International Collaboration: Data Gathering for SDGs

In 2025, the University of Newcastle continued to participate in international collaborations focused on gathering, measuring, and analysing data to support progress towards the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

With Pacific governments, research institutions and communities, our researchers collect environmental data and establish baselines to guide local decision-making, contributing particularly to SDGs 3, 6, 13, 14 and 15.

Monitoring catchment and lagoon health in the Cook Islands

In 2025, the University worked with the Cook Islands National Environment Service (NES) under the Global Environment Facility-funded Project ENUA (Enhancing Nature’s Unique Areas) to measure environmental conditions in four priority catchments on Rarotonga: Avatiu, Takuvaine, Avana and Turangi. University and NES teams undertook updated field surveys, including a 2–9 July 2025 visit led by Associate Professor Troy Gaston and Dr Alex Callen, to build on earlier measurements and identify changes in catchment condition. For more on the University’s participation, see Building Partnerships and Biodiversity in the Cook Islands.

The international research partnership combines landscape and land-use analysis with field measurements of freshwater ecosystems and their connections to coastal and lagoon health. Surveys consider water quality, nutrients, sediments and biodiversity, including aquatic invertebrates, to help establish environmental baselines and inform long-term monitoring, restoration and catchment management.

Additional water-quality testing was reported in March 2025, followed by July and November audits. The November University team included Dr Troy Gaston, Dr Chris Owers and 12 postgraduate students. These repeated visits strengthen the datasets used by NES and communities for catchment management planning.

Measuring marine pollution and ecosystem recovery in Samoa

Through the University’s Pacific research collaborations, University researchers and students have worked with Samoa’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, the Scientific Research Organisation of Samoa and the National University of Samoa to collect and analyse microplastics in coastal waters and marine environments. This evidence is helping Samoan partners develop benchmarks, targets and goals for plastic-pollution reduction, supporting SDG 6 and SDG 14. The work is described in the University’s Supporting environmental sustainability in Samoa research-impact profile, updated in September 2025.

With SPREP, the National University of Samoa and the Moata’a community, University researchers support mangrove monitoring and restoration through the Moata’a Living Lab. Only five hectares of mangrove habitat remained by 2020, while community restoration has planted more than 2,500 seedlings over recent years.

A Pacific network for collaborative SDG research

The Pacific Node connects the University with SPREP, the Cook Islands NES, Samoa’s education and environment ministries, the Scientific Research Organisation of Samoa, Papua New Guinea’s Department of Health and the University of French Polynesia. See our Pacific engagement overview for the wider partnership network.

The University also participates in PRIDA, a Pacific research and data-sharing network, and contributes to water sustainability through CIFAL Newcastle and the UNITAR Global Water Academy. International climate science networks, including IPCC-related research, add expertise. These relationships provide context; the 2025 joint monitoring described above is the direct evidence of data gathering.

The University’s complementary climate-data research includes the international palaeoclimate work of Professor Silvia Frisia (recognised with the 2024 Jean Baptiste Lamarck Medal) and Dr Danielle Verdon-Kidd’s international research on climate extremes. These examples add historical context but do not substitute for the 2025 collaborative monitoring described above.

Population Health Research with the Hunter Medical Research Institute (HMRI)

Through its partnership with the Hunter Medical Research Institute (HMRI), the University of Newcastle contributes to population health research that collects and analyses evidence on health behaviours, preventive healthcare and community wellbeing. The research involves national and international collaborations and supports the development and evaluation of evidence-based health interventions, contributing to global knowledge relevant to SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-being).

Contributing to International Climate Research through the IPCC

University of Newcastle researchers contribute scientific expertise to international climate research and assessment processes, including the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Through the international assessment of climate research, these contributions support the synthesis and sharing of scientific evidence on climate change, its impacts and adaptation responses. This work strengthens the global evidence base used to monitor climate-related challenges and inform action towards SDG 13 (Climate Action).

Through joint fieldwork, environmental monitoring and research exchange, the University of Newcastle contributes data and expertise that help international partners understand and respond to sustainable-development challenges. Its continuing collaborations with Pacific governments and communities connect scientific evidence with locally led decisions on water quality, biodiversity and environmental resilience.