Centre for Water Sensitive Cities

Vacancy: Chief Operating Officer for CRC for Water Sensitive Cities

cwsc-admin — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 00:17:31 +0000

An exciting and challenging opportunity exists to support the CEO with the establishment of the new CRC for Water Sensitive Cities (“the CRC”).

The Chief Operating Officer will coordinate and support the strategic business development and the implementation of such development and facilitate the development of policies and procedures. He/She will play a lead role in the ongoing operation of the CRC, contributing to the leadership of the CRC by development and management of key relationships and networks and managing resources, both financial and human.

$30 Million for the CRC for Water Sensitive Cities

cwsc-admin — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 05:46:07 +0000

Minister for Innovation Senator Kim Carr has just announced the successful applicants of this year’s CRC selection round. “These CRCs will research the major challenges facing Australia, as well as our big opportunities. Their collaborations will deliver important economic, environmental and social benefits. This is about improving the living standard of all Australians,” Senator Carr said.

Six out of 26 applications were successful, including the CRC for Water Sensitive Cities which will receive $30 Million worth of Government funding.

Congratulations to all!

Please follow this link to view the media release
Further details on successful applicants are available on an information fact sheet.

Links to media appearances:

Dec 12, 2011: Q & A with Prof Tony Wong, Director and Chief Executive of the Centre for Water Sensitive Cities (Monash Research Office Bulletin)
Dec 2, 2011: Stemming the flow of Urban Water Challenges (Monash University News)

Prof Jason Beringer awarded Future Fellowship

cwsc-admin — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 06:22:30 +0000

Prof Jason Beringer was awarded a Future Fellowship for a project entitled: Vulnerability of Australian savannas to climate change and variability.

Future Fellowships, created by the Australian Government in 2008, aim to promote research in areas of critical national importance by giving outstanding mid-career researchers incentives to conduct their research in Australia (ARC website). Prof Jason Beringer’s project will determine savanna function (carbon and water balance) for the present and assess how sensitive they have been to past climate variability. The project will then address how they may respond to future climate change.

Congratulations Jason!!

Centre For Water Sensitive Cities Director becomes ATSE Fellow

cwsc-admin — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 22:50:59 +0000

We congratulate Professor Ana Deletić on her election to the Fellowship of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (ATSE). The ATSE is a body of eminent Australian engineers and scientists and Ana’s election is clear recognition of her leadership in research and development of stormwater treatment technologies, among her other achievements.

The ATSE was established in 1975 to promote the application of knowledge for practical purposes. The Academy’s vision embraces Australia’s prosperity, national harmony and responsible global citizenship, with values of innovation, excellence, leadership and cooperation. It fosters enhancement of Australia’s competitiveness, economic and social wellbeing and environmental sustainability, providing a national forum for discussion and debate of issues critical to Australia’s future. The academy selectively provides robust, independent advice to government, industry and community, nourishes education for scientists and engineers, advances their connections internationally and champions research.

Ana’s induction is at the ATSE New Fellows Seminar, AGM and Oration Dinner on Saturday 26 November 2011 at The Sebel Albert Park, Melbourne, where she will introduce herself to the Academy with a presentation.

News articles:

For more info: http://www.atse.org.au/

Grants galore for the Centre for WSC

cwsc-admin — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 05:13:33 +0000

Congratulations to Centre members Michael Poustie, Dr David McCarthy, Dr Fjalar de Haan, Dr Paul Raschky, Dr Catherine Osborne, Dr Ross Thompson, Prof Ana Deletic, Prof Rebekah Brown and Prof Jenny Davis for winning prestigious grants.

PhD Candidate Michael Poustie was recently awarded $81k from AusAID as part of their Pacific Public Sector Linkage Program. The grant will cover the Action Research component of his PhD work (Transitioning to Sustainable Urban Water Management in Developing Countries of the Pacific Region) and will be used to fund 5 training and capacity building workshops for the Government of Vanuatu as well as 6 months of his PhD scholarship.

This morning, the Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, Senator the Hon. Kim Carr announced the funding outcomes of the ARC Major Grants for funding commencing 2012, and 5 ARC grants (2 ARC Linkage grants and 3 ARC Discovery grants) have been awarded to members of the Centre for Water Sensitive Cities:

Sources, sinks and processes of faecal contamination in urban estuaries: a case study of the lower Yarra River estuary – ARC Linkage ($441k)
Dr David McCarthy, Prof Ana Deletic, Dr Catherine Osborne and Prof Stanley Grant
The Yarra River estuary is highly contaminated with faecal pollution, reducing the useability of Melbourne’s most iconic feature. This project will provide the necessary understanding to help mitigate faecal sources, with the ultimate aim of reducing the risks to users of this estuary.
Exploring social innovations in urban water systems with a novel modelling approach – ARC Linkage ($166k)
Prof Rebekah Brown, Prof Ana Deletic and Dr Fjalar de Haan
The project will investigate how wide reaching social renewal takes place in the urban water sector. With improved understanding of how social innovation works, the project will develop a computer model to assist decision-making under conditions of high uncertainty with systematic scenario analysis.
Dr Fjalar de Haan was also awarded the Australian Postdoctoral Fellowship (Industry) (APDI) for this Linkage Grant.
The actor and institutional dynamics in emerging socio-technical transitions - ARC Discovery ($195k)
Prof Rebekah Brown, Prof Christopher Cocklin and Assoc Prof Derk Loorbach
The project addresses the translation of environmental resource policies to widespread practice in the face of institutional inertia. The outcome informs the design of policy mechanisms for enabling the emergence and mainstreaming of alternative resource technologies and consolidates Australia’s leadership in urban water resource management.
How arid zone wetlands persist: linking ecological dynamics with hydrological regimes – ARC Discovery ($333k)
Prof Jenny Davis, Dr Ross Thompson, Dr Paul Sunnucks and Dr Bob Wong
This project will investigate how aquatic food webs assemble and persist in mound springs, relict streams and river pools in the Australian arid zone. Knowing how aquatic systems respond to wet and dry phases is the first step towards ‘climate proofing’ these systems against future extreme events.
Applying satellite luminosity data to analyse the redistributive aspects of corruption and rentseeking - ARC Discovery ($135k)
Dr Paul Raschky and Prof Roland Hodler
This project applies satellite luminosity data as a proxy for regional economic activity to analyse the redistributive effects of political rent-seeking, corruption and the shadow economy. This project will identify the beneficiaries of rent-seeking, the sources of these rents and political institutions that reduce rent-seeking activities.

WA joins national Cities as Water Supply Catchments Research Program

cwsc-admin — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 22:03:36 +0000

Twenty new partners from Western Australia have recently joined the Cities as Water Supply Catchments Program, including the University of Western Australia, where a WA Research Node of the national program has been established.

Bill Marmion, Minister for Environment and Water, launched the WA Research Node on Monday 24 October. The new collaborative research centre based at UWA will play an important part in delivering better management of urban stormwater to help create water sensitive cities and towns.

“It is extremely important to have this local research to address WA’s different climate, geological and hydrological conditions,” Mr Marmion said.

The launch was part of a two day workshop where researchers from Monash University, the University of Western Australia, the University of Queensland, CSIRO, Edith Cowan University and the University of Melbourne worked with the WA partner organisations (see logos below) to develop a work plan for the WA Research Node. The eight interlinked projects under the Cities as Water Supply Catchments program were discussed, covering ecology, technologies, society and institutions, valuation, climate change, risks and health, urban microclimate and demonstration. The workshop highlighted that we need to better understand how our WA catchments respond to urbanisation in order to develop effective strategies to mitigate these changes and optimise the way we use stormwater in the urban landscape to deliver multiple benefits.

Media Releases:

Campus Daily, October 24, 2011: Research to preserve precious resource
Government of Western Australia – Ministerial Media Release, October 24, 2011: Research to boost storm water management

Promoted to full Professor: Jason Beringer

cwsc-admin — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 05:54:51 +0000

We are proud to announce that Jason Beringer, member of the Centre for Water Sensitive Cities and Co-Leader of one of the Projects of the Cities as Water Supply Catchments Program, was promoted to full Professor in the recent round of Monash University promotions.

As well as the great work that Jason is doing in the Cities program he is highly regarded for the work that he does within the School of Geography and Environmental Science more generally on vegetation and its influence on surface energy and trace gas exchanges and ecosystem processes. This work extends from urban environments, through mountain ash forest, to tropical savannas!

12th International Conference on Urban Drainage – Porto Alegre, Brazil

cwsc-admin — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 22:40:27 +0000

The 12th International Conference on Urban Drainage (ICUD), without doubt the most important conference in the field of stormwater, was held between September 11 and 16 in Porto Alegre in Brazil. The Centre for Water Sensitive Cities had a strong presence with a group of 26 research staff and students travelling to Brazil. The Centre’s contributions were in both the technical aspects of urban stormwater quality management as well as the social aspects of community receptivity and institutinal reform for integrated urban water management, reinforcing the inter-disciplinary nature of the Centre. All conference papers presented at the conference are available below.

We would also like to commend Briony Ferguson, a PhD student in the School of Geography and Environmental Science, for being nominated as one of three finalists for the Paul Harremoës award for Best Urban Drainage Paper by a Young Author (read more). The award went to Nuno Eduardo da Cruz Simões from Imperial College (UK) and University of Coimbra (Portugal).

List of conference papers presented at the 12 ICUD in Porto Alegre, Brazil:

Bach P.M., Urich C., McCarthy D.T., Sitzenfrei R., Kleidorfer M., Rauch W. and Deletić A. (2011) Characterising a city for integrated performance assessment of water infrastructure in the DAnCE4Water model. 12th International Conference on Urban Drainage (ICUD). Porto Alegre, Brazil, Sept 11-16, 2011. Link to PDF
Bettini Y. and Brown R.R. (2011) Water crisis and institutional adaptive capacity: Lessons from the Australian Experience. 12th International Conference on Urban Drainage (ICUD). Porto Alegre, Brazil, Sept 11-16, 2011. Link to PDF
Bos J.J. and Brown R. R. (2011) Patterns of transition-oriented governance approaches in the Australian urban water sector. 12th International Conference on Urban Drainage (ICUD). Porto Alegre, Brazil, Sept 11-16, 2011. Link to PDF
Bratières K., McCarthy D.T., Schang C. and Deletić A. (2011) Performance of the enviss™ filtration media: Laboratory trial. 12th International Conference on Urban Drainage (ICUD). Porto Alegre, Brazil, Sept 11-16, 2011. Link to PDF
Brookes K., Brown R.R., and Morison P.J. (2011) A Case Study Analysis of the Critical Factors Influencing a Private Land Developer Adopting Water Sensitive Urban Design. 12th International Conference on Urban Drainage (ICUD). Porto Alegre, Brazil, Sept 11-16, 2011. Link to PDF
Browne D., Deletić A., Fletcher T.D. and Mudd G. (2011) Modeling the development and consequences of clogging for stormwater infiltration trenches. 12th International Conference on Urban Drainage (ICUD). Porto Alegre, Brazil, Sept 11-16, 2011. Link to PDF
Chandrasena K.K.G.I., Deletić A., Ellerton J. and McCarthy D.T. (2011) Removal of Escherichia coli in Stormwater Biofilters. 12th International Conference on Urban Drainage (ICUD). Porto Alegre, Brazil, Sept 11-16, 2011. Link to PDF
de Haan J., Ferguson B. , Brown R.R. and Deletić A. (2011) A Workbench for Societal Transitions in Water Sensitive Cities. 12th International Conference on Urban Drainage (ICUD). Porto Alegre, Brazil, Sept 11-16, 2011. Link to PDF
Dobbie M. and Brown R.R. (2011) Risk Perceptions of Water Practitioners towards Sustainable Urban Water Systems. 12th International Conference on Urban Drainage (ICUD). Porto Alegre, Brazil, Sept 11-16, 2011. Link to PDF
Ferguson B., Brown R.R. and Deletić A. (2011) Towards a socio-technical framework for mapping and diagnosing transformational dynamics in urban water systems. 12th International Conference on Urban Drainage (ICUD). Porto Alegre, Brazil, Sept 11-16, 2011. Link to PDF
Guest R.M., Schang C., Deletić A. and McCarthy D.T. (2011) Development of Novel Activated Carbon Filter Media for Pathogen Removal from Stormwater. 12th International Conference on Urban Drainage (ICUD). Porto Alegre, Brazil, Sept 11-16, 2011. Link to PDF
Hamel P., Fletcher T.D., Walsh C.J. and Plessis E. (2011) Quantifying the restoration of evapotranspiration and groundwater recharge by vegetated infiltration systems. 12th International Conference on Urban Drainage (ICUD). Porto Alegre, Brazil, Sept 11-16, 2011. Link to PDF
Johnstone P. (2011) Water Sensitive Cities – Science-Policy Partnership. 12th International Conference on Urban Drainage (ICUD). Porto Alegre, Brazil, Sept 11-16, 2011. Link to PDF
Kandra H.S., McCarthy D.T. and Deletić A. (2011) Investigation of biological clogging in stormwater filters. 12th International Conference on Urban Drainage (ICUD). Porto Alegre, Brazil, Sept 11-16, 2011. Link to PDF
Li Y.L., McCarthy D.T. And Deletić A. (2011) Treatment of pathogens in stormwater by antimicrobial-modified filter media. 12th International Conference on Urban Drainage (ICUD). Porto Alegre, Brazil, Sept 11-16, 2011. Link to PDF
Lintern A., Daly E., Duncan H., Hatt B.E., Fletcher T.D. and Deletić A. (2011) Key design characteristics that influence the performance of stormwater biofilters. 12th International Conference on Urban Drainage (ICUD). Porto Alegre, Brazil, Sept 11-16, 2011. Link to PDF
Nunes R.T.S., Deletić A., Wong T.H.F., Prodanoff J.H.A. and Freitas M.A.V. (2011) Procedures for integrating Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD) technologies into the site planning process: Criteria for streetscape scale applied in Melbourne Region – Australia. 12th International Conference on Urban Drainage (ICUD). Porto Alegre, Brazil, Sept 11-16, 2011. Link to PDF
Poustie M.S., Brown R.R. and Deletić A. (2011) Receptivity to sustainable urban water management in the Pacific. 12th International Conference on Urban Drainage (ICUD). Porto Alegre, Brazil, Sept 11-16, 2011. Link to PDF
Rijke J., Farrelly M.A., Morison P.J., Brown R.R. and Zevenbergen C. (2011) Towards improved urban water governance in Adelaide, Australia. 12th International Conference on Urban Drainage (ICUD). Porto Alegre, Brazil, Sept 11-16, 2011. Link to PDF
Ross A.E., Lipeme Kouyi G., Fletcher T.D., Molle P., Chocat B., Calla M., Daly E. and Deletić A. (2011) Hydraulic modelling of constructed reed-bed wetlands for stormwater treatment. 12th International Conference on Urban Drainage (ICUD). Porto Alegre, Brazil, Sept 11-16, 2011. Link to PDF
Schang C., McCarthy D.T., Bratières K. and Deletić A. (2011) Expected performances and lifespan of the enviss™ stormwater treatment technologies: results of a breakthrough analysis . 12th International Conference on Urban Drainage (ICUD). Porto Alegre, Brazil, Sept 11-16, 2011. Link to PDF
Urich C., Bach P.M., Hellbach C., Sitzenfrei R., Kleidorfer M., McCarthy D.T., Deletić A. and Rauch W. (2011) Dynamics of cities and water infrastructure in the DAnCE4Water model. 12th International Conference on Urban Drainage (ICUD). Porto Alegre, Brazil, Sept 11-16, 2011. Link to PDF
Wong T.H.F. (2011) Framework for Stormwater Quality Management in Singapore. 12th International Conference on Urban Drainage (ICUD). Porto Alegre, Brazil, Sept 11-16, 2011. Link to PDF
Wong T.H.F., Deletić A. and Brown R.R. (2011) An Interdisciplinary Research Program for Building Water Sensitive Cities. 12th International Conference on Urban Drainage (ICUD). Porto Alegre, Brazil, Sept 11-16, 2011. Link to PDF
Yu C., Brown R.R. and Morison P.J. (2011) Co-governing small-scale distributed water systems: an analytical framework. 12th International Conference on Urban Drainage (ICUD). Porto Alegre, Brazil, Sept 11-16, 2011. Link to PDF
Zinger Y., Deletić A., Fletcher T.D., Breen P. and Wong T.H.F (2011) A Dual-mode Biofilter System: Case study in Kfar Sava, Israel. 12th International Conference on Urban Drainage (ICUD). Porto Alegre, Brazil, Sept 11-16, 2011. Link to PDF

Briony Ferguson finalist of the Poul Harremoes award

cwsc-admin — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 23:58:43 +0000

We commend Briony Ferguson, a PhD student in the School of Geography and Environmental Science, for being nominated as a finalist for the Poul Harremoës award for Best Urban Drainage Paper by a Young Author.

This award is given for the presentation of novel and ideally, provocative, ideas relating to developments in urban drainage. Vision and innovation were the hallmarks of Prof Poul Harremoës’ (1934 – 2003) career and his contributions to advancing knowledge in environmental sciences and engineering related to urban drainage are unsurpassed. In recognition of his outstanding and unique contributions, the Joint Committee on Urban Drainage, in cooperation with the International Water Association, has established a triennial competition for the best paper written by a young author to be held in conjunction with the Committee’s triennial conferences on urban drainage.

Briony’s paper, Towards a socio-technical framework for mapping and diagnosing transformational dynamics in urban water systems (Link to PDF ), which she presented in a plenary session after the opening session of the 12th International Conference on Urban Drainage in Porto Alegre, Brazil, was one of 3 selected for the award.

The award went to Nuno Eduardo da Cruz Simões from Imperial College (UK) and University of Coimbra (Portugal).

IWC is offering 50 new scholarships for 2012

cwsc-admin — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 01:53:55 +0000

IWC is now offering partial-tuition scholarships to the first 50 students who enrol in an Integrated Water Management program (Masters, Graduate Diploma or Graduate Certificate) for 2012.

The scholarship is available to Australian and international students who do not receive any external full-tuition scholarship or full-tuition funding from other sources. Each partial scholarship is valued at $5,000 for the whole Masters program, payable per semester towards tuition fees. Flexibility in program delivery is provided through students being able to study full-time or part-time/distance. Three new specialisation streams will be offered in 2012 including International development; Water, land and people; and Urban water.

To benefit from this partial scholarship, you need to:

apply for the program
accept your offer/place into the program
be one of the first 50 students to enrol in the program (enrolments open in Dec 2011/Jan 2012)

For further details and information on deadlines, see:
www.watercentre.org/news/partial-scholarships-au-5-000-to-first-50-students-to-enrol

Contact: email admin@watercentre.org | phone +61 7 3123 7766