Professor Imberger leads a large and active teaching and research group specialising in physical limnology and coastal oceanography.

He is an acknowledged leader in reservoir management, ocean engineering and convectively driven circulation.

On his initiative the Centre for Water Resources and the Centre of Excellence were established by the State and Federal Governments respectively, and he is Director of both Centres, the results from which are central to current thinking. He acts as consultant to the offshore oil industry and numerous water resource companies and serves on a number of key international and national committees.