Shuang (Iris) Xiao Shuang's PhD thesis focuses on understanding the impact of extreme climate conditions to the fluctuation of the groundwater level in Lower Murrumbidgee Catchment area, as well as investigating the implications of the massive pumping of groundwater resources to the groundwater recharge mechanism. Specifically, this project comprises two primary research goals: (1) forecasting the groundwater level changes under extreme drought condition (occurred in Lower Murrumbidgee Catchment area) using the current pumping rate allowed in the Water Sharing Plan, and (2) understanding the effects of groundwater extraction on the recharge pathway alteration. Shuang's research is funded by Cotton Research and Development Corporation (CRDC) and is undertaken in collaboration with the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) and supported by the Chinese Scholarship Council (CSC). Shuang's work is supervised by Assoc. Prof. Bryce Kelly and Dr Dioni Cendón |
Stephen Harris Stephen’s research focusses on quantifying indirect nitrogen emissions from the Lower Namoi (NSW) and Fitzroy (QLD) catchments in eastern Australia. The project aims to elucidate river, groundwater and atmospheric nitrogen losses and geochemical evolution associated with climatic variability, crop-cycling and surface-groundwater-atmosphere interactions. Hydrogeochemical measurements such as the analysis of major ions, trace elements, stable carbon/water/nitrate stable isotopes and radioactive tracers, allow me to distinguish between different nitrogen sources and production/cycling processes in the river and groundwater systems. I also measure atmospheric concentrations and isotopic source signatures of nitrous oxide using laser spectrometry techniques. Stephen’s research is funded by the Cotton Research and Development Corporation (CRDC) and is undertaken in collaboration with the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) and supported by the Australian Institute of Nuclear Science and Engineering (AINSE). |
Carley Bartlett Carley Bartlett is a PhD candidate based in the Faculty of Law. Her research aims to learn more about how people know and understand things about environmental problems, how they use that information and how this influences the making of law. This includes asking questions about the relationship between law and science and examining that relationship critically by not over-looking the different values, socio-political aspects and legal cultures that might be embedded in scientific knowledge and governance responses to environmental problems. Carley’s research focuses on soil and water contamination by per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) in Australia. Carley will conduct documentary analysis and interviews with a variety of actors (including lawyers, scientists, policy-makers and community leaders) to develop in-depth understandings of how a plurality of knowledges (i.e. information from a variety of sources, including science) and legal responses are made and understood in response to the issue of PFAS contamination in Australia. The findings of Carley’s research will contribute to both the environmental law and STS (Science and Technology Studies) literature, and provide insights that could later be built on to improve how societies respond to problems associated with emerging contaminants such as PFASs and environmental problems more broadly. |
| Phetdala Oudone (La) |
