A scientific project aimed at ensuring the protection of one of the world's most elusive birds, the night parrot, will be expanded in central-west Queensland.

The project was set to wind up at the end of the year, but conservation managers say the work was far from over.

Conservation organisation Bush Heritage Australia (BHA) said the focus would now be on conservation management, working with the Night Parrot Recovery Team and the University of Queensland and Charles Darwin University researchers.

BHA signed the nature refuge agreement with the State Government last week.

Dr Steve Murphy has headed research into the night parrot since it was discovered by naturalist John Young in 2013.

The bird had been thought to be extinct for more than 75 years.

In 2013 when the bird was rediscovered, the location of the site where it was found was kept secret, only known as Pullen Pullen nature reserve in central-west Queensland.

In the last three years, Dr Murphy tracked and captured two night parrots, found and photographed an active nest, and located more birds on a neighbouring property.

The original research project was funded by Fortescue Metals and is due for completion at the end of this year, but Dr Murphy said the work would continue across a wider network of researchers.

"We've learned a great deal, but we still need to know a lot more and we need to broaden the base a lot to include more people with fresh ideas which will bring stability and vibrancy to the research program," he said.

Dr Murphy said he would remain involved, supervising PhD students and beginning work on a project aimed at the management of feral animals in night parrot habitats.

BHA worked with the Queensland Government to establish a 56,000-hectare nature refuge at the original site.

The Queensland Government has chipped in $440,000 toward the protection of the bird.

BHA's head of Northern Australian operations, Rob Murphy, said the work to date had laid important foundations for the future research.

"Part of the research being conducted was all about how you can predict where night parrots might be and this is one of the success stories," he said.

"Night parrots have been found on a neighbouring property, which is great news for the research, but also great news for the species itself in that it's not just isolated to one smaller reserve, it's actually existing across the broader landscape across Australia, which is fantastic."