Melbourne Water Research Centre (MWRC)

The Melbourne Water Research Centre (MWRC) is a new initiative of the University of Melbourne funded by the University and the eight participating faculties, namely:

• Arts
• Economics and Commerce
• Engineering
• Land and Food Resources
• Law
• Medicine, Dentistry and Health Science
• Science, and
• Veterinary Science

The MWRC is an incubator of research identifying the principal water management challenges facing the Australian community, defining specific research that provides the keys to solving the important challenges, and facilitating mutually beneficial collaboration, and funding for multi disciplinary research.

The specific roles of the Melbourne Water Research Centre are to:

• Act as a focal point for the University in identifying issues of strategic importance to Australia's water future by review and contextual research, and by engaging with Governments, industries, universities and community organizations;
• Provide a forum for focused discussion of the strategic issues through workshops, seminars, and networking to rigorously define the issue at hand, and the nature of research that has the greatest potential to make a significant contribution to addressing the issue;
• Support preparation of specifications for research projects and programs that address the strategic issues;
• Act as a broker in facilitating mutually beneficial collaboration with other research organizations as required;
• Act as a broker in arranging funding for water related research projects and programs;
• Provide program management for complex multi Faculty research;
• Provide support and advisory services across the University to those contemplating water related research;
• Provide an oversight on water related research in the University of Melbourne and foster communication on such research across the University and with the wider community;
• Support the Centre for Land and Water Management in its role of addressing the challenges facing the Goulburn Valley.

Currently the Melbourne Water Research Centre is focusing attention on three priority challenges:

• Water policy and associated institutional reform;
• Increasing the economic output of irrigation using less water; and
• Supplying growing cities with reliable water supplies.

The uncertainty of climate change, managing the social changes inherent in all these three issues, and Australia's Federal system of government provide an overlay to increase the complexity of the challenges.

MWRC Director

Prof John Langford
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
The University of Melbourne
Victoria 3010 Australia

T: +61 3 83444301
F: +61 3 83446215
E: laj@unimelb.edu.au