Tropical rivers and their floodplains are some of the most productive ecosystems in the world, but they are under increasing threat from human modification of their flow regimes and ecology. Furthermore, tropical regions cover 36% of Earth’s landmass and comprise most of the world’s river channel length, but less than 3% of all published research in freshwater ecology has focused on tropical regions. This lack of basic research inhibits our ability to predict how human modification of tropical freshwaters will affect their ecological functioning. Over 20 years ago we formed the Tropical Rivers and Coastal Knowledge (TRaCK) collaborative consortium to improve the information to underpin future management of Australia’s tropical rivers. We proposed a set of general ecological principles on food web ecology and testing these principles was a major focus of the TRaCK research program. Over time, the focus of research moved from developing foundational scientific understanding of tropical river-floodplain ecosystems to more applied science aimed at providing targeted information on management issues. In tandem, the nature of the research collaboration shifted from an investigator-led program to a user-driven approach. This presentation outlines the key changes in this collaboration. We use a systematic literature review to identify the contribution of this collaboration to research outputs on tropical rivers. We also reflect on the key challenges and benefits of these large, interdisciplinary collaborations in often remote tropical regions, highlight the influence this has had on researchers and other collaborators, and outline how TRaCK has influenced subsequent partnerships aimed at river research and conservation management.