Department of the Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation

Happy holidays and best wishes for the year ahead! We’d like to take this opportunity to give a shout-out to all of our staff, who have worked tirelessly this year to help protect our wildlife and contribute to a more sustainable environment, support our thriving tourism industry, lead Queensland's scientific research and support innovation across Queensland. Thank you for all the work that you do. 💚

Working on Christmas eve be like 🐸 what am I? ⬇️ 📸 © Queensland Museum, Gary Cranitch #QueenslandEnvironment

The Queensland Government has committed $2.75 million to establish a National Indigenous Science Translation Centre, which will be a combined teaching, research and development facility 🙌 The Centre, set to open in 2025, will be located in dedicated buildings provided in-kind by the The University of Queensland at the Long Pocket campus and is designed to promote Indigenous knowledge, innovation, and support Indigenous-owned businesses. The initiative will connect Queensland's thriving biotech sector with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

We're feeling festive! 🎄 Check out these incredible office decorations from DETSI staff, including our Science division, Communications branch and Regional Offices. The creativity and ingenuity of our department never ceases to amaze us. 👏 #QueenslandEnvironment

What a massive year for our science legends 👏🎉 Reflecting on 2024 looked a little like this 👇 ➕ The release of Queensland’s first Science Strategy which supports the generation and translation of globally significant science to ensure sustainable economic growth. The Future Queensland Science Strategy will support our scientists to generate new knowledge, develop commercial opportunities, protect our natural environment, grow new industries and drive innovation across key sectors.  ➕ Launched a $7 million Regional Industry Collaboration Program that will increase collaboration between universities and industry in our regions. This program is supporting four Queensland universities to translate and commercialise their research to help local businesses grow.  ➕ Two major events during the year were the World Science Festival and National Science Week (and 2025 is set to be even bigger and better, including hosting the first Quantum Australia Conference 🙌). ➕Provided substantial funding support across the state to enhance research infrastructure, to drive quantum and advanced technologies, international collaborations and STEM engagement. We're so excited for an epic 2025, and continue to grow an innovative and thriving science sector that has the scale, quality and diversity to deliver real-world impact 🙌

Our Reef Assist program is delivering priority environmental outcomes for the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) and creating regional jobs in Reef catchments. 🌍👷♂️  Since its inception, 22 projects have been undertaken through Reef Assist 1.0 and 2.0 across Cape York, the Wet Tropics, Burdekin, Mackay Whitsunday, Fitzroy and Burnett Mary regions. 🗺📌   What is the program achieving? 👇  🌊 more than 280,000 native seedlings have been planted   🌊 over 380 hectares revegetated with weeds removed from a further 750 hectares  🌊  more than 45 kilometres of riverbank have been revegetated  🌊  over 800 gully erosion remediation structures built, covering over 50 hectares   🌊  220 coastal island sites restored, with over one tonne of marine debris collected.   👷♀️ Reef Assist 1.0 partnered with 38 delivery organisations and more than 365 local businesses and contractors were engaged injecting over $9 million into local economies. 📈  👷♀️ Around 440 full-time, part-time and casual positions have been generated in total.  👷♀️ More than half of participants identify as First Nations and nearly a third as youth. Over 40 per cent of the participants in Reef Assist 2.0 are women.  Reef Assist is creating a lasting legacy, strengthening communities, building regional capacity and helping to protect our iconic Great Barrier Reef for future generations! The program is funded through our Queensland Reef Water Quality Program.   Find out more: https://lnkd.in/gHUnct2n   📸 First Nations project participants in the NQ Dry Tropics-led project (Left - Right) Kai Martin-Savage, Ethan Upkitt, Cade Wells, Tyrese Nellimane near Charters Towers. Photo courtesy of NQ Dry Tropics. 

Nominations are now open for the 2025 Queensland Greats Awards 🎉 The awards have recognised the lifetime achievements of extraordinary Queenslanders including those at the top of the national and international stage in the fields of sport, arts, science, philanthropy and business for more than 20 years. Since 2001, 123 individuals, 20 institutions and 11 posthumous recipients have been named Queensland Greats.  Show your Queensland pride and nominate an outstanding Queenslander or Queensland institution today. Nominations close 5pm, Monday 17 February 2025. For more information visit www.qld.gov.au/qldgreats #QLDGreats

It's a celebration 🎉🥳   This week marks the 30th anniversary of the Australian Fossil Mammal Sites, which were inscribed by the World Heritage Committee for Outstanding Universal Value in December 1994 👏👏   The Riversleigh World Heritage Area is located on Waanyi Country in the south-eastern section of the Boodjamulla National Park (Aboriginal Land) in Northwest Queensland. The World Heritage Area was inscribed for its Outstanding Universal Values  for being one of the most significant fossil deposits in the world and the richest known fossil mammal deposit in Australia.   It has revealed records of Gondwanan life forms which existed prior to the break-up of this ancient continent 😧 D Site has a publicly accessible walking track and was one of the first major fossil deposits found within the Riversleigh World Heritage Area . Its fossils are from the late Oligocene period, dating back up to 30 million years 😵 Turtles, fish, snails, crocodiles, lizards, pythons, birds and many types of mammal fossils have all been recovered from the World Heritage Site.   Queensland has five World Heritage areas—more than any other state or territory in Australia 🙌 They are K'gari (formerly Fraser Island), the Great Barrier Reef, Gondwana Rainforests of Australia, Riversleigh fossil site and the Wet Tropics of Queensland 💛   Here's to another 30 years of Heritage Listed-incredible-ness Riversleigh! Have you visited yet?   #QueenslandEnvironment #WorldHeritageListed

Sea turtles hold deep cultural, ecological and economic value for the Great Barrier Reef, and those who depend on it.   Like so many other marine animals, they face an uncertain future in the face of a changing climate. The Great Barrier Reef Green Turtle Research Program is working to understand what’s happening in green turtle populations throughout the Great Barrier Reef and the Torres Strait islands through a range of projects and studies.   Collectively, this information not only aims to understand what’s happening now and how we can focus our management actions to support turtles and their habitats, but how we can best protect these sea turtles for the future.   The Great Barrier Reef Green Turtle Research Program is funded by the Australian Government’s Reef Trust and implemented by the Reef Authority and the Department of Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation’s Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service. This project is being delivered in partnership with the Kuuku Ya’u Traditional Owners and Meriam Nation Traditional Custodians of the eastern Torres Strait.   For more information, visit https://lnkd.in/gfYEpNwV Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority

🌟 Congratulations to Dr Katrina Wruck, QUT (Queensland University of Technology) research fellow and 2022 Queensland Women in STEM Prize winner, on being named the 2025 Young Australian of the Year for Queensland. Dr Wruck’s pioneering research continues to inspire change, and her dedication to improving communities is nothing short of remarkable. Find out more about her incredible achievements here: Link to Award Details 🌱 Dr Wruck’s research is also giving back to remote communities. Through her work, she has founded Nguki Kula Green Labs, a profit-for-purpose business set to revolutionise the consumer goods sector by harnessing green chemistry. It’s a perfect example of how STEM can make a real-world impact while inspiring others to pursue careers in science and innovation.