Queensland Water Modelling Network Innovation Program update

A program based on good practice

The QWMN Innovation Program is based on the good practice lessons from successful Industrial Doctorate Centre (IDC) and Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) models that have been running in the UK for the past two and four decades respectively.

The program involves Innovation Associates (IAs) who are recruited to conduct applied research on water modelling problems that have been proposed by industry and government partners. The IA’s are supervised jointly by Queensland researchers and government and industry scientists.

A total of 25 projects were proposed by a range of water modelling organisations across Queensland and these were selected by an evaluation panel down to five final projects:

1. Griffith University – Gold Coast City (“Human and climate driven pressures on the groundwater and surface water resources of the Gold Coast”)
2. UQ –SEQ Water (“Fate and transport of sediment and pathogens in water supply reservoirs”)
3. QUT –Department of Environment and Science (QLD Hydrology) (“Quantifying evapotranspiration in groundwater dependent ecosystems”)
4. USQ –BoM (“Modelling water quality in ungauged Great Barrier Reef catchments”)
5. AIMS/JCU–C20 Consulting (“Biogeochemical modelling of tropical marine ecosystems in the context of climate change”).

The program will produce useful water models and modelling solutions for policy, planning and management issues in Queensland, develop the capabilities of the next generation of water modelling leaders and act to attract the best potential candidates nationally and internationally to research, live and ultimately work in the Queensland water modelling and use sector. The IAs will also act as ambassadors for the QWMN and provide an important link between undergraduate students and the water modelling sector.

Keep an eye out for the QWMN newsletter and on the QWMN website, where we will profile the Innovation Associates, their supervisors and project partners.