Dr Leah Moore

Dr Leah Moore is a practicing geoscientist and has worked on a range of land and water management research projects, many in collaboration with NSW and other state government agencies and Catchment Management Authorities/Local Land Services. Her research focuses on biophysical characterisation of landscapes in order to understand: how water moves through and over rock and regolith (including soil) materials on a range of substrates (e.g. silicate rocks, karst landscapes, semi-consolidated sediments); the influence of other parameters (e.g. vegetation, infrastructure) on land and water processes; the impacts of changes in climate and land management on these processes; and, how this knowledge can inform the development of strategic management strategies in target catchments.

Current projects include: research with the Australian Mountain Research Facility (AMRF) and Save Our Snowgums (SOSG) program on alpine soils and hydrogeology; evaluation of abiotic parameters contributing to tree die-back in the Australian alpine region and Southern Tablelands; and the impact of large feral herbivores on soil erosion in the Lower Snowy catchment.

Dr Moore is a Past President of the Australian Regolith Geoscience Association (ARGA) and is a life member of the International Association for Chemistry of the Earth’s Interior (IAVCEI), and the American Geophysical Union (AGU).

Dr Moore also specialises in science education and communication. From 2020 to 2022 she taught at the ACU in the National online postgraduate STEM Education unit, and in undergraduate Science and Technology (S&T) units for all year levels, including many that formed part of the ACU national delivery of S&T as part of the revised academic program. In this capacity she has overlapped with ACU colleagues from around Australia to ensure equity across the greater cohort.

Dr Moore was on the National Advisory Panel for the development of the Foundation to Year 10 Australian Curriculum – Science, and on the writing team for the Year 11/12 Australian Curriculum – Earth and Environmental Science and Biology. She is on the team that recently considered aspects of the current Australian Curriculum review. She worked at the Academy of Science developing geoscience education resources for the Science by Doing program. Dr Moore is Past President of the Australian Universities Geoscience Education Network (AUGEN), the University of Canberra representative and reference group member for the Collaborative Australian Postgraduate Sea Training Alliance Network (CAPSTAN); former Vice President of the Australasian Science Education Research Association (ASERA) and, until 2023 was the Australia-Pacific representative on the International Committee for Associations of Science Education (ICASE). She works as part of an international team researching science curriculum design and in-class practice.