The Australian Government’s national priority areas for research include three to which the School’s community contributes: (a) an environmentally sustainable Australia (including sustainable natural resource management); (b) promoting and maintaining good health (as might be delivered through sustainable community initiatives); and (c) safeguarding Australia (particularly in relation to invasive pests and diseases). In line with related priorities established in the UTAS Research and Research Higher Degrees Management Plan (2003, 20) we are committed to developing human capability through our research and supervision, by continually forging the nexus between teaching and research activities, and via community outreach.

For some staff, such engagement with both national and local priorities is a contemplative and solitary activity; for others, one driven by diverse associations with the Sustainable Tourism, Sustainable Forestry and Antarctic CRCs; CSIRO; Land and Water Australia; the Tasmanian Institute for Agricultural Research; the Tasmanian Aquaculture and Fisheries Institute; the Criminology Research Unit; the Australian Housing and Urban Research Unit; the Institute of Australian Geographers; the Institute of Surveyors Australia; or the Spatial Sciences Institute of Australia.

Academic staff are also affiliated with various non-government/not-for-profit organizations, including the Environmental Defenders Office, the Tasmanian Environment Centre, and the Global Islands Network. Such links emphasize our collective concern with public-good considerations in research, as well as with core business in grants, publications and research supervision.

Academic staff, graduate candidates and many honorary research fellows also work in and across the University’s theme areas. http://www.utas.edu.au/themes/

For additional information about research in the School, try the Search by Keyword function at http://www.scieng.utas.edu.au/geog/research.asp, or perhaps execute a WARP (Web Access Research Portal) search at http://www.research.utas.edu.au/WARP/Reports/keyword-search.htm.