Environmental Science experts

Dr Katinka Ruthrof

Ecological restoration; mine-site revegetation; management of woodlands and forests

Dr Katinka Ruthrof is a plant ecologist with experience in revegetation, fire ecology, population dynamics and invasive species.

Her research focuses on facilitating regeneration in and revegetation of degraded woodlands and forests.

She is currently working with the Department of Environment and Conservation on the Ludlow Tuart Forest rehabilitation project, with the Peel Harvey Catchment Council on the Lake Clifton revegetation project, and with Cockburn Cement Ltd. on improving revegetation techniques for disused quarries, residue quarries and shell grit waste areas.

Professor Richard Bell

Soil fertility and land management

Professor Richard Bell is an expert in soil fertility and land management. He specialises in soil management in highly weathered soils, fertility and management constraints associated with acid, salt-affected and degraded soils, fertiliser requirements for field cropping, rehabilitation of degraded land, the physiology and agronomy of food legumes, canola, wheat and rice, and mine rehabilitation.

He is also experienced in third world agricultural development issues, particularly rural development, the management and administration of research projects and training researchers in plant nutrition, soil science and land management.

Associate Professor Sue Moore

Protected area management especially visitor management and governance; nature based tourism; perceptions of biodiversity and associated policies

An international expert in protected area management and tourism, Associate Professor Moore is involved in a national project investigating how partnerships between the tourism industry and protected area managers contribute to the sustainability of these areas.

She is also investigating the community’s understanding of how forest thinning is used to increase the water available for urban usage.

As leader of the Nature Tourism Research Group at Murdoch University, Professor Moore has studied many national parks in Australia and overseas and continues to work with park agencies and the tourism industry to improve the sustainability of these important areas.

She has published over 100 articles and books, including the best selling Natural Area Tourism: Ecology, Impacts and Management, and Wildlife Tourism.

Dr Helen Allison

Community context of environment issues

Dr Helen Allison works on finding ways to manage complex environmental problems within the context of a community, understanding the relationship between a society and its ecosystem.

She works with communities to identify their situational awareness, their knowledge and management of the most important vulnerabilities, and how adaptive they are in the face of change.

Dr Allison is currently investigating what makes a region such as Margaret River, the WA Wheatbelt and towns such as Kalgoorlie and Broken Hill resilient, with the ability to cope and even prosper when faced with a series of crises.

Associate Professor Robert Trengove

Separation science and metabolomics

Associate Professor Rob Trengove is the Director for the Murdoch Separation Science and Metabolomics Laboratory and the node leader for the Murdoch Node of Metabolomics Australia.

Professor Trengove has pioneered the development of MS-based ‘omics techniques for more than 20 years, collaborating with Australian and International researchers and industry.

He currently leads a team of more than 15 researchers working on a diverse range of topics including HIV/AIDs, iron disorders, desalination, microalgae lipidomics, fungal and bacterial metabolomics.

Professor Trengove has published more than 50 high-impact journal articles and has ongoing commercial contract research arrangements with major industry players in the petrochemical, clinical and animal health pharmaceutical sector.

Associate Professor David Newsome

Dr Martin Anda

Sustainable development, governance and environmental technology in Australian Indigenous communities

Environmental engineer Dr Martin Anda is an expert in liquid and solid waste recycling, and energy efficiency in buildings and human settlements.

He says that if only 10 per cent of Perth’s homes were eco-renovated with insulation and solar panels, the equivalent of one new coal or gas-fired power station could be saved and demand reduced on existing ones.

Dr Anda’s research through the Environmental Technology Centre and Remote Area Developments Group is linked to the Desert Knowledge Cooperative Research Centre, the Sustainable Tourism CRC, Environmental Biotechnology CRC and the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute.

Associate Professor Frank Murray

Environmental management, climate change air pollution in Asia

A recognised air pollution and climate change expert, Associate Professor Frank Murray is the technical editor of the first comprehensive review of urban air quality management at a country level across Asia. He is currently collaborating with government agencies across Asia to identify and manage the impacts of air pollution and climate change.

Professor Murray has worked with the World Health Organisation in Geneva, United Nations Environment Programme in Nairobi and Bangkok, the Asian Development Bank, the Clean Air Initiative for Asia in Manila and the Stockholm Environment Institute. He was also lead author of the atmosphere chapter of GEO4, UNEP's state of the world environment report published in 2007.

Dr Catherine Baudains

Sustainability through better education practices and programs

Credited for her work in developing education strategies such as the TravelSmart Workplace Program, Dr Catherine Baudains’ focus is on creating a more sustainable future through improved environmental education practices.

She is currently working on the WA Sustainable Schools Initiative, investigating the role of urban gardening in habitat provision and conservation, developing environmental and lifestyle education programs, and workplace travel plans.

Dr Baudains is a lecturer in environmental education for Sustainability at Murdoch, and a project leader of Program 4 (Policies and Action for Woodland and Forest Restoration) for the State Centre of Excellence for Climate Change, Woodland and Forest Health.

Dr Jaya Nair

Waste management; recycling wastewater for urban and rural reuse

Dr Jaya Nair is an expert in waste management, and is currently developing Australia’s first food waste-fuelled biogas plant to tackle environmental degradation and landfill issues.

Dr Nair specialises in urban and rural organic waste management, recycling treated solid waste and the microbial quality of treated waste for reuse in horticulture.

She also specialises in developing integrated approaches to organic liquid waste treatment including vermifiltration, wastewater hydroponics, composting and vermicomposting of solid waste.

Professor Neal Enright

Fire and plant ecology; management of shrublands and forests

Professor Neal Enright is a plant ecologist expert in fire ecology and management of Australian shrublands and forests, plant species co-existence in high diversity ecosystems, and the population dynamics of woody plants.

Currently, he is collaborating with Western Australia’s Department of Environment and Conservation to address the impacts of increased fire frequency in the biodiverse sandplain shrublands near Eneabba, north of Perth.

He co-authored the Report of the Inquiry into the Victorian Bushfires of 2002-03 (2003) and co-edited Ecology of the Southern Conifers with R. Hill (1995).

Professor Goen Ho

Water recycling and sewage treatment; water conservation and accounting

Professor Goen Ho specialises in conserving and reducing water use at the household, community and industrial levels.

Most recently he implemented large-scale water saving initiatives at the BP Oil Refinery in Kwinana, and at Newmont's 5 gold mining and refining operations across Australia and New Zealand.

He also specialises in sewage recycling using subsurface irrigation of vegetation, recycling greywater from laundries, bathrooms and land developments.

He also plans to expand a water accounting tool he developed, which is currently being used by Western Australian Department of Water and the Water Corporation, nationally and internationally. The tool was created to complement new energy and carbon counting schemes.