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id="banner-block_0bc2a6fb14e910cd13ba42a4550a0b1e"></div> <div id="infoBar"> <div class="section"> <h3 class="red-text">Sustainability</h3> <p>For two decades, the IRU has been a leader in sustainability research and education. Research activities have remained focused on sustainable and socially-responsible solutions for communities in Australia and internationally. This is reflected in the growth in very highly cited publications in Life and Earth Sciences in the past decade, with IRU members accounting for 15% of Australia鈥檚 total of very highly cited publications in this field in 2020.</p> </div> </div> <div id="content"> <div class="section" id="twoCol-block_49aba63c676f5b468ceea9fea27901c8"> <div class="twoCols"> <div class="col"> <p><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Research collaboration among IRU members over the last 20 years has also focused on environmental sciences and multi-disciplinary approaches to sustainability issues. For example, the IRU created the Australian Water Partnership in 2004 as the first step in building stronger collaboration within the group. </span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 14pt;">In 2010-2011 IRU members co-funded a research initiative on Ecosystem Tipping Points, leading to three collaborative projects and a forum. In 2011 IRU members also launched a publication on disaster preparedness and resilience.</span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p><img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-9916 size-large" src="http://iru.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/syed-hadi-naqvi-sScrZ6ywg28-unsplash-1-1024x687.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="687" srcset="https://iru.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/syed-hadi-naqvi-sScrZ6ywg28-unsplash-1-1024x687.jpg 1024w, https://iru.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/syed-hadi-naqvi-sScrZ6ywg28-unsplash-1-450x302.jpg 450w, https://iru.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/syed-hadi-naqvi-sScrZ6ywg28-unsplash-1-768x515.jpg 768w, https://iru.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/syed-hadi-naqvi-sScrZ6ywg28-unsplash-1-1536x1030.jpg 1536w, https://iru.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/syed-hadi-naqvi-sScrZ6ywg28-unsplash-1-2048x1374.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></p> <p> </p> </div> <div class="col"> <h3>A fresh take on groundwater modelling</h3> <h6>Flinders University</h6> <p>Groundwater is a finite but valuable resource in Australia that makes up around 17 percent of Australia鈥檚 accessible water resources. Understanding the age, flow rate, and recharge rates for aquifers and groundwater is critical to enabling industry to sustainably manage these fresh groundwater resources. Researchers from Flinders University at the National Centre for Groundwater Research and Training (NCGRT) investigated the mechanics of river water seepage, variations, and management to support the conservation of floodplain and improvements in vegetation growth.</p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="https://iru.edu.au/research/sustainability/a-fresh-take-on-groundwater-modelling/">Read more</a></span></p> <p> </p> <h3>Spilling the secrets on bat virus spillovers</h3> <h6>Griffith University</h6> <p>As a type of fruit bat, flying foxes play a vital role in Australia鈥檚 ecosystems by connecting pockets of eucalypt forest across the continent. As the habitats of these long-distance pollinators come under increasing stress, the potential for their contact with humans also increases. Long before the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, global bodies such as the World Health Organisation had foreseen the major threat posed by environments where infectious diseases could spill over from animals, such as flying foxes, to humans.</p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="https://iru.edu.au/research/sustainability/spilling-the-secrets-on-bat-virus-spillovers/">Read more</a></span></p> <p> </p> <h3>Answering burning questions in Australian conservation</h3> <h6>La Trobe University</h6> <p>In Australia, fire is an important agent of natural disturbance, particularly in the semi-arid Murray Mallee region of South East Australia. Since 1972, more than 1000 fires have burned in the region, with 16 fires larger than 10,000 hectares of land. The Mallee is a patchwork of environments that, understood together, map a mosaic of fire histories scorched across the landscape.</p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="https://iru.edu.au/research/sustainability/answering-burning-questions-in-australian-conservation/">Read more</a></span></p> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="newsBar" id="cta-block_94b4ce3a2d1e2db9a0308875893cb1d7"> <div class="section"> <h3>Want to see more of IRU members’ research strengths?</h3> <a href="https://iru.edu.au/research/" class="linkBtn whiteBtn">Learn more</a> </div> </div> <div id="footer"> <div class="section wider"> <div class="contact"> <a href="https://iru.edu.au/?page_id=23" class="contactBtn">Contact us</a> <div class="inner"> <ul class="socials"> <li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_BsqP-7WIB-VZ3UD1F7UiQ" target="_blank"><img src="https://iru.edu.au/wp-content/themes/iru/images/youtube-ico.svg" alt=""></a></li> <li><a href="https://twitter.com/iruaustralia" target="_blank"><img src="https://iru.edu.au/wp-content/themes/iru/images/twitter-ico.svg" alt=""></a></li> <li><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/iruaustralia/" target="_blank"><img src="https://iru.edu.au/wp-content/themes/iru/images/linkedin-ico.svg" alt=""></a></li> </ul> <div class="links"> <p class="title">About</p> <ul id="menu-footer-1" class="col1"><li id="menu-item-7584" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-7584"><a href="https://iru.edu.au/purpose/">Purpose</a></li> <li id="menu-item-7263" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-7263"><a href="https://iru.edu.au/our-universities/">Members</a></li> <li id="menu-item-7966" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-7966"><a href="https://iru.edu.au/news-archive/">News Archive</a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> <div class="footerLinks"> <div class="links"> <p class="title">Member Resources</p> <ul id="menu-footer-2" class="col2"><li id="menu-item-7265" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-7265"><a href="https://iru.edu.au/wil-resources/">WIL Resources</a></li> <li id="menu-item-7587" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-7587"><a href="https://iru.edu.au/student-success/">Student Success</a></li> <li id="menu-item-7977" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-7977"><a href="https://iru.edu.au/academic-calibration/">Academic Calibration</a></li> </ul> </div> <div class="links"> <p class="title">About this website</p> <ul id="menu-footer-3" class="col3"><li id="menu-item-7590" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-7590"><a href="https://iru.edu.au/disclaimer/">Disclaimer</a></li> <li id="menu-item-7591" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-7591"><a href="https://iru.edu.au/disclaimer/">Copyright</a></li> <li id="menu-item-7266" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-7266"><a href="https://iru.edu.au/contact/">Contact</a></li> <li id="menu-item-7594" class="menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-7594"><a href="https://iru.edu.au/using-iru-logos/">Using IRU Logos</a></li> </ul> </div> </div> <div class="info"> <div class="newsletter"> <p class="title">Sign up to our Newsletter</p> <h6>Get the latest news and policy submissions from the IRU</h6>  <h4>Newsletter Signup</h4> <form method="POST" class="cm_ajax_widget_form" id="cm_ajax_form_3"> <input type="hidden" name="cm_ajax_action" value="subscribe"> <input type="hidden" name="cm_ajax_widget_id" value="3"> <p><label for="cm-ajax-email">Email:</label> <input class="widefat" id="cm-ajax-email" name="cm-ajax-email" type="text" /></p> <p style="width: 100%; text-align: center;"> <span style="display: none;" class="cm_ajax_success">Great news, we've signed you up.</span> <span style="display: none;" class="cm_ajax_failed">Sorry, we weren't able to sign you up. 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