The key contributions that Dr. Wolanski has made are in the challenging and highly relevant areas of sediment transport in estuarine and coastal regions, and in developing models which merge physical and biological processes to quantify the dynamics of dispersion and recruitment of the larvae of marine species ( eg fish and crown-of-thorns starfish). He has also created community-friendly computer­generated visualisation techniques of significant estuarine and coastal processes. The results of his research have been widely applied by industry, by Local, State, and Federal government agencies in Australia, and by industry, intergovernmental, and governmental bodies overseas.