Monash CliComm

🚙​⚡​ Why isn’t EV charging as easy as refilling your petrol car?

Oliver Hill, Nicholas Wodzinski and Sam Johnson joined us for our latest rapid response briefing to discuss EV charging in Australia and what needs to change to make the experience more seamless, reliable and accessible.

Key takeaways:
🔌 Australia’s EV transition is moving much faster than the petrol-era infrastructure buildout, which means charging standards, coordination and consumer experience need to catch up

📱 Fragmented networks, multiple apps and inconsistent charger performance are still creating friction for drivers and influencing EV uptake

🏠 Public charging, workplace charging, curbside charging and apartment charging all need different solutions, a one-size-fits-all approach will not work

​⚡​Better charging is not just about adding more chargers but about improving operations, standards, customer experience and how charging supports the grid

🎥 Watch the recording: https://bit.ly/clicomm-rrb6

🔗 Join our next briefing: https://www.monash.edu/mcccrh/climate-communicators/rapid-response-climate-and-energy-briefings

Thank you to our panellists and everyone who joined the conversation.

🥗🌏 How can we build more resilient food systems?

Last week, researchers from Australia, Indonesia and Malaysia joined the Hub’s Deputy Director Dr Lucy Richardson at Monash University Malaysia to explore the impact of climate change on our food systems.

We discussed:
🌾 How climate change and the energy transition are reshaping food systems
🤝 Shared challenges and opportunities across Australia, Indonesia and Malaysia
🔎 New collaborative research priorities and funding opportunities
🌏 How Monash's international network can help tackle complex regional challenges

The workshop builds on connections established through our 2025 networking events and marks the next step towards developing a collaborative international research program on food system resilience.

Thanks to all who joined us! We're looking forward to continuing these conversations and growing this network.

Monash University Malaysia

🔬🌏🎉 Happy National Science Week!

What if your next science, geography or food tech lesson could take students from the classroom into the real world?

Our Climate Classrooms lesson plans are designed to help teachers bring climate science to life with practical, hands-on activities that connect curriculum content to the world around us.

Created in collaboration with students, teachers and scientists, our free, curriculum-aligned lessons explore questions like:
🌬️ How do wind turbines actually work?
🦎 What might creatures of the future look like?
💧 How much water is really in the food we eat?

There are lessons across different subjects and year levels, giving teachers flexible ways to explore climate science, sustainability and real-world problem solving in the classroom.

📚 Looking for a fresh lesson idea? Explore our free resources here: https://www.monash.edu/mcccrh/climate-communicators/climate-classrooms

📰🌏 How can climate communication research support journalists in the newsroom?

That was the focus of a second workshop in Jakarta last week, where Dr Linda Hunt, Deborah Steele, Dessy Rosalina and Dr Geetha Maniam brought together Indonesian environmental and climate journalists for a day of discussion and collaboration.

The workshop drew on the experiences of journalists working across different media organisations and with audiences. It was an opportunity for journalists to share what they are seeing on the ground – from the stories resonating with audiences to the challenges they face communicating a complex and rapidly changing issue.

We discussed:

💡 The role of constructive journalism in climate reporting
🔎 Insights from the Hub's climate communication research in Indonesia
🛠 How existing communication programs could be adapted to local newsroom contexts
🤝 Journalism practices that are both effective and realistic to implement

By working together to understand the challenges journalists face, we're helping shape the tools, resources and approaches required to build climate reporting capacity across Indonesia.

📢 CALLING ALL CLIMATE AND ENERGY REPORTERS

Join Oliver Hill, Nic Wodzinski and Sam Johnson at our next online rapid response briefing.

This time it's all about EV charging and you’ll have the opportunity to ask on-the-record or inquisitive questions.

📅 Tuesday 18 August 2026
🕙 2-3pm (AEST)
📍Zoom

Australia's EV market is growing rapidly, but charging the car can still be one of the biggest pain points for drivers.

Why do chargers that are reported 'available' sometimes not work? Why do motorists need multiple apps to charge across networks? Why is the seamless 'plug in and walk away' experience that drivers enjoy overseas still largely missing in Australia?

Join these experts as they unpack what's holding Australia's charging ecosystem back, what needs to change, and whether a simpler, more reliable charging experience is within reach.

➡️Register online: https://www.monash.edu/mcccrh/climate-communicators/rapid-response-climate-and-energy-briefings/

📺🤝 Strengthening climate reporting with TVRI

Last week, the Hub delivered a workshop with senior editorial staff at Television of the Republic of Indonesia ( TVRI Nasional) Indonesia.

Led by Dr Linda Hunt, Deborah Steele, Dessy Rosalina and Dr Geetha Maniam, the workshop brought 21 participants together to share research from Australia and Indonesia and discuss potential approaches to strengthen climate reporting at Indonesia's national broadcaster.

The workshop covered:
🔎 What TVRI is already doing well in their climate reporting
💬 How constructive journalism can support audience engagement
📱 Meeting audiences where they already are across TVRI platforms
🛠 How successful communication programs from Australia could be adapted to Indonesia's media landscape

The workshop focused on understanding the needs of TVRI and identifying communication strategies that reflect the realities of Indonesian audiences.

Thank you to Arif Adikuswardono and the TVRI team for hosting such thoughtful and engaging discussions.

☀️🤝 Climate solutions need climate communication

Last week Dr Linda Hunt and Dr Azliyana Azhari joined researchers, Malaysian government representatives and NGO leaders at the Our Share Climate Futures Forum in Kuala Lumpur, led by University of Reading.

The forum explored regional climate priorities and opportunities for collaboration through the International Universities Climate Alliance (IUCA), with a focus on how stronger cross-sector and cross-border collaboration can accelerate climate action.

Linda and Az helped bring the conversation of climate communication to the table, highlighting why research-backed communication is essential to turning climate science into informed action, stronger policy and meaningful community engagement.

The forum also provided a great opportunity to connect with Rose Armour, the director of IUCA, and for Az to catch up with her former PhD supervisor, Prof Mohd Talib Latif, Professor in Atmospheric Chemistry at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.

🌏⛏️ Critical minerals are about more than just supply

Professor Joaquin Vespignani, Professor Mohan Yellishetty and Riasat Noor joined us for the latest rapid response briefing to discuss critical minerals and whether Australia can capture more value by processing, refining and manufacturing them domestically.

Key takeaways:

⚡ Critical minerals are central to energy security, clean energy supply chains and the transition to net zero in Australia and around the world

🌏 We need to account for environmental and market challenges of processing and refining critical minerals, including energy costs, scale and international competition

🏠 How we build social licence and community trust, make decisions about land use and develop benefit-sharing opportunities will shape the future of our energy sector

🎥 Watch the recording: https://youtu.be/ni1ML5UjKh8
🔗 Join our next briefing: https://www.monash.edu/mcccrh/climate-communicators/rapid-response-climate-and-energy-briefings

Thank you to our panellists and everyone who joined the conversation.
Monash University

🔎 Research summary: Women’s climate and health priorities

Climate change and health are closely linked – and women often experience these impacts differently, especially in Southeast Asia. Yet gender is still too often missing from climate and health policy.

This project, funded by the Health Organization (WHO) focused on ethics in climate change research. Our team worked with women in Malaysia and Indonesia to identify research priorities at the intersection of climate change and health. Participants co-designed summaries of the findings with the research team.

A two-day workshop brought together participants from diverse backgrounds, including mothers, Indigenous Orang Asli (Peninsular Malaysia) and Orang Asal (Sabah and Sarawak), women with disability, and women from rural and urban areas.

Participants shared experiences and key climate-and-health concerns. These included:
🌡️ Extreme heat
⛈️ Severe weather (including flooding and storms)
🌫️ Air pollution and breathing difficulties
💧 Water quality and food supply challenges (particularly for Orang Asli and Orang Asal communities)
📉 Data gaps on emerging health risks (and concerns not captured in existing categories such as forced migration)

The summary also outlines practical recommendations – including proactively including diverse women’s voices in policymaking, investing in gender-responsive health systems, and supporting participatory research that values lived experience.

🔗 Read the summaries here: https://www.monash.edu/mcccrh/research/completed/womens-climate-and-health-priorities-in-malaysia-and-indonesia/
🔗 Read the research article: https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/public-health/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2026.1789137/full

Great effort from the research team
Dr Raksha Pandya-Wood, A/Prof Grace Wangge, Dr Azliyana Azhari, Assistant Prof Gabriela Fernando

Thank you to all the organisation that participated
Badan Riset dan Inovasi Nasional (BRIN), The SMERU Research Institute, Center for Indonesia's Strategic Development Initiatives (CISDI), ClimateWorks Australia, Yayasan Kesehatan Perempuan, SDPI-சோசியல் டெமாக்ரடிக் பார்ட்டி ஆஃப் இந்தியா,தமிழ்நாடு (Serikat Demokrasi Pengemudi Indonesia), Komnas Perempuan, Arah Biru, Komunitas Dokter Tanpa Stigma, WALHI Indonesia, Greenpeace Indonesia, Health in Harmony, Perempuan Mahardhika, Jaringan Kesehatan Indonesia (Jarnakes), GreenFaith Indonesia, Dietplastik Indonesia, PEREMPUAN AMAN, Yayasan IPAS Indonesia, Dinas Kesehatan Provinsi DKI Jakarta, Mosaic, The Society of Indonesian Environmental Journalist (SIEJ), Yayasan PEKKA, The Asian-Pacific Resource & Research Centre for Women (ARROW), Gibbon Conservation Society (GCS), Greenpeace Malaysia, Klima Action Malaysia (KAMY), Malaysian Nature Society (MNS), Mercy Malaysia, OKU Rights Matter, Pertubuhan Wanita Orang Asal Malaysia (PWOAM), Sahabat Wanita Selangor, SIS Forum, Sunway Centre for Planetary Health (SCPH), Women's Aid Organisation (WAO)

📢 CALLING ALL CLIMATE AND ENERGY REPORTERS

The Monash Climate Communication Hub invites journalists and media professionals to join an online rapid response briefing about critical minerals this Thursday.

The briefing will connect you with leading researchers and subject-matter experts and you will have the opportunity to ask on-the-record or inquisitive questions.

📅 Thursday 30 July 2026
🕙 2-3pm (AEST)
📍Zoom

The session will explore whether Australia should continue digging up critical minerals and shipping them overseas, or whether we can capture more of their economic and social value by processing, refining and manufacturing them domestically. We will discuss the environmental, social licence and community trust questions that will shape whether this industry can grow in a way that genuinely supports the energy transition.

Register online: https://www.monash.edu/mcccrh/climate-communicators/rapid-response-climate-and-energy-briefings/