A sustainable future for the Australian rangelands

2012 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Ferguson
Keyword(s):  
Rangeland Management ◽  
Research Centre ◽  
Weed Species ◽  
Cooperative Research ◽  
Graduate Courses ◽  
Bottom Line ◽  
Sustainable Future ◽  
Feral Animals ◽  
The University ◽  
Business As Usual

This paper proposes a broad overview of possible responses to the challenges posed by rangelands to promote discussion on a sustainable future for these vast regions. Rangelands Australia, an organisational unit of the University of Queensland, which promotes and delivers post graduate courses in rangeland management, assesses these challenges as managing the landscapes sustainably; supporting viability for pastoralists, tourism operators and miners; and maintaining benefits to our communities. It describes the desirable triple bottom line as profitable enterprises, healthy landscapes and vibrant communities. While there may be general agreement on these challenges and objectives, how we as a nation – and we as land managers specifically – meet them is the subject of intense debate. What is clear is that we can no longer maintain a ‘business-as-usual’ approach. We are all familiar with the effects of salinity and erosion and the impacts of feral animals and weed species. We understand the need for business in the rangelands to think smart about the environment, about markets and about communities and get smart or go under. We know that we have to do things differently or our rangeland communities will wither away as businesses fail and young people leave the bush due to lack of meaningful opportunity where they have grown up. The experiences and observations of the Desert Knowledge Cooperative Research Centre and the new Cooperative Research Centre for Remote Economic Participation complement and bring together existing strands of activity across jurisdictions and disciplines. This synthesis of understanding offers some insights in how to conceptualise the future and act on the vision for a sustainable future for these extensive areas.

Building a world-class Australian decommissioning industry

2018 ◽  
Vol 58 (2) ◽  
pp. 690 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kym Bills
Keyword(s):  
Science Research ◽  
Asia Pacific ◽  
Research Centre ◽  
Marine Science ◽  
Australian Government ◽  
Cooperative Research ◽  
North West ◽  
Effective Manner ◽  
World Class ◽  
The University

Collaboration in decommissioning offshore infrastructure could save both industry and taxpayers billions of dollars and facilitate new industries and exports for Australia, especially in the Asia-Pacific region. At the end of the liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant construction boom, Australia must not miss out on this major new opportunity. The 2017 bid for Commonwealth funding to establish a Decommissioning Offshore Infrastructure Cooperative Research Centre (DOI-CRC) involved more than 30 participants and many other collaborators. High-level commitments were made by Chevron, Woodside, Shell, BHP, ExxonMobil, Quadrant, The University of Western Australia, Curtin University, the University of New South Wales, Deakin University, Australian Maritime College, CSIRO and Australian Institute of Marine Science. A Perth-based DOI-CRC was supported by National Energy Resources Australia, National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority and other Australian Government bodies and by the Western Australian Government and its Chief Scientist and agencies but did not receive sufficient support from the CRC Advisory Committee. Meeting decommissioning challenges in the North West Shelf, Bass Strait and the Northern Territory in a timely, robust, scientific, efficient and cost-effective manner that contributes to a sustainable marine environment should draw upon and augment international best practice with local capability and expertise. Good science and innovative engineering are needed to support regulatory approval of options such as ‘rigs to reefs’ and commercial opportunities such as in waste management and expanded fishing and tourism. APPEA and operators wish to maintain DOI-CRC’s momentum and learn from UK research arrangements through funding marine science projects. But we must be much broader if we are to build a sustainable world-class Australian decommissioning industry. In particular, we need to work more closely with state and federal regulators and policymakers and undertake more engineering science research and innovation.

When urban stormwater meets high groundwater

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Sally Thompson ◽  
Margaret Shanafield ◽  
Ana Manero ◽  
Greg Claydon
Keyword(s):  
Urban Development ◽  
Coastal Plain ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
Expert Panel ◽  
Land Development ◽  
Research Centre ◽  
Cooperative Research ◽  
Bottom Line ◽  
Swan Coastal Plain

New land releases in the Perth Region on Western Australia’s Swan Coastal Plain are increasingly constrained by seasonally high groundwater (within 4m of the land surface). The measurement, modelling, and management of the effects of urbanisation in these high groundwater environments remains a challenging problem. To address this problem, the Cooperative Research Centre for Water Sensitive Cities (CRWSC) funded the “Knowledge-based water sensitive city solutions for groundwater impacted developments” Integrated Research Project, IRP5. In 2019, this project convened an Expert Panel to assess best-practice, and make recommendations to land development, engineering consulting, regulatory and advisory stakeholders. The Expert Panel explored strategies for groundwater risk assessment and provided technical guidance for measuring, modelling and predicting changes in groundwater as urbanisation progresses. It also obtained extensive input from stakeholders on the need to reduce the costs and risks of urban development in sites with high groundwater. In this paper, we argue that, by integrating technical best-practice groundwater assessments with design innovations and reforms to governance, urban development on high groundwater sites on the Swan Coastal Plain can minimise the current reliance on large volumes of sand fill. Although challenging, shifting to a low-fill development paradigm would represent a triple-bottom-line “win” for developers, homeowners and the environment.

25th Australasian Polymer Symposium Special Issue

2002 ◽  
Vol 55 (7) ◽  
pp. 359 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. P. Davis ◽  
J. P. A. Heuts
Keyword(s):  
New England ◽  
Radical Polymerization ◽  
Summer School ◽  
Research Centre ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Cooperative Research ◽  
Polymer Colloids ◽  
Joint Workshop ◽  
The University

In February 2001 the 25th Australasian Polymer Symposium was held at the University of New England in Armidale and was attended by over 200 Australasian and international scientists; about a third of these were registered as students. Preceding the conference, a well-attended joint workshop/summer school with the theme of radical polymerization was convened in association with the Cooperative Research Centre for Polymers (CRC-P) and the ARC Key Centre for Polymer Colloids (KCPC).

scholarly journals Innovation Performance and Its Impact on Profitability Among Different Sectors in the Australian Construction Industry

2012 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary Hardie ◽  
Graham Miller ◽  
Karen Manley ◽  
Stephen McFallan
Keyword(s):  
Construction Industry ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Innovation Performance ◽  
Research Centre ◽  
Research Information ◽  
Cooperative Research ◽  
Building Research ◽  
Evaluation Systems ◽  
Formal Evaluation ◽  
Industry Sectors

The BRITE (Building Research Information Technology and Environment) project was established by the Australian Cooperative Research Centre for Construction Innovation to encourage innovation in the construction industry. While innovation is generally perceived to be broadly beneficial, there has been little formal study of its occurrence or impact in Australian construction or of the factors which foster an innovative atmosphere within an enterprise. In order to benchmark innovation performance, the BRITE project conducted a survey in 2004 into the nature, incidence and variety of technological and organisational innovations in various sectors of the industry. With some exceptions, the survey found that clients and consultants engaged in significantly higher levels of innovation than did suppliers, main contractors or trade contractors. Within the industry sectors those organisations classified as high innovators favoured the adoption of advanced management practices and had formal evaluation systems in place to judge their progress. They reported significant positive impacts on their profitability from innovation and can therefore provide instructive examples for the rest of the industry to follow.

scholarly journals Interview with Stuart Walker

2017 ◽  
Vol 24 (43) ◽  
pp. 12
Author(s):  
Marilia Riul ◽  
Ingrid Moura Wanderley ◽  
Maria Cecilia Loschiavo dos Santos
Keyword(s):  
Product Design ◽  
Solid Waste ◽  
Mass Production ◽  
Social System ◽  
Design Research ◽  
National Policy ◽  
Human Values ◽  
Research Centre ◽  
Design For Sustainability ◽  
The University

Stuart Walker is Professor of Design for Sustainability and Co-Director of the Imagination Lancaster design research Centre at Lancaster University. Focused on design for sustainability; product aesthetics and meaning; practice-based design research and product design that explores and expresses both human values and notions of spirituality. He was interviewed in his second visit to Brazil to attend the Conference and Workshop "Design and the national policy of solid waste: dialogues on sustainability," held in the Sustainability Laboratory (Lassu) at the University of São Paulo (USP) in 2013, an activity of the research project sponsored by CNPq: Product design, sustainability and national policy on solid waste, coordinated by Professor Maria Cecilia Loschiavo dos Santos. Through the suggested questions, Professor Stuart Walker built a severe critique of our social system of mass production and reminded us that values really matter to our journey.

CRC 'Regional Combinations' project — effects of genetics and growth paths on beef production and meat quality: experimental design, methods and measurements.

2005 ◽  
Vol 45 (8) ◽  
pp. 959 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. A. McKiernan ◽  
J. F. Wilkins ◽  
S. A. Barwick ◽  
G. D. Tudor ◽  
B. L. McIntyre ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Meat Quality ◽  
Bos Taurus ◽  
Experimental Designs ◽  
Research Centre ◽  
Eating Quality ◽  
Beef Production ◽  
Cooperative Research ◽  
Beef Quality ◽  
Genetic Potential ◽  
And Storage

As a component of the second term of the Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) for Cattle and Beef Quality, a project to further test and validate the effects of varying nutritional growth paths pre-finishing and slaughter on cattle of varying genetic potential for meat yield and eating quality was designed and implemented. This project, ‘Regional Combinations’, was a multi-site experiment, using Bos taurus cattle generated at 4 locations across southern Australia. The design of imposing different growth paths between weaning and finishing on cattle with specific genetic potential is common across sites. Treatment and interaction effects on beef production and meat quality were examined within and across sites. This paper describes the experimental designs, generation of experimental cattle at the various sites and the measurements, collection and storage of the data for multi-site analyses.

Building on ‘Red Dirt’ Perspectives: What Counts as Important for Remote Education?

2015 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 194-206 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Guenther ◽  
Samantha Disbray ◽  
Sam Osborne
Keyword(s):  
Educational Outcomes ◽  
Torres Strait Islander ◽  
Qualitative Data ◽  
Research Centre ◽  
Cooperative Research ◽  
Remote Communities ◽  
Remote Education ◽  
Community Expectations ◽  
Torres Strait ◽  
Indicators Of Success

The Remote Education Systems (RES) project within the Cooperative Research Centre for Remote Economic Participation (CRC-REP) has, over the last four years, gathered and analysed qualitative data directly from over 230 remote education stakeholders and from more than 700 others through surveys. The research was designed to answer four questions: (1) What is education for in remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities?; (2) What defines ‘successful’ educational outcomes from the remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander standpoint?; (3) How does teaching need to change in order to achieve ‘success’ as defined by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander standpoint?; and (4) What would an effective education system in remote Australia look like? Based on this data, the paper reveals how perceptions differ for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people from remote communities compared with people who come from elsewhere. The analysis points to the need for some alternative indicators of ‘success’ to match the aspirations of local people living in remote communities. It also points to the need for school and system responses that resonate with community expectations of education, and to develop narratives of aspiration and success alongside community views.

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