Uni Home / Koori Centre / Staff / Academic staff / A/Prof Diana Day

Associate Professor Diana Day

Associate Professor Diana Day joined the University of Sydney in 2004 as a researcher and research mentor to indigenous postgraduate students and staff. She currently conducts research programs in Australian indigenous higher education and environmental water futures and culture and is preparing a new undergraduate teaching course on indigenous water cultures and 21st century environmental challenges.

Dr Day completed her BA Hons 1 in Geography and Dip Ed. at the University of Newcastle, NSW and her doctorate in catchment hydrology and geomorphology at the University of New England, NSW. Here she also undertook postdoctoral research into runoff generation and drainage networks dynamics and, the dating of erosion and sedimentation using Caesium- 137. Later, at the Australian National University she researched intensive energy development of coal mining and power generation and its environmental impacts using the Hunter Valley as a case study. She was awarded the first federal research funding to investigate the impacts of water abstraction from rivers on environmental flows and new public policy approaches to protect riverine systems. She has researched the impact of drought on water systems, agricultural production and urban water management.


Diana is an academic social and physical scientist with wide experience of developing and supervising multidisciplinary academic research programs. She is an experienced national statutory authority director in research and development, creating research and development strategies for natural resources and agribusiness management, and directing strategy for federal and state investment in agricultural, regional and environmental research. Diana is an experienced assessor of national research and development funding submissions and has guided technology adoption strategies in many rural agribusiness and industrial settings..

Dr Day also has wide public sector experience in both NSW and Federally. She has contributed to the development of NSW regional and natural resources management strategy and national water planning for national and state water and environment ministers.

Current Research Interests

I seek to better understand earth and water system dynamics and the role of human impacts on environmental change. I am especially interested in freshwater quality decline and how we can more effectively protect the ecosphere. A key research theme is Australian indigenous peoples gaining educational and natural resources justice and for their traditional knowledges and understandings to be seen as vitally significant to world educational systems.

I am fascinated by ‘futures’ studies, including referencing the past, and science fiction as inputs to visions of more chaotic and unpredictable changes in global natural resources protection. I value creating research outcomes that benefit sustainability, student careers, and environmental education. I promote good communication of research outcomes to wider audiences and thus speak to audiences on the above themes.

Key research interests include indigenous water justice issues, freshwater protection, environmental and social futures, science and indigenous students, postgraduate supervision of indigenous students, retention of indigenous higher education students, and career development for women and minorities in science and academe.

Diana is a current Director of the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation (2008-2011) and of the Commonwealth Research Centre for Irrigation Futures .(2006-2010).

Dr Day’s fields of educational and environmental research and public policy development at the University of Sydney include

  • Recruitment and retention of Australian indigenous students in higher education
  • Inequity and pathways for indigenous students in science
  • Success and professional development for indigenous students and faculty in higher education
  • Western and traditional indigenous water and land cultures and environmental sustainability
  • Research and development strategies for sustainable agricultural futures
  • Global water security and culture
  • Career development for women and minorities in science and academe

2008 Research Agenda

New sponsors and co-investors are invited to support the following research programs.

Australian Indigenous higher education:

  • Australian Indigenous student recruitment and retention
  • Indigenous faculty career development
  • Postgraduate research and the indigenous scholar

Diana with Dr Wendy Brady was awarded 2006/7 funding support from The University of Sydney Research and Development Scheme for their research project: A retention model for indigenous undergraduate success: Pilot evaluation of non-traditional entry student experience in the first undergraduate year. Results are to be published in Equal Opportunities International.

Australian and planetary freshwater protection:

  • NSW Aboriginal water property issues.
    [2006 contract: NSW Department of Aboriginal Affairs]
  • Traditional indigenous cultures, water security, the environment and the future

Recent Publications and Reports

Papers, Conferences and Reports

  • Day, D.G., and Nolde, R. (2008) Arresting the decline in Australian indigenous representation at university: Student experience as a guide. Equal Opportunities International In Press.
  • Day, D.G. (2007) Enhancing success for indigenous postgraduate students. Synergy. 26:13-18, November.
  • Day, D.G. (2007) Indigenous knowledge and students neglected by science Australasian Science June.
  • Day, D.G. and McLisky, C (2006) The reflective journal. A career development and lifestyle tool Australian Association of Career Counsellors National Conference, Sydney. 2006
  • Day, D.G and Davison, P. (2005) Career development for indigenous students in Australian universities: Personal and professional resilience for the future. International Journal of Learning, Vol 11, pp 481-488
  • Day, D.G. (2005) 'Privatisation of Australia's freshwater commons: Implications for Indigenous water culture' Indigenous Knowledges Conference, New Zealand, June 2005
  • Day, D.G. (2005) 'Black and White Science: Why Indigenous Australian students don't do university science' (with Claire McLisky) Indigenous Knowledges Conference, New Zealand, June 2005
  • Day, D.G. (2004) ‘Who rocks the cradle of the future? Women’s leadership in research futures and the work revolution’ Presented to the Australian Technology Network of Technical Universities Conference on Women in Higher Education, 2004
  • Day,D.G. (2001) Work revolution and the future (Keynote, University of Melbourne, Melbourne Business School, MBA students) 2001
  • Day, D.G. (2000) The work revolution, careerists and the future (Keynote, Australian Association of Career Counsellors national conference) 2000
  • Day, D.G. (2000) “Global water security and culture in the 21st Century” Keynote Presentation Xth World Water Congress, 12-17 March, Melbourne, International Water Resources Association, CD-ROM
  • Day, D.G. 1998 The environmental implications of water resources development in Australia, Australian Biologist 4[2]:87-98.
  • Day, D.G. (1997) ‘Elevating the role of extension in managing change. What you can do to give extension a central role in managing natural resources.” 2ND Australasia Pacific Extension Conference Proceedings. Managing Change, Building Knowledge and Skills. Albury. pp 189-124.
  • Day, D.G. (1996) Water as a social good, Australian Journal of Environmental Management, 3, 26-41
  • Day, D.G. (1996) Australia’s inland waters in the 21st century: Choices for research and management. In Eds Mitchell, B.D. and Day, D.G., Sustainable Management of Australia’s Inland Waters. Deakin University
  • Day, D.G. and Read, (1995) Water pricing reform, drought and the community. Introducing ‘user pays’ to Newcastle, NSW. Australian Journal of Soil and Water Conservation, 8 [1] 5-8
  • Day, D.G.(1994) "Regional implementation of natural resources management policies in NSW" Regional Policy and Practice, 2(3): 4-8
  • Day, D.G (1990) Resolving conflict in the NSW water sector: informality anomaly and innovation. In Resolving Conflict in Australian Water Planning. Eds Handmer, J., Dorcey, T and Smith, D. Centre for Resource and Environmental Studies. Australian National University.
  • Day, D.G. (1985) Water and Coal. Industry, Environment and Institutions in the Hunter Valley NSW. Centre for Resource and Environmental Studies, Australian National University. Monograph

Media

  • 2008 Releasing freshwater insane. The Australian. Letters, August 22
  • 2007 Investment in irrigation research. The Australian Higher Education Supplement Letters 11 April, p32.
  • 2007 Its about control. Opinion on water. The Adelaide Advertiser, 5 February
  • 2007 Indigenous science student numbers dire. Australian Campus Review Weekly , Vol 17, No 25, p8 June 26.
  • 2006 Biodiesal from Tallow. The Rural News, Victoria 25 July

2008 Teaching, postgraduate research supervision

Associate Professor Day is available to provide research mentoring and training support for all Indigenous students and faculty undertaking higher degrees by research at the University of Sydney.
She has worked mainly with the Koori Centre and Yooroang Garang but is happy to assist any postgraduate Indigenous student.

Just contact her office regarding issues concerning your postgraduate research, writing, research/life balance, publishing, progress and future career.

Other issues might be starting a research project, developing a personal research goal, research methodology, seminar presentations, conference presentations and strategy, academic mentors, publishing, your academic and research profile, the dimensions of a doctorate and what to expect , university resources for the doctoral student, thesis planning, indigenous research methodologies and western research tradition, motivation, and support networks.

Diana is currently available for higher degree postgraduate supervision through the Koori Centre in the following fields:

  • Australian water policy, politics and institutions
  • Indigenous higher education
  • Contemporary western natural resources management and indigenous knowledges
  • Global environmental futures
  • Research and development policy, management and strategy; water, land and natural resources management and agriculture

Academic Research and Tertiary Institution Governance

Diana has served on university boards of The University of Newcastle, NSW and The Australian Maritime College, Launceston Tasmania; and on the not-for-profit educational and research boards of Ocean Watch NSW and the Earth Foundation, Australia.


Diana held academic research and teaching posts at The University of New England, the Australian National University and the University of Newcastle, where she was formerly a Senior Research Fellow and Director of the Centre for Environmental Management. While at the University of Newcastle she conducted a review of future teaching opportunities in environmental management and undertook further research on regional environmental futures for the Hunter Region and alternative public sector management strategies.

Diana recently served as Adjunct Professor at the Division of Health and Applied Sciences at Southern Cross University, Lismore NSW.

A/Professor Day has published and spoken widely on Australian water resources policy, drought, sustainable management of Australia’s inland freshwaters, water conflicts and allocation issues, regional environmental planning, coal mine rehabilitation policy, water as a social and environmental good, the critical importance of national and global water security and most recently on; indigenous water ownership and the challenges and successes for indigenous students in secondary and tertiary education, including in science.

Dr Day has authored and edited four books and over 100 scholarly publications. Her work is published in refereed academic journals such as: Resources Policy, Environmental and Planning Law, The Environmentalist, Environmental Management, Australian Biologist, Catena, Australian Geographical Studies, Water Resources Development, Zeitschrift fur Geomorphologie, Water International, and the International Journal of Learning and more broadly in newspaper and journal media. Diana has wide experience of speaking to diverse community, industry and academic audiences and working with television and radio media.

Diana has graduated from the University of Sydney Development Program for Research Higher Degree Supervisors and is available to support Australian postgraduate students at the University of Sydney and for Doctoral supervision in the fields of environmental management and indigenous education through the Koori Centre.

Dr Day holds an ongoing fractional academic appointment with the University of Sydney [0.6].

Diana has consulted to the National Land and Water Resources Audit on natural resources management across all levels of government; to the Queensland Government on the water quality management future of Moreton Bay and to Land and Water Australia. She has wide experience in dealing with diverse communities of interest and stakeholders including governments, industry bodies, research institutions, associations, community groups and indigenous communities. Recent research clients for Diana and the Koori Centre were The NSW Department of Aboriginal Affairs and The Attorney Generals Department, NSW, Missing Persons Unit.

Diana has a special interest in academic career development, career coaching, and, women and boards. She has contributed to the development of University of Sydney academic indigenous staff employment and career development policy initiatives and was an inaugural member of the University Indigenous Education Strategic Development Working Group. She is a member of the University of Sydney academic women’s network [SUN] and has participated as Mentor /Researcher for the University of Sydney Faculty of Education and Social Work and the Faculty of Economics and Business mentoring and mentoring research program.

Diana is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and holds a Company Directors Diploma. Memberships include: the Environmental Institute of Australia and New Zealand, The Snowy River Alliance, the Australian Society of Authors, The Australian Institute of Management, The Australian Association of Career Counsellors and the Association of Career Professionals, International.

Environmental Research

Diana's honours research began in geography and geomorphology with the planimetric analysis of drainage basin morphometry to establish the control rock type has on the evolution, shape and erosive history of drainage basins. She then focused on temperate fluvial geomorphology with the field based characterisation of dynamic catchment drainage networks and their evolution over different lithologies and regolith materials across the New England Tablelands in NSW.

Her doctorate examined the complex hydrological responses of small perennial and ephemeral stream systems and their catchments to diverse rainfall events. Thus characterising the surface and groundwater hydrological and erosional behaviour of streams in relation to the discharge hydrograph, the flow length graph she developed, [drainage density of dynamic flowing channel systems over time] eroded channels, and, associated landforms. Diana constructed most of her field monitoring equipment and also fully instrumented her New England NSW catchments where she undertook field monitoring of hydrological change and water quality during and between rainfall events.

Her later work on New England temperate catchments involved mapping dynamic saturated zone responses to rainfall intensity and duration which gave good indications of likely catchment hot sites which would have potential for rapid dispersal of pollutants or agricultural chemicals to stream systems.

While at the University of New England, Diana was a scientific leader of the Australian and New Zealand Schools Exploration Society 6 week research expedition to the remote Mt Windsor Tableland and Gulf of Carpentaria catchments in Queensland. While on expedition, senior high school and undergraduate university students conducted field exploration and research into the geology, botany and biology of the region, in central north Queensland.

As well as monitoring water quality variability over short storm events and during flow recession, Diana worked with the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation [ANSTO] in research trialling the measurement of deuterium/ hydrogen ratios in catchment waters and rainfall to ascertain runoff generative processes, and potential mechanisms for groundwater movement to streams.

With ANSTO she also undertook measurement of Caesium-137 in soils. Caesium-137 is an environmental isotope distributed throughout the entire globe and surface soils in both hemispheres during 1960’s atmospheric nuclear weapons testing. Caesium-137 was used to assist dating of accelerated erosional cycles in rural research catchments near Canberra.

Diana was a lead researcher in the 1980’s Australian National University, Centre for Resource and Environmental Studies [CRES] first Australian project investigating the environmental impacts of energy intensive coal and power development in the Hunter Valley, NSW. ANU published her book, Water and Coal: Industry, Environment and Institutions in the Hunter Valley NSW, the first on coal mining and energy development and the water management issues in Australia. It gave a unique perspective on water administration, policy and research options for water and environmental management institutions.

While at CRES ANU, Diana was awarded the first federal research funding to study the determination of environmental flows in rivers and how coal and power station energy water abstractions from rivers conflicts with environmental sustainability. She was also awarded a second grant to study how drought and water scarcity was faced by a large urban water utility and the resulting impacts of the introduction of user-pays domestic water pricing.

Governance of Research and Development

Diana is a board member [2006-2010] of the Commonwealth Research Centre for Irrigation Futures and of the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation [2008-2011]. The CRC invests in research, education and training towards a more sustainable irrigation future for Australia. Research fields are irrigation policy and planning innovation at all scales; urban and rural hydrology and management; and future irrigation practice and technology. The CRC supports over 50 postgraduate researchers nationally as well as university coursework programs, new knowledge products and building capacity of the irrigation sector and the wider community.

Associate Professor Day has 20 years experience in governing board directorships, in the strategic management of research and development, and of commercialisation in Australian agribusiness.

She has contributed environmental management expertise to the following industry fields of Australian agricultural production and marketing :-aquaculture, the wild caught fishery, seafood, rice, sugar, coal mining , irrigation, livestock, human nutrition, marine research, viticulture, winemaking, cotton, marine biology, geology and conservation, artificial feeds, genetics and genomics, as well as agricultural product commercialisation, domestic marketing and export.

Diana has held competitively selected board directorships of Commonwealth statutory authorities in the following agricultural commodity and environment sectors:

  • Meat and Livestock Australia Ltd, Sydney Australia,
  • MLA Donor Company [Commercialisation Company] Sydney
  • Fisheries Research & Development Corporation, Canberra
  • Grape and Wine Research & Development Corporation, Adelaide
  • Sugar Research & Development Corporation, Brisbane
  • Land and Water Resources Research and Development Corporation, Canberra (now Land and Water Australia)

As a board director, Diana initiated the first national conference on Viticulture and Water for Australia’s wine industry and the first national workshop for the sugar sector on Cane Farming to Improve Water Quality.

Dr Day has research board governance and project experience in:

  • research and development strategy and industry planning,
  • human capital development in research and industry sectors
  • research cultures
  • tertiary education
  • not-for-profit industry and community groups
  • developing industry and strategic research plans for Australian commodity groups
  • research capacity and training in the agricultural and commodity sectors
  • assessment of research and development grant applications
  • assessment of research program submissions
  • future environmental and water issues and natural resources management
  • monitoring and assessing research and development program and project performance
  • technology adoption strategies
  • innovative research strategy
  • livestock genomics
  • animal feed production systems
  • industrial process innovation
  • transport systems and logistics
  • sustainability research in agriculture
  • technical and social environmental assessment
  • developing national and international co-venture research partnerships
  • fostering research collaboration across sectors and industries
  • multi- disciplinary and trans-disciplinary research
  • stakeholder consultation and involvement in research and development

Public Sector Administration

Diana has held senior government roles including senior policy strategist and advisor in regional water and land management strategy with the NSW government (NSW Department of Water Resources, NSW Department of Land and Water Conservation) and also with federal government water research, water policy and water management Ministerial Advisory committees, including as Chair of the former Australian Water Resources Council Planning Committee for state, territory and federal water and environment ministers.

While with NSW government Dr Day reviewed the impact of the 1990’s NSW Water Reforms on water stakeholders such as government agencies, rural water users, conservation groups, industry, and land care and user groups. She also undertook strategic reviews for government of :- public consultation and participation in water planning, strategic water planning, drought management, water futures for the NSW water sector, commercialisation of water businesses, environmental flow policies, natural resources management policies and their implementation, and, research plans. She also contributed to the development of strategic and business plans for NSW regional water management. While in government, Diana also conducted workshops for NSW public sector agencies on conflict resolution in water and environmental planning.

In 1989/1990 Diana represented the NSW Department of Water Resources on the then Hunter Water Board’s [now Hunter Water] Major Source Review, an examination of future alternative water supply sources for Newcastle and the lower Hunter in NSW. Scenarios developed included possible construction of a dam at Tillegra on the Williams River in NSW, currently of interest to the NSW Labor Government.

Diana was also co-coordinator and member of a national executive team [representing state and federal water and environment ministers] which developed Australia’s National Water Quality Management Strategy. This was introduced by Commonwealth, State and Territory Governments in 1992 for management of the nation’s water bodies and was further included in the Council of Australian Governments [COAG] Water Reform Framework in 1994. It is now a basis for Australian water quality management. Its guidelines cover the water cycle and include: Australian and New Zealand Guidelines for fresh and marine water quality; water quality management guidelines for groundwater; guidelines for ambient and drinking water quality; and guidelines for effluent management for specific industries, and rural land use.

Contact Details:

Phone: (02) 9036 9213
Toll Free: 1800 622 742
Fax: (02) 9351 6923
Location: Room 426 Old Teachers College
Email: diana@koori.usyd.edu.au