Vaughn is a PhD candidate at the University of Melbourne, for the project “Interrogating and optimising the waterways long-term water quality monitoring network” with industry partner Melbourne Water, supervised by Prof. Kate Smith-Miles, Prof. Tim Fletcher and Dr Belinda Hatt.

Maintaining adequate water quality is an important component in supporting the ecological life that relies on rivers and streams and the social engagement with our waterways enjoyed by our communities. However, waterway water quality is under threat from many human influences ranging from urbanisation to agriculture to climate change. In such circumstances, understanding waterway water quality is important to inform intervention actions that may assist in maintaining water quality and thus supporting important ecological and social values. This project aims to investigate and develop methodologies to collect and interpret the data obtained from long-term water quality monitoring of waterways, and apply this to a case study in the Melbourne region.

Vaughn is closely linked with Melbourne Water, being on leave from his position at Melbourne Water as the Senior Aquatic Scientist – Waterways Water Quality, during this project.