Following on from the Goyder Institute’s state and national awards last year, the Institute and its partners recently received the Australian Water Association’s (AWA) South Australia Branch Award for R&D Excellence for 2022 for the Institute’s Healthy Coorong, Healthy Basin (HCHB) Scientific Trials and Investigations research project.
The HCHB research project ran from July 2020 – June 2022 and involved 72 researchers across 13 institutions, and in particular CSIRO, Flinders University, The University of Adelaide, the University of South Australia, and the South Australian Research and Development Institute. The partnership with the South Australian Department for Environment and Water (DEW) also played a critical role in ensuring the research would inform their decision-making.
The research formed an important part of the $77 million Healthy Coorong, Healthy Basin (HCHB) Program, an initiative of the Australian and South Australian governments that aims to support the long-term health of the Coorong by providing evidence-based solutions to both immediate threats and future conditions under a changing climate. The Goyder Institute was the delivery partner for five research components of the HCHB Trials and Investigations project, providing independent research to inform future management decisions for the region.
The research has been featured in a number of Institute eNews articles over the past two years, the latest of which can be viewed here. Six videos were also produced to showcase the research and its partnerships, and these can be viewed here.
Institute Director, Dr Kane Aldridge said “It was a great honour to receive this award on behalf of our Partners. It is a great recognition of the enormous effort of all that were involved in the delivery of the research program. We at the Institute would like to extend our thanks to all of the research leads and their teams for their amazing commitment to successfully deliver this work under challenging timeframes and during an unprecedented pandemic. I would also like to thank Alec Rolston, Daniel Pierce from the Goyder Institute and Amy Ide from DEW for their exceptional management of this significant body of research”.
As well as continuing to directly inform the management and decision-making for this iconic wetland, the Institute will build on the HCHB research through the recently announced Research Hub for the Coorong and Lower Lakes region, working collaboratively with First Nations, community, researchers and government agencies to further develop the knowledge base and science for the region.
The award was announced and presented during the 2022 AWA SA Gala Dinner and Awards Night on 18 November 2022. The Institute will now be a finalist for the National AWA R&D Excellence Award, which will be announced during the OzWater Conference in Sydney in May 2023.
