studies and research


We are always open for academic collaboration and over the years various international as well as local universities have conducted research projects on Kachana including studies on soil carbon, waterways management and the effects of fire on land being treated with animals. The most recent interest shown is on the Wild Donkey Project.


kachana wild donkey project researchers

An international team of scientists are studying the place of wild donkeys within Australia’s unique and thriving ecosystems. Ecologists are studying how wild donkeys promote biodiversity and important ecosystem services such as water retention, soil enrichment, and fire suppression; and how donkeys interact with other large mammals in the region, such as dingoes and large marsupials. The research project is looking at alternative models of land regeneration and human-wildlife coexistence within a multi-species justice framework.

Dr Arian Wallach

Dr Arian Wallach is an ecologist at the Centre for Compassionate Conservation, Faculty of Science, University of Technology Sydney who’s award winning research on large predators and herbivores has been published in Science, Conservation Biology and Restoration Ecology. Her research has been funded by the Australian Research Council. She writes for The Conversation and her work is regularly highlighted in national and international media https://profiles.uts.edu.au/Arian.Wallach

Dr Erick Lundgren

Dr Erick Lundgren is an ecologist at Aarhus University, Denmark, who has led ground-breaking research in Australia and the USA on the ecological role of wild donkeys and their predators, published in Science and PNAS. His work has garnered international attention on how wild donkeys and other introduced megafauna are rewilding arid ecosystems https://pure.au.dk/portal/en/persons/erick-lundgren(c5048775-a565-4c44-b8a1-2a7172eef541).html

Prof Danielle Celermajer

Prof Danielle Celermajer is a social scientist, Lead of the Multispecies Justice Project, and human rights expert at the University of Sydney as well as deputy director of the Sydney Environment Institute. She is the author of Summertime: Reflections on a Vanishing Future, published by Penguin, written in the shadow of the bushfires that ravaged Australia. She is a regular contributor to ABC Radio National programs. https://www.sydney.edu.au/arts/about/our-people/academic-staff/danielle-celermajer.html