National Centre for Groundwater Research and Training
The Minister for Climate Change and Water, Senator Penny Wong, and the Minister for Innovation and Research, Senator Kim Carr, have announced a new $60 million National Centre for Groundwater Research and Training to be led by Flinders University.
At the launch ceremony in Adelaide on 22 January, Minister Wong said the new Centre was an important investment in helping secure Australia's future water supplies.
"In Australia's water management, groundwater has often been overlooked," she said.
"The new National Centre for Groundwater Research and Training will undertake important work to help us manage our groundwater in a more sustainable way.
"It will also help state and territory governments deliver on reforms under the National Water Initiative to improve groundwater management and knowledge."
Australian Government funding of $30 million is being jointly provided by the Australian Research Council and the National Water Commission. The 20 organisations involved in the research consortia are contributing an additional $30 million over five years.
The research and training carried out at the Centre will play an important role in training the next generation of expert hydro-geologists and groundwater specialists. The Centre will bring together a critical mass of world-class scientists to provide postgraduate training and conduct internationally relevant research needed to improve groundwater understanding and use.
The Centre's primary goal is building a high-quality and integrated program of groundwater research. The Centre's other goals include:
- enhancing the scale and focus of research to promote an environmentally sustainable Australia
- building capacity in the Australian groundwater profession, by providing high-quality post-graduate and post-doctoral training environments and other training activities
- establishing the Centre as a point of interaction among higher education institutions, governments, industry and the private sector
- achieving national and international recognition and acclaim for its research output.
Key collaborating organisations and partners that will be working closely with Flinders University in this consortium include:
- the University of New South Wales
- the University of Queensland
- the Australian National University
- CSIRO and Geoscience Australia
- the New South Wales Government through its Department of Primary Industries
- the South Australian Government through the Department of Water, Land and Biodiversity Conservation, and SA Water.
The truly national research and training scope of this Centre can be appreciated given the number of other universities also involved in the consortium. These include Monash University, Latrobe University, James Cook University, Charles Sturt University, Queensland University of Technology, University of Technology Sydney, the University of South Australia and the University of Western Australia.
Other partner organisations contributing to this undertaking include United Water, Sinclair Knight Merz and Aquaterra.
