UniSA's Fulbright scholar
by Geraldine Hinter
Comparing
water governance issues in Australia with those in the United States
will be the focus of research for recently selected 2006 US Fulbright
Postgraduate Scholar, Sara Hughes.
A graduate from Michigan State University, Hughes met the
very extensive selection process to win a place at UniSA's Centre for
Comparative Water Policies and Laws working with Centre director, Professor
Jennifer McKay, for one year from March 2007. Only five or six people in the
US are offered a Fulbright Scholarship each year and Hughes is UniSA's
second Fulbright Scholar.
Now undertaking a PhD with the University of California in the Santa Barbara
Water Policy Program, Hughes will be working with Prof McKay in the
Cooperative Research Centre for Irrigation Futures on a system harmonisation
program in the south east of South Australia, looking at groundwater
management and institutional arrangements.
"Water logging and overdrawing of water are some of the major issues for
groundwater management in the south east," Prof McKay said. "The National
Water Commission is funding research to examine the groundwater, looking at
renovating and improving the way in which it is managed."
This involves the harmonisation of the legal rules and institutions.
Prof McKay will apply the legal coherence assessment method developed from
many projects and Hughes will work with the SE community, looking at the
operational and other aspects for harmonising all of the various
institutions involved, and making sure that the operational procedures meet
the legal requirements for sustainable outcomes.
"This research will provide a basis for comparison with areas in the US that
have similar problems. It will contribute to social sustainability and legal
institutional research, and include corporate governance issues in natural
resources management, particularly water," Prof McKay said.
The Australian-American Fulbright Commission offers one of the largest and
most prestigious educational exchange programs in the world. A non-profit
organisation in Australia, the Commission was originally formed by a treaty
between Australia and the US in 1949 with US Government funding. In 1963 the
Australian and US governments established the Australian-American Education
Foundation, funded equally by the two parties, which changed to the
Australian-American Fulbright Commission in 2000.