About Us

What is the workshop?

Most universities do not offer an introductory course to stable isotopes. This workshop provides much of the teaching and experience that would come from such a course, as well as individual instruction and guidance by experts to help researchers design their experiments and interpret their results.

The course starts with lectures that assume basic scientific knowledge and then progress through more in-depth material and hands-on projects. During the course, there will be ample opportunities for networking, and instructors will be available to provide guidance to workshop participants in their own area of interest.

 

Main workshop partners

• Centre for Carbon, Water and Food, University of Sydney
• Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University
• Plant Ecophysiology Group, James Cook University
• Research School of Biology, Australian National University
• Coastal Marine Ecosystems Research Centre, CQUniversity
• Department of Soil and Physical Sciences, Lincoln University

 

Content of the workshop

• Definitions
• Terminology
• Standards for different materials
• Sample collection
• Isotope measurement - spectrometers & lasers
• C, N, H and O isotopes in plants and soil
• The water, carbon and nitrogen cycles
• Water in plants
• Ecosystem-scale isotopes
• Isoscapes
• Archaeology
• Palaeoclimatology