Research partnership opportunities
High quality and up-to-date scientific research is vital in supporting decision making and regulation at the EPA.
We actively develop and maintain key relationships with research organisations to enhance risk-based management of environmental issues in key areas, with a number of collaborations under development or already in progress.
Collaboration is possible in a variety of ways. Examples include honours or PhD projects, a financial or in-kind contribution by the EPA towards research undertaken, a literature review, and varying degrees of support for grant applications such as providing letters of support, co-supervision of students, in-kind contribution, etc.
If you are a researcher with expertise in any of the EPA areas of priority and projects or would like to join our mailing list, please contact us.
Research prospectus
Strategic Water Science Plan
The Strategic Water Science Plan will build our capacity to address water quality issues that affect inland, coastal and groundwater in South Australia. The plan delivers 5 programs that will support science being undertake at the EPA.
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Research collaborations
There are currently opportunities to collaborate with EPA in the following priority areas. This list will be updated regularly.
Add to my listLand–coast interface
| Research opportunities |
| GIS and spatial mapping – opportunities in air quality and coastal environments |
| Using DNA methods to characterise and distinguish contaminant sources entering waters |
| Identifying water quality stressor and toxicant thresholds for inland and marine waters |
| Fine sediment source identification in the lower River Torrens |
| In progress |
| Identification of actual sources of fine sediment in Adelaide coastal waters |
| Development of chemtax libraries for phytoplankton in gulf waters |
| Assessment of septic and other nutrient impacts on groundwater and marine waters |
| Identifying water quality stressor thresholds for inland waters (salinity thresholds for diatoms) |
| Assessment of septic impact on groundwater and marine waters – Yorke Peninsula |
| Validating water quality stressors for inland waters in SA |
| Valuing marine and coastal environments – an ecosystem services approach |
| Coastal carbon opportunities – demonstrating additionality and potential for future offsets in SA |
| Assessing the capacity of seagrass sediments to sequester carbon dioxide and metal pollution – past, present and future scenarios |
| Socio-ecological assessment of the ecosystems, industries and communities of Spencer Gulf |
Add to my listContaminants of emerging concern
Contaminants present in the environment from pollution and waste for which there are no standards or there is new evidence of unexpected adverse environmental impacts or risks.
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Research opportunities
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| Contributing to developing a national approach to prioritising, assessing and managing contaminants of emerging concern |
| Developing suitable methods to identify environmentally relevant concentrations of contaminants of emerging concern in water, biota, soil and/or air |
| Efficacy of applying immobilisation agents to manage PFAS in soils, especially within landfill settings |
| Assess the persistence, bioaccumulation potential and toxicity associated with using polysiloxanes as alternatives to PFAS in aqueous film-forming foams, used for suppressing flammable liquid fires |
| Mesocosm channel system possibly available for testing stream community responses to targeted emerging contaminants (design comprises up to 6 treatments x 3 replicate channels) |
| In progress/recently completed |
| Attempting to solve issues associated with emerging contaminants (eg can microbes evolve enzymes/pathways to break the C-F bond in PFAS contaminants). Currently in 3rd year of a project with Flinders University. |
| Acute, chronic and multigenerational ecotoxicity effects from exposure to PFOS, PFHxS and PFAS mixtures (completed experiments and results to be jointly published with CSIRO) |
| Fate and occurrence of trace organic compounds in South Australian rivers and shallow groundwater (partly completed in EPA publication relating to the occurrence in streams). |
| Development of in vitro ecotoxicology methodology to better understand priority pollutants in waters receiving point source discharges (‘Saving Nemo’ project coordinated through Griffith University, designed to develop and test a suite of bioassays for wastewater treatment plant risk assessments) |
| Related issues under consideration or development |
| Potential partner in proposed CRC for Solving Antimicrobial Resistance in Agribusiness, Food, and Environments, coordinated by the University of South Australia |
| Involved with the development of the South Australian Antimicrobial Resistance Action Plan, coordinated by SA Health and consistent with the National Antimicrobial Resistance Strategy |
Add to my listWaste management
| Research opportunities |
| Alternatives to manage wastewater in areas of high rainfall where wastewater evaporative lagoons are less effective |
| Effects on soil properties after irrigation of wastewater, considering wastewaters from a range of industrial activities |
| Effects on soil properties after irrigation of wastewater, considering wastewaters from a range of industrial activities |
| Regulatory/guidance framework for the reuse of soil impacted with low levels of asbestos |
| Mobility of PFAS through landfill and leachate pond liners |
| Application of DNA approaches to identify sources of wastewater in surface and marine waters |
Add to my listAir science
| Research opportunities |
| Nuisance dust impact and understanding of sources of dust (monitoring, modelling and validation studies of specific sites or areas of SA) |
| Respirable Crystalline Silica (RCS) in ambient air and around extractive industries |
| Air toxics (Benzene, Toluene, Ethylbenzene, Xylenes, PAHs) in ambient air to better understand the background levels and in the vicinity of sources |
| In progess/recently completed |
| Ultrafine particles (UFP) in Australian citiesHealth impact of petrol vapours and recommendations for mitigation measures to minimise the risk |
| Update of ground level concentration criteria for air pollutants |
| Dispersion and deposition of lead in air in a community with an operational lead smelter |
| Small atmospheric PM2.5 particle sensors and networks |
| Buffer distances around petrol stations for permanent residents in different airsheds/locations |
Add to my listOther projects
| Research opportunities |
| Remote sensing – opportunities for identification of environmental risks from contaminant discharges or plumes to surface and subsurface waters or terrestrial habitats using open-source data sets, potentially supported by supplementary field data |
