The following projects were delivered by two research partnerships:

Aquatic Pollution Prevention Partnership (A3P)

Aquatic Pollution Prevention Partnership

Understanding the impact of litter, including microplastics, on the social and ecological values of waterways and bays (2018-2023)

This project developed a framework for conducting litter assessments along waterways, including guidelines for surveying and monitoring litter to support litter management programs. For more details on this project visit RMIT University's litter framework webpage or see the factsheet.


Waterways Practice Partnership (MWRPP)

Melbourne Waterways Research Practice Partnership

Revisiting social values in the Healthy Waterways Strategy - from conceptual framework to evaluation (2023-2028)

This project will strengthen the conceptualisation of key social values identified in the Healthy Waterways Strategy, which are assessed through the Monitoring, Evaluation, Reporting and Improvement (MERI) Framework. It will improve understanding of the diverse ways in which social values have been modelled and validated on blue-green spaces. It will also provide early guidance on areas of development for the strategy’s social values conceptual model.

The impacts of ‘next-generation’ citizen science programs (2018-2023)

This project aims to improve Melbourne Water’s understanding of how transitioning to digital platforms for volunteer environmental monitoring influences volunteer participation and retention. We expect it to improve volunteer programs so they better cater to volunteers’ desired experiences and aspirations for use of their data. For more information see the factsheet.

Community engagement with Melbourne’s blue-green spaces before, during and after the COVID-19 pandemic (2018-2023)

This project seeks to understand how COVID-19 restrictions changed community awareness of, and engagement with, Melbourne’s waterways and other blue-green spaces. We expect it to inform decisions on future investments in the social values of our blue spaces, so that they contribute to Melburnians’ physical and mental health and wellbeing. For more information see the factsheet.