ANSTO's research capabilities, led by the OPAL nuclear research reactor and associated instruments provide access to users investigating areas as diverse as materials, life sciences, climate change and mining/engineering.
Focused Environmental Research
ANSTO’s Institute for Environmental Research (IER) uses highly sensitive state-of-the-art isotope instruments to study how environmental systems function and interact.
What we do
Humanity's ability to understand, mitigate and adapt to climate change requires robust measurements and objective analysis. At ANSTO, nuclear and isotopic techniques are used to study how environmental systems function and interact, and to understand the role of natural variability and human impacts on water, air and Earth systems.
ANSTO has some of the best instruments in the world to do this kind of work. These instruments are capable of showing us what the Earth was like millions of years ago, helping us to model and predict future climate change.
Listen to a podcast interview with Professor John Dodson (Head of IER) describing some of the environmental research carried out at ANSTO.
Overview
IER’s research is focused on four key projects with dedicated teams and research objectives. Each project has a series of sub tasks and studies, which can be found through the following links:
The IER also offers its facilities, including its leading-edge accelerators, to external partners and customers and collaborates with most Australian universities through AINSE. It runs several joint programs with Australian and overseas organisations, post-doctorates and joint post-doctorates as well as post-graduate student training.