Theme leader: Dr Valerie McCarthy

The Lake and Catchment Management thematic area supports strategic alliances and partnerships with major external organisations such as the Marine Institute in the key area of Energy, Climate Action and Sustainability as identified in the National Research Priority areas 2018 - 2023. In combining its collective expertise under this thematic area, the CFES has become a significant player in the environmental sector both nationally and internationally, with important International and National projects such as PROGNOIS, MANTEL, WATEXR and BEYOND2020 providing vital data which will improve our understanding of ecosystem response to human induced climate change in addition to supporting an appropriate response to mitigate against its impacts. This expectation has been further reinforced by the extent of the funding which the group has acquired, including funding for projects which will directly benefit and be further enhanced through the activities of this thematic area. Owing to the important issue of carbon dynamics and fluxes in freshwater systems the research under this theme has the potential to continue to develop our contribution to the global and national observation and predictions for promoting a sustainable environment.

• Use of state-of-the-art sensors to monitor surface waters
• Modelling of catchment and lake processes
• Assessment of water resources under current and future climates
• Source protection and integrated catchment management