One of the objectives of LOICZ is to identify the most vulnerable coastal regions under global change. Alice's research on coastal lagoons has direct relevance to these fragile and valuable coastal systems that are very vulnerable to eutrophication, changes in sediment supply and sea-level.

Alice's main research interest is eutrophication, particularly with respect to the biogeochemical cycles. Eutrophication expresses itself through a cascade of direct and indirect impacts on ecology and economy with major implications for land-use and coastal zone development.

Capacity building is an important part of the cross-cutting activities of LOICZ. The linking of Integrated River Basin Management and Integrated Coastal Zone Management is the major objective of the Erasmus Mundus Joint Master of which Alice is the coordinator. The course is the joint effort of 60 Universities that pool human resources to develop a global postgraduate programme in Water and Coastal Management.