Professor Baumgartner designs, supervises and undertakes research into various aspects of the biology and ecology of freshwater fish and systems. His interests are fish passage and fish migration, the impact of human disturbance on aquatic ecosystems, developing solutions to global challenges in water resource management and the connections between people and inland fish.

Ben is a quantitative ecologist with expertise in statistical modelling for ecological applications. He works on basic and applied research in aquatic systems from local to global scales collaborating with researchers, managers and farmers on projects across Europe, Asia, the USA and Australia.