Dr Perran Cook

Research areas

My research focuses on the sources, cycling and fate of carbon nitrogen and phosphorus in aquatic environments, and in particular their role in eutrophication in coastal environments.  To understand how these elements move and cycle through the environment I combine a range of approaches including standard wet chemical methods, the eddy correlation technique, planar optodes, flumes, stable isotopes and modelling.

Projects

• A new approach to the quantification of denitrification in permeable sediments using kinetic measurements and 2 dimensional modelling
• Unraveling the nitrogen cycle in a periodically anoxic estuary
• Understanding the role of vegetation in nitrogen removal by biofiltration
• Eddy Correlation Lander Array
• Ongoing monitoring and reviews of load and monitoring data collected in the Gippsland Lakes
• Functional links between estuaries and their catchments: How does land use change affect estuarine ecological and biogeochemical function?

Current student projects

• Current honours projects

PhD stipend currently on offer

• PhD stipend currently on offer

Education/Employment

• 2006-2007 – Research scientist, CSIRO Land and Water, Brisbane

• 2003-2006 – Research Scientist and Project Coordinator, Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, Germany

• 1999-2002 – PhD.  Thesis title ‘Carbon and nitrogen cycling on intertidal sediments in a temperate Australian estuary’. University of Tasmania.

• 1997 –First class honours in Bachelor of Applied Science in Environmental Science, RMIT.  Thesis title ‘Iodine speciation in the humic rich estuarine waters’

• 1994-1996 – Bachelor of Applied Science in Environmental Science with distinction, RMIT.