UNSW Researchers

Rob Brander

Professor
School of BEES

Dr Amy Peden

Research Fellow
School of Population Health

Dr Mitch Harley

Senior Lecturer
UNSW Water Research Lab

Dr Jaz Lawes

Adjunct Senior Lecturer
School of BEES

Dr Dennis Alonzo

Lecturer
School of Education

Jess Power

Researcher
School of Population Health

Dr Michael Tran

Researcher
School of Population Health

Nick Mulcahy

PhD Candidate
School of BEES

Alexis Beuzeville Gibbes

Honours Student 2024
School of BEES

Samuel Cornell

PhD Student
School of Population Health

Alumni

William Koon

PhD, School of BEES

Lea Uebelhoer

BSc Honours - 2022

Mark Woods

BSc Honours - 2021

Alva Lane

BSc Honours - 2021

Anna Attard

MSc -2022

Shane Daw

Surf Life Saving Australia

Dr. Jeoffrey Dehez

French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment, Nouvelle Aquitaine Bordeaux, France

Dr. Brian Cook

Associate Professor Geography, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Melbourne

Dr. Masaki Shibata

University of Adelaide

Dr. Catarina Querigoa

EPIUnit,
Institute of Public Health, University of Porto, Portugal

Dr. Peter Kamstra

Research Fellow (Cedrr) Geography, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Melbourne

Tony Blunden

Coastal Safety Group/ Lake Macquarie City Council

Dr. Greg Dusek

Senior Scientist, NOAA National Ocean Service, USA

Dr. Bruno Castelle

CNRS Senior Scientist
University of Bordeaux, France

Toshinori Ishikawa

Professor, Chuo University Research & Development Initiative of Japan.

Research Collaborators

Partner Organisations

Surf Life Saving Australia (SLSA) is a not-for-profit community organisation that represents Australia’s peak coastal water safety, drowning prevention and rescue authority with 314 Surf Life Saving Clubs and more than 173,000 members. SLSA and UNSW Sydney established an ongoing research partnership in 2018.

Smart Beaches is an Australian-based association that aims to facilitate collaborative, effective and consistent evidence-based approaches to beach safety risk management across all land management agencies.

Surfing NSW supports surfers, boardrider clubs and surf schools through the delivery of world-class events, high-performance pathways and community programs.

NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) manage over 7.6 million hectares of land across NSW, including more than 895 national parks and reserves, four World Heritage-listed sites, a number of Australian National Heritage sites and Flora Reserves, and 17 Ramsar wetlands.

The Science of the Surf is an Australian-based educational program for the general public that is designed to reduce the number of drownings and injuries on beaches. It is run by Professor Rob Brander of the UNSW BSRG.

Randwick City Council is based along the coast in Sydney. The Council area includes ten beautiful beaches and bays, including Coogee, Malabar and Maroubra beaches.

The Australian Professional Ocean Lifeguard Association Inc (APOLA Inc) is a non-profit professional organisation that is the peak association for Australian professional beach inspector ocean lifeguards.

Rip Current Safety is an educational website on the rip current hazard developed by the production team of the award winning Australian National Geographic documentary ‘Rip Current Heroes’ and the upcoming US documentary ‘Rip Current Rescue’.

Waverley Council has three beaches and cliff zones along Sydney’s coast. The Council area encompasses a 2.5-kilometre stretch of coastline from Bondi Beach in the north to Bronte Beach in the south.

Lake Macquarie City Council is located in NSW, north of Sydney. The Council has 32km of coastline with four patrolled beaches and Lake Macquarie, one of Australia’s largest saltwater lakes.

The International Drowning Research Alliance (IDRA) is established as an international scientific network devoted to all aspects of the use of quantitative and qualitative methods in drowning research to promote safety in and around water environments.

Surfing Medicine International is a certified medical association sharing knowledge and experiences to inform and educate coastal communities.