Webinar – Measuring & assessing the impacts of hot springs, 21 March 2024
Webinar - "Measuring and assessing the socio-cultural, environmental, and economic impacts of hot springs" by the Australian Geothermal Association
Carlo Cariaga
18 Mar 2024
The Australian Geothermal Association will be hosting a webinar featuring research on measuring the multi-disciplinary impacts of hot springs.
Registration is currently open for a webinar to be hosted by the Australian Geothermal Association on “Measuring and assessing the socio-cultural, environmental, and economic impacts of hot springs.” Attendance is free for all.
The details of the event are as follows:
- Date: 21 March 2024, 12:00 to 1:00 PM AWST
- Speaker: Gaelle Joson, PhD Candidate, Victoria University
- Registration: Register via this link
The first phase of the research to be presented in this webinar involved developing indicators for hot springs operations using the Delphi Technique. This involved seeking two rounds of advice from selected experts from around the world. Thirty-two experts from Australia, New Zealand, China, USA, Morocco, Poland, England, Germany, Japan, Italy, Vietnam, Switzerland, and Austria agreed to participate in the research.
The aim of the first questionnaire was to purposefully ask broad questions, hence inviting the participants to brainstorm socio-cultural, economic, and environmental impacts of hot springs on its users/visitors and its destination. A 100% response rate was received which was then refined into a list of potential indicators.
The second questionnaire was sent out in December 2021 inviting participants to rate the potential indicators developed from the first questionnaire. Again, a 100 % response rate was received and a list of 26 potential indicators were developed and agreed on.
These indicators were tested at Peninsula Hot Springs, Metung Hot Springs, Cunnamulla Hot Springs, Philip Island Hot Springs, and Moree Artesian Aquatic Centre to assess their reliability and validity. Phase two of the research was done using visitor surveys and data from local government statistics and business reports.
