dr sharon davis

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2011 Fulbright Professional Scholar

““The Murray-Darling Basin is an important and iconic river basin, at both the national and international scale. It covers around 1 million square kilometers and produces approximately 40 per cent of Australia’s agricultural production. The Basin system also contains more than 30,000 wetlands and many ecological systems of international significance including 16 Ramsar Convention listed sites.”

Dr Sharon Davis, General Manager with the Murray-Darling Basin Authority will have the opportunity to contribute to the Harvard Water Initiative at Harvard University through a Fulbright Professional Scholarship.

Sharon’s research will share the Australian experience of setting sustainable water resource diversion limits, identify potential opportunities for future development, and evaluate the applicability of the approach used in the Murray-Darling Basin to other countries.

“Australia is a recognised international leader in water resource management and has a significant history in water reform,” Sharon said.

“Over the last 20 years Australia has made major steps forward in water resource management, most recently through the Commonwealth Water Act 2007, which requires sustainable water diversion limits to be set across the Murray-Darling Basin.”

“The project is designed to contribute to advances in water resource management in Australia and internationally.”

Sharon has a BA (Hons) (Physical Geography) Monash University and a PhD (Civ. Eng.) (Hydrology), Monash University. She received the Murray-Darling Basin Commission Leadership Award; is currently the leader of the Environmental Planning Team within the Murray-Darling Basin Authority, and was a Member of the Murray-Darling Basin Reform Taskforce. She represented the Murray-Darling Basin Commission on the Mekong River Commission/Murray-Darling Basin Commission Strategic Liaison Partnership Mission in 2007.

In her spare time she enjoys skiing, bushwalking and trekking, adventure racing, triathlons, good coffee and travel.

The prestigious Fulbright program is the largest educational scholarship of its kind, created by U.S. Senator J. William Fulbright and the U.S. Government in 1946. Aimed at promoting mutual understanding through educational exchange, it operates between the U.S. and 155 countries. In Australia, the scholarships are funded by the Australian and U.S. Governments and corporate partners and administered by the Australian-American Fulbright Commission in Canberra.

Sharon is one of 26 talented Australians to be recognised as a Fulbright Scholar in 2011. Applications for Fulbright Scholarships in 2012 open on 1 June, visit www.fulbright.com.au

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