Our research

Image of water treatment plant

WRC has many core areas of research and applied research activities, which are supported by academics and researchers from within the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Our activities cover virtually everything to do with water and the technology we develop is also successfully applied to non-water related areas.

Atmospheric emissions and odours

The UNSW Odour Laboratory is a research group within the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at UNSW Sydney.

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Biogeochemical processes

We give a detailed consideration of biogeochemical processes operating in natural and engineered systems with a view to improving our understanding of nature and developing improved remediation strategies.

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Hydrology

Hydroclimatology is the study of the processes and mechanisms that link the movement of water between the Earth’s surface and atmosphere, emphasising how the climate system causes temporal variations.

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Risk assessment

Environmental projects need to estimate and account for risk. Such analysis considers the risks associated with activities like the storage of water in reservoirs.

Sustainability assessment program

Our ambition as a team is to employ our tools and expertise to provide insight and offer solutions to grand sustainability challenges such as climate change mitigation, urban and infrastructure sustainability and transforming systems towards absolute sustainability. 

Trace organics

Enhanced insight into trace organics removal in sewage treatment, including advanced methods like membranes, oxidation, and biological processes, enables better chemical contaminant removal and municipal wastewater reuse.

Water green urban management

The Urban Water group is a new growing group within the Water Research Centre, under the leadership of Ana Deletic, who is renowned for her research in stormwater.

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Water and wastewater treatment

Water and wastewater treatment is a broad research area that incorporates the study of physical, chemical and biological processes used to remove and/or transform dissolved, colloidal, or particulate inert and biological matter to produce water of suitable quality for the desired end use.

Civil engineering hydraulics

The Water Research Laboratory has several decades of experience in the research, investigation and application of fundamental and applied civil engineering hydraulics.

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Coastal engineering

The Water Research Laboratory has a highly regarded international reputation in coastal and ocean engineering.

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Environmental engineering

Environmental engineering combines the resources of groups within WRL to provide an integrated assessment of environmental impacts.

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Groundwater

The Water Research Laboratory has a team of hydrogeologists and environmental engineers who are highly regarded for groundwater problem solving.

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