Professor Irene Penesis
Research Director
Blue Economy CRC-Co Ltd.
Keynote Title: Challenges of the Blue Economy for Sustainable Offshore Development
Abstract: Established in July 2019, Australia's Blue Economy Cooperative Research Centre (Blue Economy CRC) is aimed at unlocking the potential of the nation's ocean resources, through sustainable developments of offshore aquaculture and renewable energy production systems. Included in these prospects for the Blue Economy is the offshore co-location and/or integration of both aquaculture and renewable energy production systems, which can potentially have several synergistic benefits that include shared resources, efficient use of ocean space, less competition amongst other user groups of marine space, reduced operational and maintenance (O&M) costs from possible shared activities. However, developing sustainable infrastructure in sites located further offshore have more technical and environmental challenges when compared to nearshore or coastal sites. Therefore, relocating such infrastructure from nearshore to offshore sites will require an extensive review, improvements and new innovations in terms of both design and practice.
In this keynote presentation, the Irene will talk about various design and research challenges related to developing sustainable offshore systems for emerging industries and the Blue Economy CRC’s initiatives and solutions to overcome these challenges. This will include the recent R&D projects of novel fish pen designs, short-term improvements required to existing infrastructure in the aquaculture industry like the robust collar tie for fish pens, best practices for managing risks including marine spatial planning and data infrastructure, and decarbonisation of blue economy industries including multi-use platforms (MoorPower™), offshore hydrogen microgrid and hydrogen-powered vessels.
Biography: Professor Irene Penesis is the Research Director for the Blue Economy CRC Co Ltd. Irene was the bid leader responsible for developing the AU $329 million successful application to the Australian Government's Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) program. Irene’s passion for a transition to renewable energy, environmental sustainability and decarbonisation of marine and maritime industries led her to developing the successful application to the Commonwealth's CRC program. Irene is on secondment from the Australian Maritime College, University of Tasmania where she led a multi-disciplinary research team working in the field of marine renewable energy and contributing to educating maritime engineering students in the Centre for Maritime Engineering and Hydrodynamics.
Irene is the Australian Primary Delegate of the International Energy Agency's Ocean Energy Systems (OES), and on the Steering Committees of the Tasmanian Government's Renewable Energy Action Plan, the Marine Energy Research Australia (MERA) at the University of Western Australia and MERIC Chile’s Scientific International Committee. Irene was the Chair of Marine Renewable Energy Specialist Committee of the International Towing Tank Conference (ITTC) between 2011 and 2017, a peak international body developing technical guidelines and procedures relevant to the hydrodynamic testing of wave energy converters, marine current/tidal turbines and offshore wind turbines.
Irene is the next Chairperson for the International Conference on Ocean Energy (ICOE) to be held in Melbourne, Australia in 2024.
Henry Puna
Secretary General
Pacific Islands Forum
Keynote Title: Pacific Region Perspective – Sustainably Managing Our Blue Pacific Ocean
Abstract: As custodians of the Blue Pacific, we have demonstrated our leadership and collective resolve to protect the Pacific Ocean. It is our endowment fund, inherited from our ancestors and which we share with future generations. The development of the Pacific Roadmap for Economic Development (PRED) to implement the Resource and Economic Development thematic area of the 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent, focuses on harnessing the blue economy potentials to optimize benefits to our island countries. Key to this is innovation and investment. Forum Leaders have called for increased investment in coastal and marine ecosystem restoration and management capacities, sustainable aquaculture development and research activities. Investment is needed for the future of sustainable coastal and marine tourism, economic resilience of fisheries, and community-level economic uplift and food security. Forum Leaders recognised that the Blue Pacific’s maritime transport industry plays a critical role and call for the sustainable and resilient development of the maritime industry, including investment in new clean technology and operations, to ensure safe, accessible, efficient, and affordable maritime transport. Additionally, investment in sustainable ocean-based renewable energy – for new economic growth opportunities and energy security – is sought and encouraged, especially with our development partners. The Pacific Island countries face the brunt of the impact of climate change despite their insignificant contribution to the problem. A large focus is then on efforts to increase investment for the establishment of systematic oceans observing systems including oceans acidification, to better understand the impacts of climate change on the ocean, blue carbon protection and restoration initiatives for climate mitigation and adaptation, as well as monitoring and prediction to strengthen natural disaster response and risk reduction strategies for our islands.
Biography: Henry Puna is the 10th Secretary General of the Pacific Islands Forum and the first Cook Islander to hold this post.
Born in Aitutaki and raised in Rarotonga, he spent his formative years witnessing the transition of his nation to self-governance. He was one of the first wave of Cook Islands solicitors, studying at Auckland University and University of Tasmania, to be admitted to the bar in 1980.
Before politics, Henry Puna served on the board of the South Pacific Ports Association, and the Pacific Forum Line. His executive roles in national government heading Trade, Labour, and Transport as well as operating within the constraints facing regional shipping and transportation, strengthened his affinity for the hardships and vulnerabilities of connecting remote atoll-based communities across ocean states. His formative years combined with his return to atoll life as a pearl farmer and parliamentarian, supplied rich insights and lived knowledge of the resilience and resourcefulness of small island communities bearing the brunt of climate change across the Blue Pacific. Holding portfolios including Foreign Affairs and Immigration, Marine Resources, Energy and Renewable Energy, Climate Change, Tourism, and the Outer Islands, Puna steered his nation on a path that has earned the Cook Islands global recognition for Oceans sustainability and renewable energy.
A key focus in his early years as Prime Minister was transforming access to energy across all inhabited islands of the Cooks. His championing of renewable, clean energy and support ensured the bilateral and global funding partnerships for a successful transition to solar energy, breaking the monopoly of fossil fuel.
At the international level, as the 43rd Forum Chair and host of the 2012 meetings and Leaders Retreat, he invited former US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton to a milestone meeting with Forum Leaders, who renewed their commitment to address human rights for women, through a new Pacific Leaders Gender Equality Declaration.
In 2016, in recognition of his service to the region and academia, he received an honorary Doctorate in Law from the University of the South Pacific, Fiji, and served as Chancellor of the University from 2017-2018.
As a Forum Leader championing climate change, tuna fisheries, and innovative partnerships for oceans and energy sustainability, a landmark global achievement has been the 2017 founding legislation establishing the world's largest multiple-use marine park, the Marae Moana.
Jayne Baird
Vice President Carbon
Keynote Title: Woodside Energy: Thriving through the Energy Transition
Abstract: Woodside provides energy the world needs to heat and cool homes, keep lights on and enable industry through our portfolio of quality oil and gas assets. The science of climate change is clear: if the world is to limit temperature rise, it will need to change the way that it produces and consumes energy. The energy transition has begun.
Jayne Baird, Woodside Energy Vice President Carbon Solutions - Carbon Services explores how Woodside, as an energy producer, is evolving its business to meet the challenges and capitalise on the opportunities the energy transition presents. From investing in new energy products such as hydrogen and solar as well as lower-carbon services such as carbon capture and storage, Woodside is exploring the technologies that may be capable of reducing the emissions from existing industries, while also having the potential to support the development of new lower-carbon industries.
Biography: Jayne Baird is Woodside's Vice President for Carbon Solutions, a role she has held since November 2018. She is responsible for establishing and delivering Woodside's Carbon Abatement strategy including Offset and CCS solutions. Previous role VP Exploration: Africa, Europe, and Americas. She has thirty years industry experience across new business development, international new ventures, exploration, development, and subsurface production.
She joined the company in 2005 working in the Mauritania Exploration Team, later as Exploration Manager and Business Development Manager for Africa.
From 2008 she moved into the role of Exploration Manager in the Outer Exmouth Australia Exploration Team, focusing on support for Woodside's core LNG business. She was Senior Manager of Internal Audit in 2011 performing post investment reviews.
From 2012-2014 Jayne was Head of Global New Ventures. Jayne played a critical role in Woodside’s return to international exploration. Following the 2016 entry in to the RSSD acreage in Senegal, containing the SNE discovery, Woodside took the Development Lead Role alongside operator Cairn. Jayne led the Sangomar development project for Woodside through appraisal, until hand over to development for Concept Select. Before Woodside Jayne worked for Conoco Phillips and the Scott Pickford Group, including a three-year secondment into the BP MAST (mature assets) project.
Jayne holds an honours degree in Geology and a masters degree in Basin Dynamics and was educated London University. Born and raised in the United Kingdom, Jayne is a dual citizen based in Australia. She is also an internationally published fiction author (Jayne Lyons) with a first feature film and television series based on her released in 2020.
Honoring Symposium Speaker
Ian Young
Kernot Professor of Engineering
University of Melbourne
Biography: Ian Young is Kernot Professor of Engineering at the University of Melbourne. Prior to this appointment, he held the administrative roles of Vice-Chancellor of the Australian National University and Vice-Chancellor of the Swinburne University of Technology. Prior to joining Swinburne, he was Executive Dean, the Faculty of Engineering, Computer & Mathematical Sciences and Pro-Vice-Chancellor (International) at the University of Adelaide. His research interests concern wind-generated ocean waves. He has an extensive publication record in areas such as: the physics of air-sea interaction, the numerical modelling of waves, finite depth waves, satellite remote sensing and ocean wind and wave climate. In recent years, he has conducted a range of studies aimed at understanding global ocean wind and wave climate. These studies use large satellite databases which he has compiled. The studies investigate seasonal wind and wave climate, extremes and long-term trends in wind speed and wave height. He has published extensively in aspects of remote sensing of the oceans with applications to both engineering design and climate. He is the author of more than 150 refereed papers and two major research monographs in the field. He is also a consultant to offshore industries in Australia, the United States, and Asia, as well as an advisor to the US Navy on ocean wave physics.