Call for Expressions of Interest in Model Evaluation & Development

Quick links: This opportunity | ACCESS-ESM3 Status | Forward Plan | What to include in your EoI | How EoIs will be evaluated |Contact us |

ACCESS-NRI recently received funding from the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS) to create Australia’s Next-Generation Earth System Model, ACCESS-ESM3.

This Opportunity

We are calling for Expressions of Interest (EoI) from qualified research teams and individuals to work with ACCESS-NRI in testing and evaluation of ACCESS-ESM3 and its components. The ACCESS-ESM3 forward plan requires both technical development (primarily done by ACCESS-NRI) and improvements in model quality. Improving the quality of the model involves an iterative cycle of model testing and evaluation that will benefit from expertise in the research community.

ACCESS-NRI will support successful bids in one of three ways:

  1. By providing funding to ACCESS-NRI partner organisations through subcontracts to employ staff to deliver key testing/evaluation milestones;
  2. By temporarily seconding staff to ACCESS-NRI from partner organisations, or
  3. By directly employing new staff on short (<12 months), fixed-term employment contracts at ACCESS-NRI.

Contracts of duration from 6 months to 18 months will be considered, with the possibility of extension after June 2028 contingent on additional funding from NCRIS.

Current status of ACCESS-ESM3

ACCESS-ESM3 is currently under development. The preliminary steps have been to focus on developing the component models, with a view to progressively assembling the full Earth system model:

  • ACCESS-OM3 is the ocean-sea ice model component (MOM6-CICE6-NUOPC-WOMBAT). The 25km configuration is in the beta-release phase, and initial simulations are being evaluated. An 8km configuration is in the prototype phase and currently running on Gadi. Lower resolution (100km) configurations are used for testing and developing WWIII surface wave coupling.
  • ACCESS-AM3 is the atmosphere-land model (UM13-CABLE3). 130km and 25km configurations have been beta released.
  • CABLE3 and WOMBAT-lite have been developed for ACCESS-ESM1.6, involving substantial upgrades.
  • ACCESS-CM3 is the coupled ocean-atmosphere model (merging OM3 and AM3). It is in the prototype phase and several 50-year simulations have been run (130km/25km resolution). Current efforts are focussed on incorporating the CABLE3 land surface model.

ACCESS-ESM3 Forward plan

Over the next 2 years planned development activities (and associated timelines) include:

  • Full release configurations of ACCESS-OM3 at 25km and 8km resolution (early 2027);
  • Full release configurations of ACCESS-AM3 at 130km and 25km resolution (early 2027);
  • Develop high-resolution ACCESS-CM3 configuration at 25km/8km (and perhaps an intermediate-resolution option at 50km/25km) to provide the option of submission to HighResMIP within CMIP7 (by 2028);
  • Develop ACCESS-ESM3 at standard resolution (130km/25km) in time for a potential Australian CMIP7 submission (by 2028);
  • Upgrading CABLE3 to CABLE4, to include dynamic vegetation and fire impacts, and
  • Providing options for WOMBAT-mid and WOMBAT-full implementation.

What to include in your EoI

Your expression of interest should include a concise description of the component models you propose to test and evaluate, an outline of the evaluation process you will follow (max 2 pages), a brief CV for each investigator (max 1 page) and a budget outline (following our EOI Budget template). The budget template includes a column indicating in-kind contributions from your organisation.

Expressions of interest will close on 31st October 2026. Please send your EoI and all the documentation (description of components, evaluation, brief CVs and budget online) attached to an email to: access.nri@anu.edu.au

How EoIs will be evaluated

A panel of ACCESS-NRI staff and Board members will be convened to determine the optimal deployment of funds. They will evaluate expressions of interest based on:

  1. Value for money – the potential for the bid to make a substantial improvement in ACCESS-ESM3 performance.
  2. The balance of development and evaluation work across the ACCESS-ESM3 component models.
  3. The track record and capability of applicants.
  4. The extent to which outputs will be openly shared with the community through evaluation methods supported by ACCESS-NRI.
  5. The ability of funded staff to focus on ACCESS evaluation and development (> half-time commitments strongly preferred).

Contact us

For more information please contact access.nri@anu.edu.au.