Environment, Planning and Sustainability

The Environment and Planning Group is comprised of twelve academics who are involved in both teaching and research. Within the team are four general staff provide the administrative and logistical support. Through these activities the staff promote, to all sections of the community, an understanding of planning in its general sense. Specifically the EP Group focuses on areas including planning for urban, rural and regional areas, natural resource management and environmental and social planning.

There are five undergraduate and two postgraduate teaching programs. Both undergraduate and postgraduate programs aim to:

• Provide opportunities for students to develop an inter-disciplinary approach to environmental and planning issues. At postgraduate level there is the specific opportunity of making connections to international understanding through the International Environment and Urban Management program, and
• Prepare students for professional employment. A bonus is that graduates of these programs are eligible for membership of either the Planning Institute of Australia or the Environment Institute of Australia and New Zealand.

One key feature of the Environment and Planning programs is that teaching staff are all involved in a wide range of local and international community, consultant and research activities, including projects for government and non-government organisations. These connections and links to the industry directly feed into the courses the staff teach and into their involvement with community activities.

Interaction of students in academic courses with the wider local community is strongly encouraged and built into the structure of courses. Teaching and research experiences also provide a background for short-courses and training packages that are presented to professionals.

In addition, students undertaking research Masters and PhD programs are supervised by the academic staff. Frequently the topics of these students relate to research grants and projects that have been developed by EP staff.

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