Dr Sarah Laborde, NESP Research Fellow
See Sarah’s full research profile here.
What are your research interests as they relate to northern Australia?
My research interests are the dynamic relationships and links between the water cycle and people’s lives. In the monsoonal North, I am interested in how the different water flows and the rhythms of flood and drought relate to the ways people use, manage and talk about their country at different times of the year.
What do you love about working in northern Australia?
I have great collaborators in Northern Australia; I would say this is my favourite part. I also like learning about and feeling the strong seasonal pulses, for example watching the storms form and pass – although this may need to be reconsidered one day, as I have never spent a full Wet in the North yet! My favourite places to work are along the Fitzroy River and its tributaries. I work in collaboration with Traditional Owners, and our research looks at the significance of water flows in the Fitzroy River catchment. Spending time together by the water and in the shade of paperbarks or other trees, I not only get an intellectual understanding of what my collaborators are talking about, but also experiential.