A screening human health risk assessment for developing coal seam gas water resources in Queensland, Australia. Due to its rich coal seam deposits, Queensland is projected to become Australia's leading coal seam gas (CSG) producer, contributing significantly to the State's economy and national "clean" energy targets. Over a 30 year period, it is estimated that Queensland's CSG industry could also create by-product water of sufficient volume to beneficially augment the State's future water supply ....A screening human health risk assessment for developing coal seam gas water resources in Queensland, Australia. Due to its rich coal seam deposits, Queensland is projected to become Australia's leading coal seam gas (CSG) producer, contributing significantly to the State's economy and national "clean" energy targets. Over a 30 year period, it is estimated that Queensland's CSG industry could also create by-product water of sufficient volume to beneficially augment the State's future water supply demands. The proposed screening Health Risk Assessment will evaluate the relative risks associated with human exposure to raw and treated CSG by-product water contaminants, informing public debate on this matter, and guide policy development within the complex multi-sector regulatory framework in place for CSG water resource development in Queensland.Read moreRead less
From science to policy: quantifying and managing the risk of mosquito borne disease in the context of climate change. It is important to assess and manage the health risks of climate change. This research will create fundamental knowledge and practical skills on the interdisciplinary assessment and management of health risks of climate change, and explore policy ramifications of research outcomes in this study.
Assessing the social and environmental determinants of seasonal influenza outbreaks. This project aims to examine the potential social and environmental predictors of seasonal influenza outbreaks across temperate and tropical climates. It will develop a spatiotemporal model to identify where, when and who is most susceptible to changes of risk in influenza epidemic-prone regions of Queensland, Australia and Gansu province and Shanghai City, China. A spatiotemporal predictive model for influenza ....Assessing the social and environmental determinants of seasonal influenza outbreaks. This project aims to examine the potential social and environmental predictors of seasonal influenza outbreaks across temperate and tropical climates. It will develop a spatiotemporal model to identify where, when and who is most susceptible to changes of risk in influenza epidemic-prone regions of Queensland, Australia and Gansu province and Shanghai City, China. A spatiotemporal predictive model for influenza will be useful for the early identification of impending epidemics, which will lead to a more rapid and efficiently targeted response than is possible with the current system, thereby reducing the magnitude and health and economic impact of epidemics.Read moreRead less
Uncovering Antarctica’s Secret Chemical Voyagers for Expedited Regulation. This project aims to strengthen global chemical policy by rapidly identifying chemicals that demonstrate environmental persistence and mobility, two requisite risk criteria for regulatory action. It will take the novel approach of applying powerful non-target chemical screening approaches to Antarctic environmental media, leveraging the remoteness of Antarctica to derive unambiguous evidence against the key risk criteria. ....Uncovering Antarctica’s Secret Chemical Voyagers for Expedited Regulation. This project aims to strengthen global chemical policy by rapidly identifying chemicals that demonstrate environmental persistence and mobility, two requisite risk criteria for regulatory action. It will take the novel approach of applying powerful non-target chemical screening approaches to Antarctic environmental media, leveraging the remoteness of Antarctica to derive unambiguous evidence against the key risk criteria. Research will uncover a new catalogue of proven persistent and mobile chemicals, and further assess their ubiquity and biomagnification potential in the Antarctic system. Project findings will be directly disseminated to policymakers, facilitating expedited regulatory decision-making for improved Planetary Health outcomes.Read moreRead less
Realistic assessment of biomarker transformation in the wastewater system. Wastewater-based epidemiology is an internationally recognised cost-effective tool to monitor population exposure to chemicals and infectious diseases including Covid-19. However, in-sewer degradation of critical biomarkers can limit their wastewater-based epidemiology suitability. This project aims to systematically evaluate the stability of a new suite of potential biomarkers and conduct the first Australia-wide assessm ....Realistic assessment of biomarker transformation in the wastewater system. Wastewater-based epidemiology is an internationally recognised cost-effective tool to monitor population exposure to chemicals and infectious diseases including Covid-19. However, in-sewer degradation of critical biomarkers can limit their wastewater-based epidemiology suitability. This project aims to systematically evaluate the stability of a new suite of potential biomarkers and conduct the first Australia-wide assessment on the impact of biomarker stability on wastewater-based epidemiology estimates using wastewater samples from ~65% of the Australian population. The project expects to generate knowledge to expand the application of wastewater-based epidemiology to reliably quantify exposure and status of well-being even in remote areasRead moreRead less
Exposure mapping - combining wastewater analysis with human biomonitoring. This project aims to develop a spatial and temporal understanding of chemical exposure in the Australian population. The project will use wastewater samples collected from over 100 catchments (65% of Australian population) during the 2016 Census to spatially resolve human exposure to chemicals. These data will then form the basis for focused human biomonitoring using pooled surplus pathology samples. The integration of ....Exposure mapping - combining wastewater analysis with human biomonitoring. This project aims to develop a spatial and temporal understanding of chemical exposure in the Australian population. The project will use wastewater samples collected from over 100 catchments (65% of Australian population) during the 2016 Census to spatially resolve human exposure to chemicals. These data will then form the basis for focused human biomonitoring using pooled surplus pathology samples. The integration of wastewater and biomonitoring data will allow the creation of a national hazard specific exposure map that can be compared with geospatial data on disease risk and socioeconomic indicators (via ABS information). The benefits include the capability to identify and manage exposure risks to public health.Read moreRead less