The Goodman Foundation

On behalf of the Marine Society UQ, the executive team would like to thank the Goodman Foundation for their generous support of our student group. This contribution has had an enormous impact, enabling us to conduct projects that would not otherwise be possible.

This generous donation has enabled us to set up a unique reef monitoring programme for the Moreton Bay Region (Quandamooka). Not only is this project highly beneficial for our members, most of whom are undergraduate or postgraduate students, but the results from this research will help to inform important stakeholders on the health of the bay. We have appropriately named this project SEQUEST, and was established at the beginning of 2021. Initially, SEQUEST will involve primarily marine invertebrate surveys by deploying settlement plates at various locations around Moreton Bay.

Additional surveys and projects will be added to SEQUEST once our team is more established. The findings that will be generated through this programme will aid our understanding of the marine biodiversity present in Moreton Bay. Additionally, continual monitoring will inform us of any changes in biodiversity that may occur over the years. Work of this nature is pivotal to the preservation and protection of marine ecosystems.

The project will also provide students with incredible practical experience that will be invaluable in any marine-related career. We hope that as the project grows we can involve other universities and relevant NGOs. There is great potential for this project to have a wide-reaching influence on students and early career researchers.