Emerald Dinner

A very big thank you to all our supporters who joined us at the 2017 Emerald Dinner.

The evening was a wonderful success and we would like to express our gratitude for your ongoing support of critical marine research at SIMS through your attendance, contributions to the raffle and active bidding in the silent and live auctions.

Professor Iain Suthers and the team working on the SIMS Coastal Radar were so excited by the enthusiasm for the ‘whip around’ on the night which raised valuable funding for the project which will improve our understanding of Australia’s greatest current at it’s most critical point in the journey from the tropics to the Southern ocean.

Dear Friends and Supporters of SIMS,

We would like to thank all those who gave generously to support vital marine research at SIMS.  The ‘whip around’ feature of the night raised significant funds towards the purchase of an Autonomous Surface Vessel to support over-the-horizon operation of our AUV systems.

This greatly expands our operating capacity, as it will allow teams of autonomous platforms to conduct detailed surveys while the support ship is used to complete other tasks, and ultimately will reduce the need for human operators on site.

Testing and deployment of these state of the art platforms will be conducted at SIMS at a new on-site facility. Your support will contribute towards the acquisition of an ASV and the development of these next generation marine robotic systems.

We look forward to seeing you at the 2016 Emerald Dinner.

Thank You.

A huge thank you to all our supporters who joined us for the 2015 Emerald Dinner.

Valerie Taylor AM, our Guest of Honour and Guest Speaker, had 170 guests enthralled with tales of her remarkable underwater adventures and film-making escapades. While Emily-Rose Sarkova and Susie Bishop delighted the guest with their French themes music and singing.

We would like to thank all those who gave generously to support vital marine research at SIMS.  The ‘whip around’ feature of the night raised significant funds towards the leasing costs of our teaching laboratories where we run  workshops for everyone from primary school kids to scientists and researchers.

We look forward to seeing you at the 2016 Emerald Dinner.

Every year we like to show the results from funds generated through the ‘whip around’ held as part of the annual SIMS Foundation Emerald Dinner. In 2014 we asked for support for a virtual reality dive and our generous audience did not disappoint! Thank you

You’ll be pleased to know that our new Discovery Centre includes Australia’s only 3D virtual dive though a kelp forest,  made possible, in part, by the generosity at the Emerald Dinner. The Centre is now open and we encourage everyone to try it for real. It has received rave reviews and no one has got seasick!

We are looking forward to seeing you in the centre soon!

Collaroy-Narrabeen, located along Sydney’s northern beaches, is the site of one of just a handful of beaches worldwide where researchers have an unbroken and regular record of the changes that have occurred to this stretch of coast spanning several decades.

Initiated in 1976 by Professor Andy Short of the Coastal Studies Unit at the University of Sydney, at five survey transects around the 3.5 km long embayment, the beach has been survey every month for the past 38 years. This is perhaps one of just 5 beaches world-wide where such a dataset is available to coastal researchers and managers.

Commencing 10 years ago, the responsibility for continuation of this survey program transferred to Associate Professor Ian Turner and his team at the Water Research Laboratory, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, UNSW.

Adopting modern surveying techniques and the installation of an Argus Coastal Imaging Station atop a beachfront apartment building, for the past decade the UNSW team has used the growing dataset to underpin a wide range of research, focusing on the prediction of storm erosion, linking regional climate indices to observed beach variability and change, and most recently, the development of new numerical models to better forecast the likely response of sandy beaches to shifts in wave patterns and rising sea-levels, that are anticipated in coming decades.

Reflecting the technological shift to automated, remote sensing methods for ongoing monitoring and measurement of changing coastlines, analysis of the images from the Argus Coastal Imaging station at Collaroy-Narrabeen is now the primary data source that is underpinning these research programs.  After 10 years, the long-serving cameras and computer system installed at this unique site reached the end of their lifespan.

This new funding kindly provided from supporters of the SIMS Foundation 2013 Emerald Dinner has now enabled the system to be fully refurbished in 2014, ready for another 10 years of service to coastal research and management in Australia.

Thank you.

The inaugural Emerald Dinner celebrating Sydney Harbour and our unique coastal and ocean marine environment was held on 21st November 2011.

SIMS Foundation Chair, Charlie Shuetrim, and the CEO of SIMS, Professor Peter Steinberg would like to thank all those who attended and generously supported critical marine research in Sydney Harbour and beyond. SIMS would also like to acknowledge the many organisations who supported the event through the provision of prizes and auction items.

In 2011, the Emerald Dinner honoured the lifetime work and achievements of marine scientist, Dr. Sylvia Earle, our guest speaker.  Made an Explorer -in -Residence at National Geographic in 1998, the same year Time Magazine named her their first “Hero for the Planet”, Sylvia Earle has pioneered research on marine ecosystems, led more than 70 expeditions and holds numerous diving records, including setting a record for solo diving to a depth of 1,000 metres.

Dr. Earle was the first female chief scientist of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),, and played a key role in establishing marine protected areas globally, including the North-western Hawaiian Islands National Marine Monument – 140,000 square miles of ocean that is home to more than 7,000 kinds of marine life.  She is known around the world as “Her Deepness” by the marine science community.