Rate My Professor Zoe Bainbridge

Dr Zoe Bainbridge is a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Tropical Water and Aquatic Ecosystem Research (TropWATER), James Cook University, within the College of Science and Engineering. She earned her PhD from James Cook University in 2015, with a thesis entitled 'Tracing the sources, transport and dispersal of suspended sediment from the Burdekin River catchment into the Great Barrier Reef lagoon'. Her career includes positions as Research Fellow at James Cook University from 2020 to 2023, Advance Queensland Research Fellow at the same institution from 2016 to 2020, and Scientist at the Department of Water, Government of Western Australia from 2015 to 2016. Currently hosted by the Queensland Department of Environment and Science’s Soil, Catchment and Riverine Processes unit, Bainbridge has over 15 years of experience in reef water quality science. She actively engages with regional Natural Resource Management groups, landholders, management agencies, and industry to foster positive water quality outcomes and enhance community awareness of Great Barrier Reef catchment and lagoon issues.

Bainbridge's research focuses on Great Barrier Reef water quality, sediment transport processes across the catchment-to-reef continuum, sediment characterisation and source tracing, community water quality monitoring, and synthesising catchment water quality science. Her work identifies catchment sediment sources, characterises sediment, and advances understanding of its tropical dynamics, bridging catchment-marine connections to inform remediation investments. Notable publications include 'Terrestrial pollutant runoff to the Great Barrier Reef: an update of issues, priorities and management responses' (2012), 'Herbicides: a new threat to the Great Barrier Reef' (2009), 'Relating sediment impacts on coral reefs to watershed sources, processes and management: a review' (2014), 'Fine sediment and nutrient dynamics related to particle size and floc formation in a Burdekin River flood plume, Australia' (2012), 'Fine sediment and particulate organic matter: a review and case study on ridge-to-reef transport, transformations, fates, and impacts on marine ecosystems' (2018), 'Water quality signatures of pristine and near-pristine landscapes in the Great Barrier Reef Catchment Area' (2023), 'Land use change in the river basins of the Great Barrier Reef, 1860 to 2019' (2021), and 'Measuring sediment grain size across the catchment to reef continuum: improved methods and environmental insights' (2021). She received the University Medal for Excellence in a doctoral research thesis in 2016 and the Clarivate Analytics Women in Research Citation Award in the environmental science and management category in 2016. Her contributions support Australian and Queensland Government programs to improve water quality.