Over the past twenty years Australia has become the global leader in all dimensions of water-related research, policy, and practice and has integrated these fields to great effect. Over the past decade this capacity has been put under severe test by an unprecedented drought. This has led to massive innovation and a major research effort involving a wide range of disciplines.
Australia has strong human resources in the water sciences and practice. Australia’s leading university – Melbourne University – has a major multidisciplinary water program led by one of Australia’s foremost water experts and acting in a consortium with Monash University.
The Melbourne group have indicated an interest in a similar multi-disciplinary, multi-country partnership with Harvard. With support from the Harvard Australia Studies Committee, a group of Harvard faculty will go to Australia in 2010 to learn about the Australian experience and explore specific research collaborations.
See discussion below on the Australian Water Reform Project, a collaborative project involving the Committee for the Economic Development of Australia (CEDA), Melbourne and Monash Universities, and Harvard University