Resilient environments & communities: our research centres

The Centre for Freshwater Ecosystems brings together a wealth of expertise to understand and solve significant challenges to support the sustainable management of freshwater ecosystems in Australia and internationally

Our work directly supports decision-making regarding maintenance and restoration of the long-term health of rivers, catchments, floodplains and wetlands and is founded on a history of research under the auspices of the Murray–Darling Freshwater Research Centre.

Our mission is to lead the way for healthy and sustainable freshwater ecosystems through innovation and excellence in research and education. Our research includes:

• ecosystem monitoring and assessment
• environmental biogeochemistry and contaminants
• environmental and social policy
• fish ecology and management
• genetics and conservation
• invertebrate community ecology
• quantitative modelling and forecasting
• spatial modelling and GIS analysis
• water management
• wetland and floodplain ecology.

The Centre for Study of the Inland provides a clear and multi-disciplinary platform for research on the inland and on the interconnecting themes of water, landscapes and land use (including indigenous land use), agricultural and pastoral history, settlement and migration, resource extraction, and human responses to long-term climate and environmental change.

Our key research areas include:

• water
• landscape and land use
• pastoralism and agriculture
• settlement and mobilities
• resource extraction
• climate and environmental change.

The Research Centre for Applied Alpine Ecology comprises a group of professional scientists and academics who study all aspects of the ecology of alpine and sub-alpine landscapes. Our scientific research includes:

• ecological processes
• effects of fire
• exotic plants and animals
• human activities
• the management of these ecosystems in response to climate change.

In addition to our active research program, this Centre takes a leading role in teaching alpine ecology to land management staff, research students and members of the public with an interest in alpine ecosystems, through the Alpine Ecology Course which is held most summers at Falls Creek.

The Research Centre for Future Landscapes is a multi-disciplinary environmental research centre based in the School of Life Sciences.

Our goal is to generate knowledge and solutions that address the global challenge of sustaining and restoring natural ecosystems in modified landscapes, and empowering people and communities to create more sustainable landscapes.

To do this, we foster research into:

• the drivers and outcomes of landscape change for nature and people
• understanding ecological function in modified landscapes
• solutions to improve environmental sustainability and community resilience
• land-use planning and management options for people, communities and future landscapes.