Prof Tony Haymet attended the Oceans of Data conference in Perth, where he delivered a keynote address on 25 May 2026.
Thank you and congratulations to the organisers of this great conference.
Thank you very much for having me.
I would like to thank Alton for that incredibly warm and generous Welcome to Country and add my respects to his Elders. I acknowledge that those Elders have passed on their knowledge from generation to generation. Knowledge regarding land and culture, air and water.
As a marine scientist, I’ve long had great respect for Indigenous aquaculture systems. There is important knowledge there that we can learn from and have learnt from.
Elevating the knowledge systems of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples is one of the Australian Government’s 5 National Science and Research Priorities.
And I like that way of articulating those priorities because it sits right in the middle of these national priorities.
I’m not going to list them all but I make one key point: ocean science contributes to all five priorities.
And I hope in addition to paying my respects, within a couple of months I hope we’ll be able to announce some really concrete actions to support Indigenous scientists and also the investigation of Indigenous Knowledge Systems, so stay tuned.
I also want to acknowledge my colleague, Hugh Durrant-Whyte, Chief Scientist of New South Wales from who I have learnt a lot in the last 16 months, along with his colleagues the chief scientists of all the states and territories.
By road or air, or maybe by water, we’ve all made a journey to be here today – some longer than others.
We’re also on journeys in our careers.
And, along the way, scientific partners come and go, helping us to navigate that road.
But one partner has stayed with me since I was lucky enough to be at university. And I say this not as a boast but as someone who was lucky enough to go to university for free – thank you Australian taxpayers. One partner stayed with me not just a companion, but as a guiding light.
That companion, for which I have such deep respect, is data.
Throughout my professional life, indeed my industrial life, it has so often been the bedrock of my work.
Today, I want to speak with you about ocean data:
• how we harness it
• how we govern it
• and how we build the capability to make it really count.
Now data has made a comeback in the world of AI. It wasn’t always the case, many of you can remember – well I remember in the climate change business, after my dear colleague at Scripps had successfully measured CO2 in the atmosphere, the National Science Foundation told him after 7 years of data collection, that we knew everything about it, the rest was quote: “just collecting data.”
So they would no longer fund the Mauna Loa experiment. Fortunately, wiser heads prevailed and for 50 years after that the data was collected and after that some private philanthropists stepped in to continue the data collection. It’ll be interesting to see what happens in the future.
Your work and your data have never been more important. Sadly, that’s because Australia now finds itself in hot water.
And that’s not a metaphor. It’s the scientific reality of our rapidly warming oceans.
Is there any good news?
Well, the data that you gather, and work with, contributes not just to climate modelling, but to decisions that can improve our economy, security, environmental resilience and biodiversity.
Indeed, the next decade will be partly defined by how well we connect data, people and decisions.
And ocean data will be critical to that – because when oceans change significantly, so too does nearly everything else.
The marine world is arguably one of our planet’s biggest data systems – and one that continues to astonish.
A striking example of this crossed my desk recently.
New data has enabled Scripps researchers to reveal small, fast-changing currents that, it seems, have not previously been directly observed.1, 2
As you know better than most, understanding currents enhances our models, climate predictions, and our efforts to meet those national goals I mentioned.
This current discovery reminds us that the ocean is always telling us something; the question is whether we have the systems to hear it.
This year marks the 20th anniversary of IMOS, Australia’s Integrated Marine Observing System.3
I want more people in Australia to be aware of that birthday because this system is so important!
Observations and baseline data are critical to national and global interests. IMOS provides data openly and freely to the marine and climate science communities, as well as stakeholders and international collaborators.
On its birthday I do want to acknowledge Trevor Powell, formerly of Geoscience Australia. I happened to be Chair of OPSAG, a great committee from way back, I think OPSAG stood for Ocean Policy Science Advisory Group. At least it could have stood for that!
We decided as a group that we would try to compete with the astronomers and try to be unified in asking for funds for marine research. It fell to Trevor to write the first proposal, and I think he is the grandfather of IMOS. I was supposed to help him but in truth he wrote the whole thing.
However, it was a turning point in our marine science community because we saw that the astronomy community even though they had individual priorities, some of them wanted an optical telescope, some of them wanted a radio telescope, they went into a room, blood was spilt and out came a 10-year plan and we unapologetically copied that report at OPSAG. So happy birthday IMOS!
Now, it’s important that our monitoring is both up-top and down-below.
Satellite coverage provides significant surface data – but the ocean below the water surface is often poorly measured. And that has consequences.
If we do not have sufficient and strong observation data, the models we rely on will not be sufficiently robust.
And these are models that inform decisions about our climate and weather predictions, and also inform our economy, national security and disaster readiness.
In fact, observations often matter more than models alone. So, if we want better forecasts that lead to more informed decision-making, we should strengthen our observation capacity.
After all, so much depends on it.
More broadly, the observation infrastructure that we rely on is inherently global. And Australia needs it for data regarding weather, climate projections and seasonal outlooks.
While you know that better than most, many people are largely unaware of this ocean-going scientific infrastructure spread across the planet. The Argo system that you all know.
At present, a substantial share of this system is funded by the US – with particularly strong coverage in the Pacific and Indian Oceans, which are regions of critical importance to Australia.
That concentration of investment can potentially introduce some vulnerability.
For example, if elements of that funding were reduced, or became less accessible, data gaps could emerge, particularly in sub-surface observations.
In turn, that could impact our understanding of ocean processes that are often closely tied to Australia's economic prosperity and security – and the wellbeing of the planet.
There are signs that some other countries and regions are raising their contributions to global ocean monitoring.4, 5
In that context, Australia – as a capable and well-resourced nation – could potentially have opportunities to play a more active role.
A role that supports and enhances observing-infrastructure, particularly in our region.
By way of acknowledgement, and disclosure, my company MRV Systems LLC, that I co-founded in 2010, was sold 4 weeks ago to a Norwegian company, General Oceans.
I haven’t had anything to do with that company since I took this job.
It was originally spun out of Scripps to provide reasonable-cost Argo floats for researchers, and it went on to build 4 or 5 civilian products.
I recently spoke at the launch of the National Marine Science Strategy, a blueprint that highlights the crucial importance of data.
I congratulate the National Marine Science Committee and my former colleague, John Gunn, on developing this plan with broad input from across the marine science, policy and industry communities.
The strategy underlines the importance of embedding data directly into decision-making. And the value of marine data systems that are integrated, open, and able to connect across institutions.
The volume of marine data is expanding rapidly.
So we must think carefully about data stewardship, storage and governance.
We must consider the computing infrastructure that works best with this data.
And our workforce planning must deliver the skills to turn data into insights.
On that note … The National Science and Technology Council recently finished a report on Australia’s high-performance computing and data landscape, including feedback from marine scientists.
Some of it highlights a pressing concern: data volumes are outpacing computing capacity, and creating bottlenecks in analysis – especially for large data sets.
So we take the data to the compute power? Or do we take the compute power to the data?
We also heard calls for more streamlining, so data and computing capability can move more easily across national systems.
Australia’s position in high-performance computing has been strong, but capacity is constrained.
The question is not simply how much we spend, but how we invest, and where we focus, to maximise national benefit.
That means making clear choices about how we invest in data and computing – and ensuring we have the people with the skills to make it work.
In addition to co-locating technology, co-locating people can also be very useful.
When research teams are partnered with computing and data professionals – including those embedded within the teams – the outcomes can be far greater than the sum of their individual parts.
I’m talking here about people such as computational scientists, data engineers, and system administrators. Plus, the data curators, research software engineers, and other technical and user-support team members.
Their expertise not only increases research productivity but also maximises the value and effectiveness of our digital infrastructure.
So, I encourage people – in schools, universities and the workforce – to consider these exciting roles that strengthen our national infrastructure.
And I encourage all researchers to continue upskilling so they can better utilise data and computing resources.
Connections matter deeply.
Connections like the ones you make at this conference.
And connections relating to the flow of data.
After all … it’s not enough to have the data – it must be shared and used if we are to maximise the insights it can provide.
That means data curation, governance and stewardship will be increasingly important. In other words, the way we look after it, organise it, and make sure it can be trusted and used.
I think we’ve all probably seen examples of this. Data that often sits in various repositories – institutions, agencies, filing cabinets and hard drives.
If we don’t curate that material, and gather it, we can easily lose it.
The marine science strategy, mentioned earlier, recognises the consequences of fragmented systems – a theme echoed in the Ambitious Australia report.
It also highlights the impact of incomplete baseline data and limited integration across disciplines.
In doing so, it underlines the challenge of coordination – and the need to move from data silos to more connected, federated systems.
Yes, it’s a coordination challenge, but perhaps a cultural one as well.
When data is shared well – across state, territory and national borders – it accelerates discovery. It becomes more than a resource – it can turn into a force multiplier at a global level.
The same is true when it comes to the mobility of science and technology professionals.
Early in my career, I lived and worked abroad, collaborating with teams in different countries and tapping into new ways of thinking.
That experience shaped my path and fuelled my progress.
Such scientific mobility fosters enduring collaborations that span decades and continents.
Oceans are intrinsically dynamic, and we should often be as well.
That’s why supporting scientific mobility matters so much.
We need to help more researchers gain international experience. And we need to get them mobile early – just as I did – so they’re ready to contribute to the global challenges ahead in ocean science and other disciplines.
Let me close by going back to that guiding light I mentioned earlier.
When the world faces complex problems – on land, sea or air – data is almost always part of the solution.
In ocean science, data continues to illuminate the path ahead. It is a light that helps us to understand the challenges we face and to uncover the solutions within our grasp.
And if we get the solutions right, the real-world outcomes are big and wide ranging.
So, I’m pleased to be with you at this significant event that has such an important focus.
I also acknowledge the University of Western Australia for hosting it, and conference co-conveners Professor Michael Small and Professor Christophe Gaudin.
Thank you.
1 https://scitechdaily.com/hidden-ocean-currents-revealed-in-stunning-det…;
2 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-026-01943-0
4 https://commission.europa.eu/news-and-media/news/oceaneye-reinforcing-o…
5 https://commission.europa.eu/news-and-media/news/oceaneye-reinforcing-o…