Research

Healthy freshwater ecosystems support immense biodiversity and provide highly valued goods and services that support human wellbeing and economic prosperity.

We seek to provide the critical knowledge to support the sustainable management of these important ecosystems across several key themes:

• measuring and conserving freshwater biodiversity throughout river networks
• balancing water allocations between communities, production systems and nature
• addressing the effects of catchment management and chemical pollutants on water quality
• understanding the influences of hydro-climatic variability and climate change on refuges and ecosystem resilience.

In striving to deliver world-leading research, we perform a role beyond the Murray–Darling Basin, with research links nationally in the wet tropics of Northern Australia, and internationally in Southeast Asia, Europe and the Americas.

We also play a key role in training the next generation of water scientists through contribution to both undergraduate and postgraduate teaching within the University.

Find out more about our department's research.