Sustainability

Photo of Fairwater development

Sustainable community under the microscope in living lab

A vision of how we could live more sustainably into the future is being realised in a quiet pocket of Sydney’s western suburbs. Opened in 2016, Fairwater was heralded as one of the country’s most progressive, environmentally-friendly community developments: 800 homes set in a landscape including wetlands and waterways, and with the largest geothermal heating and cooling system in the southern hemisphere.

Photo of Saravanamuth Vigneswaran with a background image of water drops

Unlocking riches through sustainable desalination

Seawater desalination has been hailed as the way of the future for meeting our ever-expanding water needs, but current methods are inefficient and environmentally destructive. In a world first, an international team of researchers has developed a method for extracting more fresh water from the process, and recovering valuable resources from the by-products.

David Suggett and Emma Camp in the coral lab

Coral connections

In a world first, researchers at UTS are partnering with local community organisations to restore the Great Barrier Reef—one coral at a time.

Sensing+ node in use on berry farm

AI provides sweet results for Australian berry farms

Harvesting is one of the most expensive operations in commercial berry production, and one of the more complex to manage. Now, the power of data science and artificial intelligence (AI) is being applied to the process, with benefits for growers, the food supply chain – and berry lovers.
Professor Hokyong Shon

New method of water purification makes every drop count

New technology being developed by UTS scientists in Australia – the world’s driest inhabited continent – is recovering water from unconventional sources that include saline groundwater, wastewater from mine sites and human urine from city lavatories.

A crowd of people protesting against coal mining

The politics of coal and climate

A UTS team of political sociologists is investigating the coal industry with a research project that challenges the development of new mining projects.

Acknowledgement of Country

UTS acknowledges the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, the Boorooberongal people of the Dharug Nation, the Bidiagal people and the Gamaygal people, upon whose ancestral lands our university stands. We would also like to pay respect to the Elders both past and present, acknowledging them as the traditional custodians of knowledge for these lands.