UNSW Water Research Laboratory

27/10/2026

🌊 🪸 🐟 Matt Blacka and Dr Fernando Sobral represented UNSW at the 2026 Cook Islands Science Expo – “Te Moana Ripiri ia Tatou: The Ocean That Connects Us”.

Opened by the Cook Islands Prime Minister the Honourable Mark Brown, and attended by more than 1,900 school students, teachers, local authorities and community members for three days of immersion in ocean science, coastal engineering and traditional knowledge: 🔗https://www.unsw.edu.au/news/2026/09/the-ocean-that-connects-us-cook-islands-science-expo-2026

This year marks the fourth Cook Islands Science Expo supported by UNSW since the series began in 2022, having now reached more than 4,000 school students from the islands of Rarotonga, Aitutaki, Atiu, Mitiaro, Mauke and Mangaia.

Speaking at the Expo, Matt highlighted the significance of the Expo in supporting the continued growth of local scientific and technical capability. “Events like this provide an opportunity for students to not only learn outside of the classroom, but also discover potential career pathways into sectors that require increasing technical capability combined with local knowledge to tackle the country’s biggest challenges.”

UNSW’s interactive display focused on climate change and ocean hazards affecting Pacific Island communities. Giving students the opportunity to learn about the impacts of ocean warming on island biodiversity and extreme weather events.

Thanks to the work of the Expo organisers, Climate Change Cook Islands, together with development and funding partners in making this year’s Expo a success. 👏

UNSW | UNSW Engineering | UNSW Science |

“Te moana ripiri ia tatou – The ocean that connects us”, was the theme for the 2026 Cook Islands Science Expo. This year marks the fourth Cook Islands Science Expo supported by UNSW since the series began in 2022, having now reached over 4,000 school students from the islands of Rarotonga, Ait...

25/09/2026

🌊🌊🌊Happy !

Here is a sneak peek at one of our community demonstration mini wave flumes in action! This purpose-built light-weight version was constructed by Matt Blacka and is currently on display in Rarotonga for the Climate Change Cook Islands Science Expo. This clip features COPED armour units (Coastal Protection Energy Dissipator), a unit that is unique to the Cook Islands and was originally tested by WRL in our 0.9 m wave flume back in 2005.

🎥 Cook Islands Television News

UNSW | UNSW Engineering | UNSW Science |

31/08/2026

🔬 What can you expect at the Cook Islands Science Expo 2026?

Across three days, Te Tapora Kai will become a space for learning, discovery and conversation, bringing together students, schools, families, educators, scientists and organisations from across our community.

Visitors will have the opportunity to:

🌊 Explore student science projects and presentations
🔍 Discover how science helps us understand our oceans, climate and environment
🧠 Learn from local and international experts, educators and participating organisations
🌱 See how traditional knowledge and modern science can work together
💬 Join important conversations about the challenges and opportunities facing our islands
✨ Encourage our tamariki and young people as they share their ideas, knowledge and creativity

Guided by the theme “Te Moana Ripiri ia Tatou – The Ocean That Connects Us,” this year’s Expo will place our ocean at the centre of the conversation, recognising its role in connecting our islands, sustaining our communities and shaping our shared future.

Whether you are a student, parent, teacher or simply curious about the world around us, there will be something for everyone to experience and learn.

📅 22–24 September 2026
📍 Te Tapora Kai, Punanga Nui Market

Save the dates. More details about the programme and participating organisations will be shared soon.

31/08/2026

13/02/2026

🌊🌊🌊Happy !

Principal Engineer Ian Coghlan will be presenting on “Physical modelling of revetment design options for Aitutaki Airport, Cook Islands” for the upcoming Conference on Physical Modelling in Coastal Engineering and Science ( ) in Chennai, India later this month: 🔗 https://doe.iitm.ac.in/coastlab26/index.html

We stability-tested a sand-filled geotextile container (“geobag”) seawall on a wave-exposed fringing reef on the island of Aitutaki in the Cook Islands, and a rock armoured seawall.

The geobag seawall captured some specific insights for design of geobag revetments on fringing reef coasts, such as the effectiveness of the reef to buffer wave loading and improve resilience for the main structure slope, and the additional consideration required to achieve stability of crest geocontainers due to overtopping of the low-crested structure design.

The rock armoured seawall demonstrated that in reeftop systems where storm waves generate significant wave setup and infragravity waves at the shore, rock armour can be displaced at the seawall crest during higher overtopping events.

UNSW | UNSW Engineering |

19/12/2025

🌊🌊🌊Happy – best of 2025 edition!

Here’s a recap of our most popular videos this year:

🌊 The one with the Cubipods®
🌊 The one with the offset gutter inlet
🌊 The one with the slo-mo flume wave
🌊 The one with the spectacular rock spillway fail
🌊 The one with the geobags at Aitutaki

Wishing all our followers a safe and festive holiday season - stay tuned for more in 2026! 🎉😊

UNSW | UNSW Engineering |

12/12/2025

🌊🌊🌊Happy !

Continuing from last week, we are looking at a rock armoured seawall on a wave-exposed fringing reef on the island of Aitutaki in the Cook Islands. This 1:19 scale model demonstrates that in reeftop systems where storm waves generate significant wave setup and infragravity waves at the shore, rock armour can be displaced at the seawall crest during higher overtopping events (watch the pink rock closely!).

UNSW | UNSW Engineering |

05/12/2025

🌊🌊🌊Happy !

Recently we have been stability-testing a sand-filled geotextile container (“geobag”) seawall on a wave-exposed fringing reef on the island of Aitutaki in the Cook Islands. The geobag seawall is constructed from 2.5 m³ bags, and our testing has captured some specific insights for design of geobag revetments on fringing reef coasts, including:

▫️ The effectiveness of the reef to buffer wave loading and improve resilience for the main structure slope.

▫️ The additional consideration required to achieve stability of crest geocontainers due to overtopping of the low-crested structure design.

Stay tuned for next week’s as we continue testing on our Aitutaki seawall project…

UNSW | UNSW Engineering |

28/11/2025

🌊🌊🌊Happy !

Part 3 of our wave basin model for the upgrades to Wellington Airport sea defences in New Zealand. ✈️

Testing was conducted on two separate revetment upgrade options, to optimise structure performance and reduce its footprint, saving money and carbon emissions.

This optimisation led to:
▫️ A 12% reduction in armour unit count, with a combined single and double-layer design.
▫️ A narrower crest and single-layer design in less exposed areas.
▫️ A recurve crest wall was added, which improved overtopping performance by up to 90% for extreme wave events.

Constructed and tested for Beca | UNSW | Engineering |

28/11/2025

Professor Will Glamore, from UNSW's Water Research Laboratory, is making the swamp a solution for carbon emissions reduction.