Institute of Environmental Studies: Research

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	UNSW
	Institute of Environmental Studies
	Research
		UNSW Academics with Environmental and Sustainability Interests Database
		Environmental Network

IES Entrance

Research

PhD Supervision At IES

IES has PhD and Research Masters students who do multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research on problems of sustainable development in both developed and less developed countries. Our concept of sustainable development has environmental, social justice and economic aspects. In general, IES encourages joint supervision of research students by an IES academic and an academic from one of the university's Schools, which are disciplinary based. This combination of interdisciplinary and disciplinary expertise enhances and strengthens the capacity of the research to solve major real world problems.

To enquire about enrolling in a research degree through IES, first identify a possible IES supervisor from the research interests of our academic staff as set out below. Send him or her an email attaching a copy of your CV and a short statement of goals and your topic or topics of research interest. Include in your CV any prior research experience (e.g. Honours or Research Masters degree; scholarly or other publications; other relevant experience in business, government or NGOs). You do not have to have a detailed research proposal at this stage.

Please note that IES does not have any funding of its own for research students. Competition for international scholarships is intense. For further information on funding, please visit the university's scholarship page http://www.scholarships.unsw.edu.au/home.html.

Research topics

Potential research students who already have a research topic in mind can check the interests of IES academic staff for a potential match. If there is no match, they can check the database of UNSW staff who have environmental and sustainability interests.

For potential research students who do not as yet have a specific thesis topic in mind, here are some ideas based on the current research interests of our academic staff:

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Dr Mark Diesendorf
Email: m.diesendorf@unsw.edu.au;
Phone: 02-9385 5707

Broad interests:

Sustainable energy and sustainable urban transportation: technology assessment, policies and strategies for implementation.
Theory of sustainability and the sustainable development process.

Some specific research problems:

Greenhouse gas emissions from the nuclear fuel chain: While there are no emissions from the operation of a nuclear power station, there are from other stages of the chain, such as mining, milling, enrichment of uranium. When low-grade uranium ore is used, these emissions become significant. Methods are life-cycle assessment based on material content and input-output analysis. A student who is comfortable working with lots of numerical data is preferred.
Integration of wind power into electricity grids. How does one plan and operate an electricity generating system containing a variable source of power such as wind power? A student with experience in applied and/or computational mathematics or electrical engineering is preferred.
Bioenergy resource and technology assessment for Australia. A student with some knowledge of agriculture or chemical engineering is preferred.
Greenhouse response scenarios for a country (preferably, either Australia or China or India). Investigate resource potential, technology assessment and policy options for implementation.

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Dr Daniel Robinson
Email: d.robinson@unsw.edu.au;
Phone: 02-9385 9809

Broad interests:

Trade, environment and sustainable development
Indigenous and local/traditional ecological knowledge
Natural resource regulation in Southeast Asia
Urban sustainability

Some specific research problems:

Environmental and social inequities raised by bilateral and regional “free trade agreements” (e.g. cheap access to medicines; local protection of biological resources)
Issues associated with bioprospecting, biopiracy and the intellectual property of indigenous groups, local farmers and communities, particularly in developing countries
Questions surrounding the participative capacity of state and non-state regulation of natural resources
How can we develop appropriate systems for the measurement and assessment of environmental (and social) impact of urban developments? Are streamlined semi-quantitative indexes/checklists thorough enough? What problems do they inevitably encounter?