that money might be put. As he has discovered, even the slightest deviation from the party line is not to be tolerated.

One of Lomborg’s noisier Australian critics is the University of Adelaide’s Professor Corey Bradshaw. That’s his picture atop this item. For those who might not be sure, Bradshaw is the one underneath, and his prime gripe is that the money being spent on Lomborg is too precious to waste on someone whose academic record is, he says, entirely negligible. This theme was dutifully picked up by Media Watch, where an undisclosed professional past as a climate activist is no barrier to employment as a researcher on stories defending wind turbines.

We all know about Media Watch and its role as orthodoxy’s unquestioning champion, but what of Professor Bradshaw, who thinks Lomborg undeserving of public support? Well, going by the green professor’s university webpage, he has more than a nodding familiarity with taxpayer money. Here’s what Bradshaw’s various quests to expand the sum of human knowledge have garnered from the public purse over the past nine years:

Current & recently completed grants:

  • 2013-2015, ARC Discovery GrantGeneralised methods for testing extinction dynamics across geological, near and modern time scales
  • 2012-2015, ARC Linkage GrantIdentifying cost-effective reforestation approaches for biodiversity conservation and carbon sequestration in southern Australia
  • 2011-2015, ARC Future FellowshipSolving the problems of estimating extinction rates in recent and geological time
  • 2012-2014, ARC Discovery GrantMeta-modelling of ecological, evolutionary and climatic systems dynamics
  • 2012-2014, ARCLinkage GrantSeascape genetics for shark management: an innovation in sustainable fisheries modelling
  • 2011-2014, ARC Linkage GrantDeveloping best-practice approaches for restoring forest ecosystems that are resilient to climate change
  • 2011, Australian Centre for Ecological Analysis & Synthesis (ACEAS), Working Group GrantDetermining precise estimates of modern biodiversity extinction rates
  • 2011, ARC, Linkage, Infrastructure, Equipment & Facilities (LIEF) Grant, Enhancement of South Australian high-performance computing facilities
  • 2011-2014, ARC Super Science FellowshipsMulti-model predictions of ecosystem flux under climate change based on novel genetic and image analysis methods
  • 2010-2012, South Australian Premier’s Science and Research FundTRansect for ENvironmental monitoring and Decision making (TREND): adaptive management of productive and native systems for climate change
  • 2009-2011, Australian Government International Science Linkage Programme, Strategic Japanese-Australian Cooperative Program on “Marine Science”, Genetic diversity of calcareous macroalgae and their vulnerability to global climate changes
  • 2009-2013, ARC Linkage Grant, Identifying cost-effective reforestation approaches for biodiversity conservation and carbon sequestration in the Australian wet tropics
  • 2009, ARC-NZ Research Network for Vegetation FunctionForecasting climate-driven changes to the distribution and diversity of marine flora
  • 2008-2009, ZoNeCo, New Caledonia, Sustainable management of deep-sea snapper stocks in New Caledonia
  • 2008-2010, ARC Discovery GrantDensity regulation as a major determinant of population persistence: advancing empirical and theoretical approaches to conserve biodiversity
  • 2007-2009, Australian Antarctic Program GrantDigging up the past: the impact of life history traits on royal penguins (Eudyptes schlegeli)
  • 2008-2009, Seaworld Grant, Gene profiling shark catches: do we know what we’re catching?
  • 2007-2008, Charles Darwin University Project Grant, Modelling savanna biomass at continental and global scales
  • 2007-2009, DEWHAExtinction risk, threat assessment and priority management actions for the East Coast population of grey nurse shark (Carcharias taurus) in Australia
  • 2007-2009, DEWHADistribution and abundance of Glyphis spp. in Northern Australia and their potential interactions with commercial fisheries
  • 2007-2009, WA-DECHabitat use and migration patterns of silvertip and grey reef sharks at Rowley Shoals
  • 2007-2009, IMOS-Australian Acoustic Tagging and Monitoring SystemHabitat use and migration patterns of silvertip and grey reef sharks at Rowley Shoals
  • 2006-2009, ARC Linkage Grant, Ecological-epidemiological models of feral swamp buffalo control in northern Australia
  • 2006-2009, ARC Linkage Grant, Estimating fishing-related mortality and designing sustainable management protocols for shark fisheries in northern Australia
  • 2006-2009, ARC Linkage Grant, Modelling and control of mosquito-borne diseases in Darwin using long-term monitoring

If only Lomborg wore a frog on his head, Bradshaw — his home page is available via the link below — might consider the Dane a serious man of science.

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