A WORLD CLASS MARINE SCIENCE RESEARCH FACILITY

The Arafura Timor Research Facility (ATRF) is an unincorporated joint venture between the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) and The Australian National University (ANU) created to support the conduct of world-class scientific research into marine and coastal ecosystems of the Arafura Timor region, including living and non-living resources. This includes the effective use of those resources through science, technology, policy and industry. The facility also supports regional social science research.

The facility is located at the North Australian Research Unit (NARU), on ANU land adjacent to the Charles Darwin University (CDU). The ATRF is conveniently sited to enable collaboration with CDU and access to local specialists and facilities of the ANU & AIMS.

The ATRF is working to establish links with scientific and government bodies in Indonesia, Timor-Leste and Papua New Guinea to enable international collaborative efforts.

The ATRF building was constructed using a $3.25m Australian Government Major National Research Facility (MNRF) grant. It was established to facilitate natural and social sciences research in the Arafura and Timor seas region to the north of Australia. The facility focuses on supporting multidisciplinary research and collaboration/cooperation of organisations and individuals.