Sarah Bourke

Dr. Sarah Bourke serves as a Lecturer and Course Coordinator for the Master of Hydrogeology in the School of Earth Sciences at the University of Western Australia. She concurrently holds the position of Vice President for Australasia and the Pacific at the International Association of Hydrogeologists (IAH), a role she has maintained for four years while spearheading IAH's global Education and Outreach initiatives. With nearly two decades of active involvement in IAH, she champions hydrogeology practice, research, and professional training across international contexts.

Her academic foundation includes:

• Bachelor of Earth Science from Flinders University (with international studies in Japan and the USA)
• Honours year at the University of Western Australia
• PhD from Flinders University via a Rio Tinto Iron Ore collaborative project
• Post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Saskatchewan, Canada

Dr. Bourke's research spans environmental tracer applications, surface water-groundwater dynamics, contaminant transport mechanisms, and climate change impacts on aquifer systems. She pioneers decolonizing methodologies in hydrogeology through sustained collaboration with Aboriginal communities on groundwater governance and cultural water values, aligning with IAH's Indigenous Groundwater Declaration.

Her scientific recognition includes:

• Best Presentation by an Early Career Hydrogeologist at the IAH Congress (2013)

Dr. Bourke maintains extensive government and industry partnerships that yield practical solutions for groundwater management, though specific grant details and student supervision records remain unreported in source materials. Her collaborative approach consistently delivers high-impact outcomes for water resource challenges.

While laboratory infrastructure isn't documented, her fieldwork-intensive research leverages government monitoring networks and community-based knowledge systems across mining-affected landscapes and climate-vulnerable aquifers.