Water Governance Research Initiative
Summary Paper No. 1
The Water Governance Research Initiative
Objectives and Activities
Outcomes
This paper highlights the objectives and activities of
the National Water Governance Research Initiative.
The Initiative was a theme of the NCCARF Water
Resources and Freshwater Biodiversity Adaptation
Research Network (www.nccarf.edu.au/water/node/5)
and ran from December 2009 to December 2011.
Agendas for water governance research and practice
were the main outcomes of the Initiative, detailed in
Summary Paper 2. These were collaboratively
developed through participatory workshops and are a
coherent set of policy and research imperatives
emerging from the community of conversation.
The overarching intentions were to: (a) create a
community of conversation about water governance in
Australia, (b) build collaborative research links, (c)
create opportunities for co-researching and
information sharing, and (d) provide opportunities for
early-career researchers (ECRs) to participate in a
national network of researchers and research-users.
A special journal issue of Water Resources
Management, edited by the Initiative's coordinators,
featured contributions from members of the network.
This compilation appraises the systemic and adaptive
effectiveness of water governance institutions. A
second special issue of The Journal of Water Law
featured several ECR articles.
Four participatory workshops brought water
governance researchers and policy practitioners
together to create a research network. The first
workshop, in November 2010, explored the needs and
priorities of water governance research in Australia
and created a research agenda aligned with research
capability. Two workshops in April 2011 were
designed to support early-career researchers and
begin linking theory to practice. A range of disciplinary
perspectives grounded in participants' research were
presented, providing interactive capacity-building
experiences. The final workshop, in November 2011,
invited involvement from a wider audience (including
policy, NGO and private sector practitioners),
showcasing different theoretical approaches to water
governance from a range of topics, to inform new
governance and research practices.
The WGRI network members were also able to shape
the development of the initiative through participation
in two online surveys. The surveys were designed to
build a profile of the network members based on
professional backgrounds and research interests,
explore levels of engagement in collaborative water
governance research and distil the critical issues
facing water governance research and practice in
Australia.
Over the two years, the project team communicated
and documented the project process through a series
of briefing papers, which were made available to all
participants and the public. These papers build a case
for a more dedicated research program on water
governance in Australia.
A highlight was the opportunity to support a group of
early-career researchers in co-authoring a journal
paper about their pathways to water governance
research. The support for ECRs met our objectives,
and from these a self-organising community of
practice has emerged, with ongoing activities reported
at http://freshwatergovernance.wordpress.com.
Members of the Network have reported new research
collaborations being formed directly as a result of
participating in the Initiative, including the
aforementioned ECR Network and other research
projects and publications.
Adopting an action research approach, the project
team and Network members engaged in a series of
workshops, conversations, online surveys and journal
writing sessions to create a reflective community of
conversations potentially leading to practice in water
governance research. The level of participation and
quality of engagement indicates that there remains a
vital interest amongst water researchers and research
users in experiencing, networking and developing
cross-disciplinary research opportunities to address
emergent water governance concerns.
Further Information
Philip Wallis*, Ray Ison,
Monash Sustainability Institute, Monash University
Phil.Wallis@monash.edu
Lee Godden
Melbourne Law School, The University of Melbourne
© Water Governance Research Initiative, 2012
Water Governance Research Initiative
Summary Paper No. 1
Contents
This pack contains the documented outputs of the Water Governance Research Initiative, including a series of
briefing papers produced as inputs to or outputs from Initiative workshops. The headline messages are synthesised
in two summary papers and a full list of Initiative-related publications are included.
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Summary Paper No. 1:
Summary Paper No. 2:
Briefing Paper No. 1:
Briefing Paper No. 2:
Briefing Paper No. 3:
Briefing Paper No. 4:
Briefing Paper No. 5:
Publications:
The Water Governance Research Initiative
Policy imperatives for water governance in Australia
Strengthening water governance in Australia
Water governance research priorities
Perspectives on water governance research
Water governance research for transformation
Water Governance Research Initiative: 2010-2012
List of initiative publications
Acknowledgements
The success of the Initiative has been made possible by the enthusiastic participation of its members, who have
contributed in a myriad of ways: attending workshops, presenting seminars, authoring papers, providing advice and
guidance, and sharing their ideas on water governance.
In particular, we would like to acknowledge the support of our reference group: Annie Bolitho, Alex Gardner, Brian
Head, Sue Jackson, Jennifer McKay, Carla Mooney, Jamie Pittock and Adrian Walsh. Reference group members
were invited to offer a perspective on water governance from each of Australia's states and territories, and were
also active participants in the Initiative.
We would also like to thank Samantha Capon, Brendan Edgar and Stuart Bunn, the coordinators and convener of
the NCCARF Water Resources and Freshwater Biodiversity Adaptation Research Network, without whose support
this would not have been possible. We also thank Nicole Reichelt who helped to finalise these Initiative outputs.
About us
The Water Governance Research Initiative was created as the governance theme of the NCCARF Water
Resources and Freshwater Biodiversity Adaptation Research Network. The Initiative was coordinated by:
Lee Godden
Professor, Law
Melbourne Law School
The University of Melbourne
l.godden@unimelb.edu.au
Ray Ison
Professor, Systems for Sustainability
Monash Sustainability Institute
Monash University, Clayton
Ray.Ison@monash.edu
Philip Wallis
Research Fellow
Monash Sustainability Institute
Monash University, Clayton
Phil.Wallis@monash.edu
Naomi Rubenstein
Research Assistant
Monash Sustainability Institute
Monash University, Clayton
Naomi.Rubenstein@monash.edu