Find a supervisor
Waterway Ecosystem Research Group
Find a supervisor
The following staff are available to supervise honours and masters research in the Waterway Ecosystem Research Group (WERG). Potential projects can also be viewed in our Student Projects Table.
Professor Tim Fletcher
I am a hydrologist with an interest in trying to protect urban streams from degradation. I do so by developing technologies to manage (and use) urban stormwater. My primary research focus is therefore on green infrastructure and also on real-time control technologies to simultaneously improve streamflow regimes, reduce flood risk and provide a supplementary water supply from urban stormwater.
Project topics:
- Optimising stream flow regimes for urban platypus using real-time control technologies.
Dr Moss Imberger
Moss is a freshwater ecologist with a passion for all things associated with streams and rivers. They are particularly interested in understanding, measuring and assessing aquatic ecosystem structure and function; especially in response to urban and agricultural land use change. Their research has an applied focus and most often looks for effective ways to protect or restore aquatic ecosystems in human-dominated landscapes.
Project topics:
- Investigating and assessing ecosystem function in small headwater streams.
- Assessing the potential to protect and restore headwater streams in urban and agricultural landscapes using water-sensitive urban design principles.
- Investigating the landscape- and local-scale drivers of stream ecosystem function.
- Developing and assessing indicators of ecosystem function for inclusion in aquatic monitoring programs and strategic management frameworks.
Dr Matthew Burns
I am a hydrologist with an interest in alternative approaches towards stormwater management. I am motivated to improve the way we manage stormwater in our urban landscapes in order to protect and restore the health of waterways.
Project topics:
- Optimising stream flow regimes for urban platypus using real-time control technologies.
- Understanding the role and importance of headwater streams.
Dr Joe Greet
I am a wetland ecologist and lover of plants who really enjoys working with people to conserve our natural world. I hope that my research will help land and water managers to better protect and restore our wetland environments and heal Country.
Project topics:
- Caring for Birrarung’s (the Yarra’s) billabongs. Determining appropriate billabong management in partnership with Wurundjeri Woi-Wurrung’s Narrap (‘Country’) Team.
- Oh Deer! Managing the impacts of feral deer on our waterways and forests.
- Making Rivers Great Again! Understanding relationships between plants and flow regimes to inform environmental flow management.
- Is revegetation working? How can we best restore our riparian environments?
Dr Yung En Chee
I am an applied ecologist. My research interests and expertise include spatial and ecological modelling, decision analysis, reasoning under uncertainty and interdisciplinary research. I work on how ideas and methods from these fields can be integrated to improve conservation and environment, strategic planning and decision-making.
Project topics:
- Ecological modelling and waterway and wetland management prioritisation in greater Melbourne.
- Improving stream management using ecological modelling and DNA barcodes.
- Monitoring riparian vegetation extent, condition and benefits for environmental values.
- Approaches to increasing the resilience of vegetation in a changing climate.
- Understanding the drivers of instream vegetation distribution and opportunities for improved instream vegetation management and restoration.
Dr Chris Szota
I work on green stormwater infrastructure; particularly the role plants play by removing pollutants and restoring the urban water balance. I’m interested in all aspects of water-sensitive urban design, but I’m currently focused on passive irrigation of street trees and real-time monitoring and control of constructed wetlands.
Project topics:
- Developing real-time control strategies to enhance nitrogen removal in stormwater wetlands.
- Offsetting the impact of development with large-scale infiltration systems designed to passively irrigate street trees with stormwater.
- Developing predictive maintenance for raingardens and other streetscape water-sensitive urban design elements.
Dr Kathryn Russell
Kathy researches the physical form and processes (geomorphology) of river systems affected by human disturbances, particularly in urban and peri-urban areas.
Project topics:
- Sediment fingerprinting to disentangle fine sediment sources in urbanising catchments.
- Geomorphic unit mapping from lidar data to calculate river physical diversity metrics.
- Effectiveness of environmental flows in maintaining riffle and pool habitat quality in rivers.
- Monitoring impacts of changes in unsealed road management, and sealing of roads on sediment production.
- Mapping stream dimensions from lidar data across the Greater Melbourne region.
Dr Ryan Burrows
I'm an ecologist with scientific and practical expertise in ecosystem ecology, environmental monitoring programs and strategic planning. My everyday work activities help ensure that we have clean and healthy catchments for both human and ecological needs. I work at the University of Melbourne and Melbourne Water.
Project topics:
- Ecosystem processes (e.g. ecosystem metabolism, carbon and nutrient processing) in rivers and billabongs.
- Improving our monitoring and management of threatened aquatic species (e.g. platypus, fish, frogs).
- Spatial and temporal patterns of resource limitation (nitrogen, phosphorus, carbon) of aquatic microbial biofilms.
- Effectiveness of fishways in our rivers using eDNA and live-catch fish data.
- Impact of drought and flow intermittency on the health of our waterways.
Dr Sacha Jellinek
I'm an ecologist with a background in restoration ecology, climate change and marine biology. My current focus is looking at the effectiveness of habitat restoration (including revegetation) actions on native plants and animals, as well as ecosystem services. I have an interest in how to make natural landscapes more resilient to climate change, and how better to engage communities, practitioners and Traditional Owners in monitoring natural ecosystems.
Project topics:
- Monitoring riparian vegetation condition, extent and benefits for environmental values.
- Approaches to increasing the resilience of vegetation in a changing climate.
- Collaborations with Traditional Owner groups to more effectively undertake habitat restoration.
- Instream Vegetation: Understanding the drivers of instream vegetation distribution and management opportunities.
Dr Darren Bos
I am an ecologist working within the Waterways Ecosystem Research Group. My Background is in terrestrial ecology, but I have developed experience in the alternative management of stormwater and delivery of community engagement programs. As an Academic Specialist (Knowledge Broker) I am also interested in the translation of research findings to aid industry adoption.
Project topics:
- Ecology and behaviour of Platypus in Monbulk Creek (Vic).
- Adoption of real-time control technology for stormwater management.
- Long-term maintenance of Stormwater Control Measures (SCMs).
Scott McKendrick
I’m a plant ecologist with a current focus on plants growing in and around freshwater ecosystems. I’m particularly interested in the processes and drivers of riverine plants, which remain less studied, and the many functions they provide. My work aims to improve our understanding and management of this important ecosystem component.
Dr Rose Macaulay
My research focuses on how people experience and engage with urban nature – including green and blue spaces. I’m interested in the psychological benefits received through nature experiences, and how these can be enhanced through deeper engagement within nature interactions. I use a range of environmental psychology methods including surveys, semi-structured interviews and designing experimental studies to understand the impact of nature experiences on psychological outcomes.
Project topics:
- Experiences and psychological benefits of urban nature.
- Exploring how nature connections support people experiencing eco-distress or eco-anxiety.
- Exploring social and psychological impacts of urban greening interventions.
Dr Benjamin Henley
Ben is a scientist-engineer hybrid with interests in large-scale climate variability and change, hydroclimate impacts and the climate of the past. His research focuses on understanding climate variability and climate change and their impacts using multi-proxy palaeoclimate records, observations and climate model simulations.
Project topics:
- How fast will the Earth warm? Constraining Earth's equilibrium climate sensitivity with reconstructions of decadal global mean surface temperature variability.
- What stories do trees hold about the past? Piloting new hydroclimate reconstructions of past climate on the Australian mainland with multi-proxy records from high-altitude trees.
- How frequent was catastrophic drought in eastern Australia in past centuries? Updating hydroclimate reconstructions of past Murray Darling Basin flows: a knowledge baseline for a resilient and sustainable basin.
- How unusual are recent extreme changes in Antarctic sea ice? Contextualising recent shifts in Antarctic sea-ice with spatial reconstructions using chemical signatures in ice core records.
- What drives changes in snow depth over time? Assessing the impacts of climate change and variability on snowpack in the Australian Alps: multi-method detection and attribution.