The Hub is committed to a body of activity that includes short and long term research projects, to help create more sustainable communities and to reduce the impact of waste.
The Hub works with key stakeholders through a codesign process to identify and refine research priorities and develop projects that align with end user priorities that focus on the public good.
This research prioritisation is a rolling process involving continual dialogue with research users including Indigenous communities, to inform the process.
Research projects are approved annually (see the below 'Annual research plans' section to read about approved projects).
Outcomes and outputs
The Hub is enabling a systemic, transformative response to Australia’s sustainability, waste and pollution challenges through the integration of key research fields, including ecology, engineering, environmental monitoring, public health, data science, technology, behavioural change, environmental economics, business innovation, design, and regional and urban planning.
The research of the Hub is being undertaken across many parts of Australia’s urban, regional and remote communities and environment. Working closely with all levels of government, private industry, NGOs and communities - including Indigenous - to co-design and co-implement research projects and co-create knowledge products, will provide positive outcomes towards solving the complex waste and sustainability problems that negatively impact society and the environment.
Governance, community participation and Indigenous knowledge underpin our co-design approach. We aim to produce actionable knowledge, methods, tools and data for transitions towards circular economies and more sustainable communities.
While our annual reports (see below link) will detail annual outcomes, outputs produced by each IP area will be progressively published under their respective webpages as they are completed.
Thematic areas
Hub projects undertaken by the five Impact Priority (IP) areas align to one or more of the following three Hub Thematic Areas:
- Sustainable Communities explores ways to enhance and inform sustainable social outcomes, policy and cultural challenges, and the health, wellbeing and liveability of Place, including what is needed to protect, preserve and increase prosperity.
- Waste Resources explores the ways that a range of materials, such as microplastics, tyres and e-waste can be recovered and revalued through innovative technological solutions, and a better understanding of waste flows through society.
- Remote & Regional Solutions explores how place-based, fit-for-purpose solutions can be developed as a response to local needs across Australia, in remote and regional communities as well as urban. It focuses on building economies of purpose rather than purely economies of scale.
Impact Priority research areas
The Hub has 5 Impact Priority (IP) area research teams that collectively are delivering outcomes against the 3 thematic areas and are responsible for leading specific research projects, identified and
developed through a co-design process of research end users.
The following five tiles go to webpages containing more detailed information for each of the five IP research areas, while further below are links to our annual research plans and annual progress reports.
