01-12-2004

Land & Water Australia has tonight announced an exciting new initiative to advance the way Australians manage their natural resources.

Launched at a special function at Parliament House by Deputy Prime Minister the Hon. John Anderson, the Land & Water Australia Senior Research Fellowships are designed to enable a number of Australia's leading natural resource scientists to think about and identify solutions for major environmental and landscape management challenges.

The Chair of Land & Water Australia Bobbie Brazil said the Fellowships aimed to provide the Fellows with an extremely precious commodity - time.

"Many of our best scientific brains spend too much of their time on tasks other than research - administration, managing people, writing research proposals and wrestling with budgets," Mrs Brazil said.

"Through the Senior Research Fellowship initiative we are giving three of our top researchers an opportunity to really concentrate on an issue that they are passionate about, to truly review the current situation and to find new and innovate ways for the nation to move forward.

"I congratulate each of the Fellows for being given this chance and their employers for supporting this important initiative."

Three fellowships have been awarded in this inaugural year.

Professor Sam Lake is a lecturer and researcher with Monash University. A biologist whose particular interest is the life within fresh water and fresh water systems, his project will investigate the impact of drought on the ecosystems of Australia's freshwater streams, rivers and lakes.

"It is already clear that drought can cause major long-term changes to the structure and functioning of freshwater ecosystems. With further study the full nature of these changes may be explained," Prof. Lake said.

Professor Lake will deliver a comprehensive review, probably a book, and a separate bibliography on this important topic.

Hydrogeologist Dr Richard Evans from Sinclair Knight Merz Consulting says the way surface water and underground water systems are managed independently of each ignores the fact that more often than not these systems are closely linked within a catchment. Pumping groundwater can reduce stream flow and have significant negative consequences for downstream water users, and the environment.

"There are three specific issues associated with the stream/aquifer interaction that need more investigation - the time lag between pumping and a measurable stream flow response; the complexity of base stream flows which are influenced by so many factors; and the link between the volume of groundwater pumped and reduced streamflow," Dr Evans said.

Dr Evans will be holding a workshop with water resource managers and writing a comprehensive discussion paper to identify a range of practical tools and options for a variety of situations. His work will also build a platform for ongoing community education.

Rural Sociologist Dr Neil Barr says the questions he gets asked from the general community are helping to define his research agenda. A social researcher with the Victorian Department of Primary Industries, Dr Barr says the very nature of his work is changing, and he is responding to a growing number of requests to explain his research.

"People are asking questions like why are some small country towns dying while others thrive; where does the city end and the country really begin; and how we shape the countryside and its environment with our grocery shopping?

"From once seeing requests from the community as an interruption to the work of a researcher, I am now seeing these requests as the reason for my career. As a researcher, I find I am learning as much from the community as they learn from me," Dr Barr said.

The Fellowship will allow Dr Barr to write a book to entertain, stimulate and challenge the preconceptions about rural Australia and the forces that are reshaping it.

Land & Water Australia's Senior Research Fellowships are selected by the Board of the Corporation, and each one runs for up to a year.

ENDS

There will be a media call at Parliament House with opportunities for interviews and photographs of the Fellows on Wednesday December 1 from 5pm to 6pm. Photographs of the Awards presentation will be available after the event.

For more information contact Land & Water Australia's Media Officer,  02 6263 6000