A leading Charles Sturt University (CSU) academic will lead a team of researchers contributing to the recently announced five-year, $30 million Australian Centre for Groundwater Research and Training. Professor Allan Curtis, a social researcher with the CSU Institute for Land, Water and Society is well known for his work in natural resource management and rural communities in South Eastern Australia. Professor Curtis says the project aims to improve Australia’s capacity to better manage ground water resources which are threatened by over-extraction and pollution. “While the Centre will examine issues around the sustainable harvesting of groundwater resources, including the interactions between surface and groundwater, there is an important contribution for social research in terms of engaging groundwater users in developing practices that make more effective use of groundwater; and developing innovative arrangements that lead to more sustainable use of groundwater,” he said. The new centre is a partnership of 20 organisations including the Australian Research Council and the National Water Commission, CSIRO and 12 universities. Professor Curtis, along with other CSU researchers including Dr Digby Race and Dr Maureen Rogers, will work to identify projects to be funded over the next six months.