Dr. Rachel Eberhard has been an independent consultant since 2005. Rachel works with clients to improve environmental and natural resource management policy and programs, with a particular interest in collaboration, evaluation and adaptation. Rachel usually works with water and landscape programs at large scales (from catchments to cross-regional).
Rachel has over 25 years of experience in environmental and agricultural science, planning and policy. She combines a scientific approach to rigorous evidence, with a strong interest in the social and institutional processes of decision-making.
Clients include Commonwealth, State and Local Governments, regional natural resource management bodies, industry groups and the private sector. She is based in Queensland and Northern NSW, but works across Australia.
2026 UPDATE
I am not currently taking on major projects at this time. I am focussed instead on cruising Australia and the South Pacific aboard our yacht Austral, and work on our conservation property in northern NSW.
I maintain an adjunct position at QUT with Prof. Karen Vella. I maintain an active interest in conservation and resource management.
Planning and evaluation
Rachel offers technical synthesis, planning and design, brokerage and evaluation services. Highlights include:
Lead author of the ‘management solutions’ chapter of the Great Barrier Reef Scientific Consensus Statement (2018).
Design, facilitation and evaluation of the annual Great Barrier Reef synthesis forum over 3 years.
Writing and reviewing regional natural resource management and water quality improvement plans.
Evaluating the $261 M Queensland Reef Water Quality Program (for the Office of the Great Barrier Reef) over three years
Evaluating agricultural practice changepand community engagement programs for the clients such as the Fitzroy Basin Association and the WA Dept. of Water and Environmental Regulation.
Facilitation and brokerage
Rachel has had the privilege of helping many different stakeholder work together more effectively. Eberhard Consulting helped facilitate the establishment of several major cross-sectoral partnerships in the Great Barrier Reef (Reef Water Quality Partnership, Reef Alliance) and Central Queensland (Fitzroy Partnership for River Health), and has worked with the Queensland Natural Resource Management and agricultural industry network for many years. Rachel also facilitates planning, training or review workshops.
Research
Rachel’s research interests are environmental policy, including collaborative governance, metagovernance and policy coherence and impact. Her research interests have a strong applied flavour - to build and use knowledge to improve environmental and social outcomes.
Rachel completed PhD that compared collaborative governance in the Great Barrier Reef and Murray Darling Basin,. Her PhD received an Outstanding Dissertation Award (2018). A short summary of her thesis findings is available here.
Rachel is an adjunct Associate Professor with Karen Vella at the Queensland University of Queensland .
