The Murray Darling Freshwater Research Centre is expected to be re-launched as a new centre in April following negotiations with the CSIRO.
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The La Trobe University centre has involved a number of government partners in its 30-year history.
Centre director Professor Nick Bond said for the last 10 years, the centre had been a joint venture between the university and CSIRO.
“We were looking for a simpler collaboration and La Trobe recently agreed to move forward with an internal research centre wholly within the university, although CSIRO will stay on as a partner,” he said.
“As part of those negotiations CSIRO are looking at moving some of their staff to other CSIRO sites.”
There are 25 university staff at the centre and five CSIRO staff.
A CSIRO spokesman said there was no immediate timetable to withdraw staff from Wodonga.
“While the existing MDFRC governance arrangements have ceased, CSIRO is still working with La Trobe University on important research in the Murray Darling Basin,” he said.
“CSIRO is currently working through a new legal arrangement with La Trobe University and both parties remain committed to continuing research together.
“We intend to honour all MDFRC-related research commitments and will continue to collaborate closely with La Trobe University on delivering existing projects and establishing new projects where appropriate.”
Professor Bond said the change provided a positive opportunity for the university to expand its horizon in freshwater research.
“It’s a very visible change, but it’s one we're very confident won’t affect our current research programs, and at the same time signals the next step in the life of the research centre,” he said.
“We’re going through a strategic planing process for the centre which will identify some of the existing knowledge needs, but also what some of the emerging issues are.
“One trend that we’ve discussed at a university level is the increasing focus of the social and economic dimension of water management.”
It’s not expected the changes will have an budgetary impacts on the centre, as much of the work undertaken is contract research for government.
The Murray Darling Freshwater Research Centre is currently involved in a broad range of research projects related to river and wetland management.
