Research Priorities

GBRMPA Research Information System

Download the full summary of the Research Needs for the Protection and Management of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park" Published July 2005[ Adobe Acrobat format 4075.86KBb] Download the Process used to Determine Research Priorities for the Protection and Management of the Great Barrier Reef 2005 document. Published July 2005 [Adobe Acrobat format 186.7KBb] Download more detailed fisheries related questions, developed by the GBRMPAs Fisheries Issues Group (FIG) and the Fisheries Reef Advisory Group (FRAC) FIG Research Priorities List 2005/06. Last updated September 2005 [Adobe Acrobat format 182.0KBb] Project researchers may download this form to add a new project or change the details of an existing project. [Adobe Acrobat format 72.1KBb]

The Research Information System provides information on the research needs for management of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park (GBRMP) and research projects that address those needs.

The aims of the system are:

• To organise the research areas and specific questions identified as important to the management of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park (Research Information Needs)
• To relate existing research activity to those needs (Research Projects Activity)
• To streamline collaboration and communication between the research community and Marine Park managers
• To help the research community and general public to explore current and past research that is relevant to the management of the GBRMP
• To identify research gaps
• To allow strategic review of research investment and funding

Research Information Needs

The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) is committed to ensuring that the management of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park and World Heritage Area is based on the best available scientific and other information.

The research information needed to support management of the Great Barrier Reef has been organised into 22 Research Themes, and summarised in the form of 274 specific Research Questions. Research questions have been rated for 'Importance' and 'Timeframe' of the information need, and scored against the National Research Priorities, the GBRMPA's Key Performance Indicators, and key legislative or policy requirements. Of the 274 Research Questions, 21 are considered critical in importance; of these, most were assessed as relatively urgent, with information, or at least baseline information, needed within one to three years (view the list of GBRMPA's critical research questions). The process through which the research needs were developed is outlined in the Process document.

Research Projects Activity

Current and completed Research Projects are linked to the relevant Research Question/s.

The information contained in the Research Information System, can be:

• Browsed, starting with the broad themes (Click on the Browse Themes arrow) and progressing through questions and the relevant projects , OR
• Searched at the level of questions or projects using a variety of criteria, (Click on the Search Questions or Search Projects arrows) where the search results can be customised to suit your requirements.

It is important to emphasise that research to address natural resource management must be a collaboration between researchers and managers. That is, to adequately address any particular aspect of these information requirements, researchers need to choose the topic or research question appropriately, and need to involve reef managers in the design, implementation, interpretation and reporting of the research.