Professor Vincent Pettigrove is the Leader of AQUEST (the Aquatic Environmental Stress Research Group) at RMIT University. His primary research interests focus on understanding and addressing the impacts of aquatic pollution on ecosystems. Other research areas include freshwater sediment toxicity, exotic fish management, pesticide pollution, endocrine-disrupting chemicals, macroinvertebrates, and the use of fish and other biota as indicators of sediment pollution. He has designed and conducted a broad range of biological and water quality research and monitoring programs that assist catchment management authorities, water authorities, and environmental regulators in identifying the priority issues impacting aquatic ecosystems. He has produced over 140 published journal articles and peer-reviewed conference papers.

His research interests focus on evaluating the efficacy of constructed wetlands in achieving non-toxic discharge levels for aquatic life in receiving waters. This involves conducting both laboratory and field-based ecotoxicological assessments to analyse the toxicity of water and sediments both upstream and downstream of these wetlands. Additionally, he is interested in assessing the effectiveness of these wetlands in reducing bioavailable nutrients by determining the necessary treatment levels and exploring potential augmentation with additional treatment devices, the study seeks to enhance the protection of aquatic ecosystems.

From 2010 to 2018, he served as the Chief Executive Officer at the Centre for Aquatic Pollution Identification and Management (CAPIM) at the University of Melbourne and has over 40 years of experience working with and within government agencies assessing freshwater aquatic ecosystems and understanding the impact of pollution on these systems.