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Research Areas

Air Quality and Impact Assessment

Indoor and outdoor air quality management issues on a regional, national and international basis. Specific projects include the sources and impacts of biogenic volatile organic compounds; separation of NPAH isomers in air particulate matter; indoor pollution; indoor bioaerosols and their relationship to asthma are also being investigated.

Applied Biotechnology

Research within the biotechnology group focuses on techniques for rapid detection and identification of viruses, investigating the control of viral gene expression and regulation of eukaryotic gene expression in response to viral infection or cell activation states. Molecular techniques are also applied to important environmental issues, such as mixed microbial populations in bioremediation and anaerobic digestion, and the use of gene expression profiling to monitor plant responses to environmental pollution.

Conservation and Biodiversity in Production Landscapes

Focussing on sustainable land use and conservation of biodiversity within production landscapes (such as agricultural and silvicultural landscapes). Specific research projects in this area include:

  • Biodiversity of production forests;
  • Value of remnant forest patches within modified landscapes; and
  • Long term effects of forest utilisation (harvesting) on biodiversity.

Engineering Automation and Robotics

The current school’s research activities in Industrial technology are focusing on improving the efficiency and profitability of rural industries through intelligent automation and robotisation. Examples of the current research activities include:

  • Automation of Fish Sorting;
  • Automation of Butchery and meat processing;
  • Automation of Dairy Farming;
  • Computer Integration of the steering system and the drive system; and for vehicles working on difficult terrain.

The school also conducted many automation projects in liaison with a few SME’s.

The robotics research area within the school has on-going research activities with postgraduate enrolment at both PhD and Master degree by research. Examples of specific research projects are:

  • Intelligent Grasping.
  • Mobile Robot Navigation.

The school is housing the “Gippsland Regional Automation Centre” (GRACe). This research centre is an initiative which is supported by Department of Innovation, Industry and Regional Development (DIIRD) in collaboration with the Gippsland industrial community and Monash University.

For further details, please contact A/Prof Yousef Ibrahim.

Science and Mathematics Education

Water Science and Engineering

Focussing on the modelling and assessment of water quality and the impact of water pollutants on aquatic ecosystems; the modelling and management of water resources; the impact of climate change in water resources and the risk management of urban flood disaster. Specific projects in this area include enhancement of water quality with improved grazing systems; environmental quality study in the Gippsland Lakes; impact of coal production and power stations on water quality in the Gippsland region; water and soil interaction in unfenced, fenced, replanted and remnant vegetation dairy sites in Gippsland, stormwater management; utilization or product water from mechanical thermal expression from coal; the development of novel biosensors for monitoring water quality; the development of a distributed model for basin-wide non-point source water quality modelling; and the development of a real-time flood forecasting and decision-making system for the Chao Phraya Basin, Thailand. Wastewater endotoxin is a developing new area at the Peninsula campus.