Staff profile

Scott Wilkinson researches the sources, transport processes and management of river basin sediment and nutrient loads. His research approaches include spatial process modelling of sediment budgets at river basin and decadal scales, identifying and quantifying primary sediment sources using fingerprinting and field monitoring, and targeting and designing erosion rehabilitation activities.

Recent research topics:
* Modelling the sediment and nutrient exports to freshwater and coastal environments, including the Great Barrier Reef Lagoon, Westernport Bay and water supply reservoirs
* Defining the sediment yield of gully erosion in tropical rangelands draining to the Great Barrier Reef
* Evaluating and prioritising gully rehabilitation techniques
* Assessing outcomes of grazing land management practices for soil properties and erosion.

Dr Wilkinson currently leads a project to guide the cost-effective design of gully and stream bank erosion control techniques, and to evaluate resultant reductions in sediment delivery to the Great Barrier Reef lagoon. He designed the catchment sediment budget framework used to report the effectiveness of public investment in reducing pollutant loads to the Great Barrier Reef lagoon. He contributed to the Great Barrier Reef Water Quality Scientific Consensus Statements in 2008, 2013 and 2017 and chaired the 8th International Symposium on Gully Erosion in 2019. Research collaborators include several universities and government agencies.