Environmental Science and Management

Research in the field of environmental science and management from the Faculty of Science, University of Melbourne.

Researchers

Peter Ades     The population genetics of trees, particularly eucalypts, their evolution and adaption, the genetic basis of disease resistance and how we can manage disease in cultivated populations.

Nerida Anderson     Social factors influencing human environment interactions and behaviour, with a focus on forestry, forest values and rural land use decision-making.

Jon Barnett     The impacts of and responses to environmental change on social systems in the Asia-Pacific region.

Ruth Beilin     Studies on everyday landscapes and ‘ordinary’ people in relation to policy, planning institutions and resource use in a landscape context centred on human interaction with ‘space’ and ‘place’.

Helena Bender     The intersection of social and biophysical systems and sustainability of the global ecosystem.

Richard Benyon     Examination of water use and water yields from native and planted forests.

Darren Bos     Research in the methods of community engagement through the Waterway Ecosystems Research Group (WERG), including knowledge exchange initiatives.

Jane Cawson     Research examining bushfire behaviour and management, and the effect on vegetation and soils with a current focus on understanding flammability in wetter forests.

Yung En Chee     Research using ecological and decision theory, models and methods to provide evidence-based solutions to conservation and ecosystem management problems.

Bradley Clarke     Novel analytical approaches for measuring emerging contaminants, to elicit how they move through the environment and characterize their impacts on public health and ecosystems.

Tim Dempster     Basic ecological research in marine environments, to ensure fishing, aquaculture and other anthropogenic practices are developed and conducted sustainably.

Jane Elith     Species distribution models and statistical models to describe relationships between species and their environments.

Fiona Fidler     Meta-research, reproducibility and open science in ecology and other fields, how scientists and other experts reason, communicate and make decisions, and various aspects of interdisciplinary conservation science.

Rebecca Ford     Studies in the underlying basis for public views about forest management in people’s aesthetic responses and their cognitive attitudes.

Joe Greet     The relationships between water regime and plant life-histories in riparian and wetland environments.

Gurutzeta Guillera-Arroita     Development and application of quantitative tools to answer questions in ecology and conservation with research on wildlife monitoring, modelling of special distributions and optimal study design.

Greg Jenkins     Aquatic and fisheries ecology, including fish eggs and larvae, recruitment, feeding, growth, movement, and supporting habitats such as seagrass.

Sabine Kasel     Research investigating the effects of management and climate change on ecosystem processes in native forests and restored landscapes.

Michael Keough     Ecology and behaviour of marine organisms and communities living in the temperate waters of southeastern Australia, particularly the larval biology of marine organisms and the effects of disturbances in marine environments.

Spas Kolev     Development of methods and instrumentation for automatic chemical analysis and environmental monitoring; Fabrication and study of polymeric membranes.

Thomas Kompas     The economics of biosecurity, with an emphasis on optimal surveillance, environmental costs and benefits, and the allocation of investments across the spectrum of biosecurity threats and measures.

Jose Lahoz-Monfort     Research in biodiversity conservation and management through wildlife monitoring techniques, demography and population dynamics and the study of species distributions.

Stephanie Lavau     Social and cultural aspects of environment management, knowledge and governance, particularly in relation to ecosystem health, environmental risk, biodiversity conservation, and natural resource management.

Kate Lee     Research combining environmental, organisation and cognitive psychology to investigate the links between nature and wellbeing in cities and workplaces.

Stephen Livesley     Research of ecosystem processes in urban landscapes with regards to the environmental, social and biodiversity benefits of green infrastructure, urban trees and green spaces.

Michael McCarthy     Developing, evaluating and applying models to assist in environmental management. This includes population dynamics, fire ecology, ecological data, indices and risk assessment.

Philip Noske     Designing experimental hydrological monitoring systems and researching post-fire runoff and erosion.

Trent Penman     Bushfire risk modelling with research on quantifying the risk trade-offs in landscape fire management considering a range of human and environmental assets.

Andrea Rawluk     Interdisciplinary research in complex social ecological challenges, including bushfire management and community engagement, social memory, landscape transformation, power.

Peter Rayner     Estimation of surface sources and sinks of CO2 using satellite and in-site measurements in the tropics and Southern Hemisphere.

Libby Rumpff     Structured decision making for natural resource management and conservation.

Rebecca Runting     Spatial planning for ecosystem services and climate change adaptation, ecological economics, and transboundary conservation.

Robyn Schofield     Atmospheric chemistry and climate observations and modelling. Reactive trace gases, air toxics, aerosols, clouds, radiative forcing, ozone chemistry and air-ocean-land interactions.

Gary Sheridan     Research in forest soil and erosion with a particular focus on the effect of fire on water quality and geomorphology.

Chris Szota     Studies in how plants improve the effectiveness of engineered vegetated systems, like green roofs, street tree pits and raingardens to reduce polluted stormwater entering urban waterways.

Sebastian Thomas     Sustainability science and governance, climate policy and carbon markets, marine and coastal ecosystems, socio-technical systems and transitions, resilience and adaptation.

Geoff Vietz     Waterway science and management, fluvial geomorphology, ecohydraulics and sediment dynamics in urban and rural settings.

Kathryn Williams     Psychological relationships between people and environments; the ways people value, connect and benefit from natural environments; integrating psychological knowledge in environmental management.

Brendan Wintle     Conservation ecology and conservation decision support, conservation economics, ecological modelling, threatened species survey design and monitoring.

Research centres

ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes
We seek to discover the process-level understanding that explains the behaviour of climate extremes that directly affect the Australian natural and economic systems.

Australian-German College of Climate and Energy Transitions
A team of early career researchers in an interdisciplinary environment to conduct climate and energy systems research.

Centre of Excellence for Biosecurity Risk Analysis (CEBRA)
With our expansive borders and proximity to Asia, implementing effective biosecurity policies and management tools is essential to protecting our unique ecosystems.

Clean Air and Urban Landscapes Hub
Taking a holistic view on the sustainability and liveability of urban environments, producing the evidence base and collaborative partnerships to deliver better cities.

Cooperative Research Centre for Greenhouse Gas Technologies
A leading collaborative research organisation focused on carbon dioxide capture and geological sequestration.

Earth Systems and Climate Change Hub
Building world-leading climate and Earth system science capability and using our understanding of Australia's past, present and future climate to provide useful and accessible information.

Energy Transition Hub
Creating energy transition opportunities through Australian-German collaboration.

Environmental Microbiology Research Initiative
How environmental microorganisms influence ecosystem and human health, change the chemistry of the planet, respond to impacts of industrial contamination and climate change, and new biotechnologies.

Melbourne Energy Institute
Interdisciplinary research on sustainable energy and the challenges of transitioning towards a low carbon energy system.

Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute
The MSSI highlights and promotes sustainability research that connects research from different disciplines to develop beneficial solutions in contemporary society.

National Centre for Coasts and Climate (NCCC)
Working to identify the best ways of addressing climate change impacts in Australian coastal ecosystems.

Peter Cook Centre for Carbon Capture and Storage Research
The Peter Cook Centre aims to develop environmentally and socially acceptable, cost effective carbon capture and storage solutions for a carbon constrained world.

SWARM Project
The SWARM Project is attempting to achieve fundamental advances in collaborative reasoning with a focus on improving intelligence analysis.

Research in this area is conducted in the School of BioSciences, School of Earth Sciences, School of Agriculture, Food and Ecosystem Sciences, School of Chemistry and School of Geography.