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Up
to My Neck in Water Research
Claire Harris
The
12th of April was a productive day of work on a computer software
program and help system to communicate our research to our
stakeholders.
We are at the end of a project to develop information software
that can help government officers choose and learn about some
of the science techniques for assessing water quality in coastal
waters: rivers, estuaries, bays, and oceans.
The high point of the 12th April was getting to the end of
the day knowing that I and my assistant had worked as hard
as we could for that day and had come up with some neat ideas.
My work over the last 2 years has involved talking to expert
scientists and gathering examples of different research projects
to provide a broad overview to people who are not scientific
experts. All the information we have gathered has been organised
into a decision support system (computer software) which people
can use to look at different options for their monitoring
or simulation modelling of waterways.
This job is my 4th major job since I left university in 2001
after completing a Bachelor of Environmental Science degree
(4 years). In my first job, I worked for state government
in fisheries research looking at the nursery potential of
cane farm drains in Queensland.
I then worked for an environmental protection agency and then
worked in environmental history research at The University
of Queensland. My job now is with the Cooperative Research
Centre for Coastal Zone, Estuary and Waterway Management -
a research group funded by the Australian Government.
My job is only until mid-2006 and after this I am going to
Europe to holiday and possibly pursue some work in the science
communication field as I have been studying a Masters of Science
Communication part-time for the last year.
As a child and throughout primary and high school, I loved
the outdoors. I was always going on bush camps, going canoeing,
and visiting National Parks. I valued the natural world and
wanted to know how it worked-like how flowers became pollinated
and how trees grew.
I really enjoyed learning about biology and why things are
the way they are. I thought it was all amazing. I guess in
some ways I also wanted to change the way people thought about
the environment and I wanted them to value it like I did.
I thought there was no excuse for pollution or wasting water,
it just did not make sense to me after learning about how
important the environment is for the survival of humans (and
all other life).
I don't know if my current job helps me along this line, but
I believe that having a degree in science and varied job experiences
provide a stepping stone to better things.
3M project, Coastal CRC
http://www.coastal.crc.org.au/3M
Want to know more about Research for Coastal Management? ->
Coastal CRC symposium 26 May: coastal.crc.org.au/symposium2006/index.html
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