Federal minister for international development, senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells, has launched a $46 million biodiversity and cultural history research centre at the University of Wollongong in regional New South Wales.
The Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage will support collaborative research in areas that will include ecology, earth sciences, archeology, genetics and Indigenous and Pacific Islands cultures.
It will involve more than 20 universities and research institutes in Australia, Denmark, France, Germany, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and the United States.