Sustainability Research Centre
University of the Sunshine Coast
90 Sippy Downs Drive
Sippy Downs, Queensland 4556
AUSTRALIA
http://www.usc.edu.au/connect/research/research-concentrations/sustainabilityresearch-centre/research-at-sustainability-research-centre

OutlineUniversity o f t he Sunshine Coast (USC) ha s gr own r apidly since i ts i nception i n 19 96, f rom 52 4
students t o a c urrent student e nrolment of ne arly 10,000. There a re two F aculties – (1) A rts a ndBusiness, a nd ( 2) S cience, H ealth, E ducation a nd E ngineering. O verseas s tudents c urrently
comprise 11% of t he s tudent body with t he m ajority of t hese i nternational s tudents c oming f rom
India, Germany, USA, Nepal, and Sweden. Currently there are about 300 full-time faculty members.
While USC was initially established as primarily a regional teaching university for undergraduates,
it is now evolving into a targeted research university. The recent appointment of Professor Roland
De Marco as USC’s first Pro Vice-Chancellor of Research, underlined the university’s commitment
to s upporting e xcellence i n research. Three R esearch C entres n ow ex ist as f ocal points at U SC:
GeneCology R esearch C entre; Forest I ndustries R esearch C entre; an d S ustainability R esearchCentre. A dditionally, se veral o ther r esearch cl usters o r t hemes h ave d eveloped an d n ew o nes areemerging. T hrough t hese f ocal poi nts, USC maintains re search c ollaborations w orldwide w ith astrong emphasis in the Asian-Pacific region. USC has recently enhanced its research profile throughthe recruitment of outstanding researchers and up-to-date infrastructure.
The Sustainability Research Centre (SRC) was formalised as one of the University of the Sunshine
Coast’s flagship research concentrations in September 2007. I n 2012 t he SRC was also designatedas a T ier 1 Research Centre, one of only three in the university. Within the past year, the SRC has
made two critical research-based hires in geosciences (Professors Patrick Nunn and Roy C. Sidle) toincrease i ts v isibility a nd p rofile in b iophysical s ciences to c omplement th e s trong f aculty
counterpart in social sciences. The SRC has the capacity to attract top-level Honours students fromvarious faculties and support post graduate students as well as Research Fellows.
The SRC offer both undergraduate majors and minors in Sustainability and a Ph.D. by r esearch in
Sustainability. The co re f ocus o f the sustainability educational pr ograms aligns w ith the so cial,
behavioural, bi ophysical, and e conomic sci ences. I n addressing concerns o f so ciety and t heenvironment, this important transdisciplinary research area offers a broad spectrum of opportunity.

Research Achievements and Challenges
RESEARCH ACHIEVEMENTSOne research niche of the Sustainability Research Centre (SRC) that related strongly to disaster risk
reduction i s societal a daptation – i.e., understanding the s ocial di mensions of r egional
environmental c hange. Prior to t he re cent hires o f P rofessors D unne a nd Sidle, t he key
accomplishments in this sustainability research arena included:••••

Resilience to climate change
Adaptive capacity and social learning
Adaptive management
Natural resource governance

The S RC focus ar eas have been applied t o a range o f su stainability i ssues such as co astalmanagement, climate change, and water management (recognised as s ignificant at local through tointernational scales). Much of the research addresses real on-the-ground concerns of society and theenvironment.
With t he ex pansion o f t his r esearch p rogram i nto t he b iophysical sci ences, n ew ar eas o f r esearchthat are emerging include:
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The role of climate change and natural disasters on early settlements in the South Pacific
Effects of climate change-driven sea level rise on poorer island nations in the Asian-Pacificregion.
Understanding how oral traditions that allude to or encode memories of extreme events (e.g.,volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, abrupt land submergence) might be used to improveadaptive strategies to future climate-driven environmental change.
Effects of contemporary and past land management practices on sediment sources anddischarge into the Great Barrier Reef and important receiving waters of Southeast Asia.
Evaluating the role of forest conversion to pasture or agriculture on shallow and deeper
landslide initiation.
Understanding the impact of mountain road networks, particularly in developing countries,
on sediment delivery (via landslides and surface erosion) to major streams and rivers.
Coastal hazards in Queensland – flooding, sediment hazards, fire, including social
consequences, avoidance measures, and adaptability.

The r esearch c onducted w ithin the S RC encompasses a r ange o f subject ar eas an d i s t rulytransdisciplinary.
RESEARCH CHALLENGES
The major r esearch ch allenges r elated t o d isaster r isk r eduction t hat t he S ustainability ResearchCentre at University of the Sunshine Coast will address in the future include the following generalareas:• Climate change and associated seal level rise: adaptation and social resilience• Coastal hazards and mitigation/prevention measures• Effects of c ontemporary a nd pa st l and management on s ediment a nd n utrient e xport f rom
inland catchments to the Great Barrier Reef
• Complex interactions amongst land use, roads, and different landslide initiation mechanisms
in the tropics• Water governance issues related to sea level rise, coastal flooding, and development

Climate change and associated seal level rise: adaptation and social resilience
Most o f A ustralia’s r esidents, a s w ell a s those of many i sland na tions of A sia, l ive w ithin t heboundaries of coastal zones. With projected increases in sea level rise that will occur regardless ofcontemporary r egulations on f ossil f uel e missions, i t i s m andatory t hat n ations a nd l ocal
governments de velop c ontingency adaptation plans t o pr otect l ivelihoods a nd r esources. A ke yaspect o f t his ad aptation i s so cial r esilience – largely f ounded on e ducation a nd unde rstanding ofpast disaster occurrences. This research focuses on how societies and governments can implement
adaptation measures through a combination of social resilience, land management and infrastructurechanges, m odifications of c ommunity pl anning a nd de velopment, a nd s tructural measures toachieve more sustainable solutions to the projected sea level rise.
Coastal hazards and mitigation/prevention measures
The co astal areas o f eas tern A ustralia ex perience a v ariety of so metimes i nterrelated h azards that
affect residents, businesses, agriculture, and infrastructure. Each year, coastal communities in partsof Queensland suffer major damages from flooding caused by landfall cyclones and rainstorms. Inturn, t hese i ntense r ainfall ev ents c ause co astal er osion, st ream ch annel ch anges, a nd er osion a ndmass w asting i n t he upl ands. R ather t han t aking t he a pproach of r epairing o r ‘ cleaning up’ a fter
each episodic event, a more holistic approach to deal with coastal hazards is needed. This research
examines possibilities for more sustainable solution to mitigate and even prevent damage caused bythese ha zards. S trategies i nclude modifying i nfrastructure, l and de velopment, a nd c ommunity
planning to reduce investment and populations in highly vulnerable areas. Additionally, certain land
management a nd c ommunity de velopment modifications c an act ually reduce t he overall h azard
vulnerability.
Effects of c ontemporary and pas t l and m anagement on s ediment and nut rient e xport f rom i nland
catchments to the Great Barrier Reef
UNESCO is currently considering putting the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) World Heritage site on its
endangered list. Much of the concern for the health of the GBR centers on the export of sediments
and nut rients f rom i nland c atchments. T o a ddress t his c oncern, a t op r esearch pr iority i nvolves
identifying e rosion ‘hot s pots’ i n contributing c atchments a nd a ssessing w hether or not thesesediments ( and asso ciated n utrients) a re b eing t ransported i nto coastal w aters. This r esearch
involves a complex assessm ent o f h istorical s edimentation, cu rrent l and u se an d r oad ef fects,sediment fingerprinting, hydrological routing, developing dynamic sediment budgets and sedimentmodeling. O nce major sediment sources a re a rticulated, r emedial actions ( e.g., c hanging l andmanagement practices, improving road specifications) can be recommended.
Complex interactions amongst land use, roads, and different landslide initiation mechanisms in thetropics
Geotechnical, ge ological, a nd ge omorphic i nvestigations into l andslide disasters often f ocus oncauses of i ndividual m ass m ovements o r o nly natural cau ses o f l andslides i n a g iven ar ea. This
research examines the complex interactions among land management practices, roads and trails, andthe mechanisms that initiate both shallow and deeper landslides in the tropics. Most of the researchon l and us e i mpacts on l andslides ha s be en c onducted i n t emperate r egions. O ne of t he ke ydifferences in t he t ropics i s t he h igh l evel o f y ear-round e vapotranspiration, w hich a ffects soil
moisture status. Such increases in soil moisture after forest conversion can promote creep which has
potential f eedbacks t o both de ep a nd s hallow l andslides. Research i s pl anned i n t he A ndes o f
Columbia and Southeast Asia.

Water governance issues related to sea level rise, water use, coastal flooding, and development
This research focuses on the regulatory controls at all levels (local to national) and how they will
effectively be i mplemented w ith d ue r egard to s ocial a nd gender e quality, w ater a llocation, a ndwater us e e fficiency in both c oastal A ustralia a nd de veloping A sian P acific na tions. T he r esearchconcentrates o n h ow se al l evel r ise an d co astal d evelopment w ill a ffect f looding, as w ell as
optimizing water u se, particularly during p eriods o f w ater s tress. We also e xplore vul nerability,resilience a nd ad aptation pa thways, e specially i n regard t o increasingly co mplex so cio-ecologicalcontexts.