Welcome to the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies’ legacy website

The mission of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies was to provide knowledge that fostered the sustainable use, adaptive governance and effective management of the world’s coral reefs to enhance human wellbeing. We achieved this through innovative, collaborative and transdisciplinary research that achieved a better understanding of the science, both social and natural, of the dynamic changes currently occurring on coral reefs worldwide; and built coalitions to communicate and implement scientific recommendations.

The ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies commenced operations in 2005 with the award of $23 million from the Australian Research Council (ARC) Centres of Excellence program. In 2014, the Australian Research Council awarded the Centre an additional $28 million to continue its world-best integrated research for sustainable use and management of coral reefs. The Centre cemented Australia’s leading contribution to coral reef sciences, and fostered stronger collaborative links between the major partners and 100s of institutions across the world. Collectively, the Centre created the world’s largest concentration of coral reef scientists. It ceased operations in late 2022.