Staff Research Profiles
Dr. Suniti Bandaranaike (Townsville campus)
Main research interests are in the area of population studies, development and fisheries economics with emphasis on Australian immigration issues, the second generation, labour market studies and Pacific Island Demography. Specific research projects include internal migration in Tonga, changing role and status of women in Tonga, influence of religion on fertility, characteristics of first and second generation Australians, and the changing population structure and effect on marine resources.
Dr. Alison Cottrell (Townsville campus)
General research interests are in human geography, in particular contemporary approaches to environmental management (including community participation), urban and rural social change, attitudes to and perceptions of environmental issues in Southeast Asia, impact of tourism on demographic and social factors in Southeast Asia, and the presentation of Australia to Asian tourists.
Associate Professor Mark Fenton (Townsville campus)
Research interests include social and community impact assessment, community involvement programs and the application of GIS to social indicators analysis. Current research is on the social impact of changing forest policies in Tasmania and Victoria and fisheries restructuring and area closures in Queensland.
Professor David Gillieson (Cairns Campus)
David’s research interests focus on limestone landscape processes, cave management and environmental monitoring. He is also interested in applications of remote sensing and geographical information systems to land management issues in protected areas. David is currently working on karst land classification and ecological risk management at Jenolan Caves, NSW. He has also commenced a remote sensing study of lowland forest clearance and fluvial sedimentation in Irian Jaya.
Dr. Douglas Goudie (Townsville campus)
An Adjunct Lecturer with TESAG, Douglas has been associated
with TESAG since its
inception, and is the principal researcher with Sustainable Structures
and
Behaviour. Along with disaster mitigation, urban energy research interests
focus
on sustainable urban structures and behaviour, using Human Geography skills
and
perspectives to engender more sustainable urban travel. Dr Goudie actively
promotes research and development of the intimate relationship between
landuse,
urban travel and less car-dependent urban travel infrastructure.
Dr. Peter Griggs (Cairns Campus)
General research interests are in patterns of change in Australian nineteenth century economic landscapes and the historical geography of the Australian sugar industry between 1788 and 1915. In particular, these include: technological change in the sugar milling industry; origins and development of small cane farming systems in Australia; origins, characteristics, distribution and decline of sugar plantations; evolution of the duopoly in the sugar refining sector; geographic patterns of sugar cane production; role of Scottish sugar machinery manufacturers and; science and the sugar planters - improving agricultural methods in the Queensland sugar industry.
Dr. Emma Gyuris (Townsville campus)
Research interests are in pure and applied ecology, especially the application of knowledge of life-histories to conservation goals, and behavioural ecology (especially predation). Special interests are marine turtles and seabirds with special emphasis on survivorship in the early stages, and the examination of ecological impacts of visitors on the fauna or coral islands of the Great Barrier Reef regions.
Dr. Elaine Harding (Cairns Campus)
Broad research interests in population and community ecology
with a focus on bird and mammal species. In particular, research focuses
on the relationship between environmental heterogeneity and the demographic
and spatial structure of populations. Work also addresses the conservation
of rare and endangered species, as well as the management of non-native
species, by utilising demographic models to evaluate potential management
strategies.
Dr. David Hilbert (Cairns Campus)
Senior Research Scientist with the
CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems Division at the Tropical Forest Research
Centre, and also an Adjunct Senior Lecturer with our School. An ecosystems
modeller who is working with the CRC Rainforest to develop better predictive
models of species distributions.
Dr. Rosemary Hill (Cairns campus)
Conducts collaborative research with Aboriginal people focused on achieving cultural sustainability in environmental management, particularly in the wet tropics bioregion. Recent research was conducted on fire management and its effects on the rainforest/sclerophyll forest boundary. Also lectures in conservation, resource management, and spatial analysis.
Professor David Hopley (Townsville campus)
An Adjunct Professor with TESAG, Prof. Hopley has a distinguished record
in coastal and reef geomorphology, coastal management and global climate
change. Was awarded a personal chair in TESAG in 1992 and has also served
as Director of the Sir George Fisher Centre in the University. Credits
also include serving as Chairman of the Pacific Congress on Marine Science
and Technology, and his textbook on the geomorphology of the Great Barrier
Reef is highly regarded internationally.
Associate Professor David King (Townsville campus)
General interests are in human geography, particularily migration and rural and urban development in the third world and Southeast Asia and the Pacific. He also researches the socio-economic impacts of mines, especially the social impact of Ok Tedi mine, and roads and major developments. Research projects include the roles and functions of small towns and service centres, especially of north Australia savanna, town planning and urbanisation in north Australia and South Pacific, census analysis, social and community planning, disaster studies in North Queensland and the South West Pacific.
Director of the Centre for Disaster Studies
Dr. Ivan Lawler (Townsville campus)
Primary research area is dugong ecology. In particular the estimation of dugong abundance and distribution via aerial survey techniques and the assessment of sustainable harvesting/mortality levels in dugong populations. Ivan has strong interests in herbivory.
Dr. Jon Luly (Townsville campus)
Broad research interests are in palaeoecology of arid zones and of wet and dry tropics, palaeoclimatology, micrometeorology and the ecology of dry rainforests, in particular the history and development of the Australian vegetation at time scales relevant to the development of arid climates and the arrival and impacts of peoples. Current projects include use of pollen analysis to investigate the timing of aridification of inland Australia and the nature of environmental responses to aridity; investigation of dendrochronological and dendroclimatological potential of Araucaria cunninghamii and studies of comparative water use strategies of savanna and deciduous vine thicket species.
Dr. Chris Margules Cairns campus)
Officer in Charge of the Sustainable Ecosystems Division of the CSIRO, Atherton Laboratory, and is an Adjunct Associate Professor with our School. Research interests include the management of biological diversity; how and why populations decline and what can be done about it, and planning for biological diversity; where, in the landscape, should areas for the protection of biodiversity be located?
Professor Helene Marsh (Townsville campus)
Broad research areas are in the application of ecology to the management of marine, coastal and terrestrial wildlife species (notably dugongs, sea turtles and native mammals) and their habitats, especially in relation to their distribution and abundance, life history, diet and movements. Current research also includes the management of Indigenous resources and environmental monitoring and associated methodological problems. Additionally, Helene is leading a CRC Reef Research program involved with finding sustainable solutions to anthropogenic impacts on the Great Barrier Reef.
Mr. James Moloney (Townsville campus)
Overall research interests include Landscape Ecology, Conservation Biology & Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Particular theoretical interests include 1) relationships between the effects of natural, and human disturbance on animal communities, 2) the manner in which historical & current disturbance regimes determine community structure, and 3) general avian ecology. Applied interests include 1) vertebrate community responses to habitat fragmentation, 2) the effects of various human activities on animal communities, 3) the use of GIS in natural resource management and 4) vertebrate habitat modelling
Dr. Jon Nott Cairns campus)
Broad research interests are in Quaternary climate change, Palaeolithic flood records, catastrophic wave impacts and the evolution of eastern Australian highlands. Specific research interests include plunge pool deposits, interactions of tsunamis with coral reefs and the role of passive margin tectonics in the development of land forms.
Associate Professor Kevin Parnell (Townsville campus)
Teaching and research interests are primarily in the fields of coastal and coral reef geomorphology and management, with particular expertise in reef flat sediment transport and reef island development and stability, vessel wake dynamics and environmental effects, sand extraction from the coastal zone, coastal monitoring methodology and medium term beach change, high energy beach dynamics, and beach and intertidal flat water table responses. The integration of indigenous knowledge with geomorphic history of environments, and the application of geomorphology to environmental management are important themes.
Professor Brian Roberts (Cairns campus)
An Adjunct Professor with TESAG, Prof Roberts is the Coordinator of the Douglas Shire Sustainable Futures Program with the CSIRO. Research interests include natural resource management, land use planning, property management planning, land use suitability classification and the use of fire.
Dr. Scott Smithers (Townsville campus)
Broad research interests are in coastal (reef, beaches, estuaries) and fluvial geomorphology, especially the Quaternary evolution of these environments and their palaeoenvironmental histories. Recent research includes reef and coral response to environmental change (especially sea-level and climate), environmental histories reconstructed from reef and coral evidence, the geomorphology and management of north Queensland coastal streams, morphodynamics of meso and macrotidal beaches and estuaries, and the deposition and environmental significance of boulder deposits on the islands of the Great Barrier Reef.
Dr.
Dermot Smyth (Consultant)
Designed and implemented draining programs for Aboriginal ranges and
worked on Aboriginal resource issues with most major agencies. During his
subject he will be assisted by Aboriginal people involved in conserving
tropical Australia.
Associate Professor Steve Turton (Cairns campus)
Broad research interests are in tropical rainforest micrometerology and climatology (particularly in relation to solar radiation measurement and modelling), open rainforest boundary dynamics, shading effects in rainforests, and construction of fine-scale present-day and palaeoenvironmental bioclimate surfaces for Queensland's wet tropics. Current research also examines diurnal and seasonal surface energetics for lowland and upland tropical rainforest canopies in northeastern Australia.
Associate Professor Peter Valentine (Townsville campus)
Broad research areas are in environmental management issues for protected areas (including National Parks and Reserves, Marine National Parks, World Heritage Areas, etc.) and related nature conservation issues, with particular interest in the integration of social science and ecotourism (especially in poorer Asian-Pacific countries) in natural resource management. Research includes environmental processes such as the effects of fire, interactions between tourism and wildlife, including marine mammals, biogeography and the ecology and conservation of butterflies.
Mr.
Simon Woodley (Townsville
campus)
Research and teaching interests are in coastal zone management and marine
protected area management with a particular emphasis on the Great Barrier
Reef and SE Asia. Has worked for over twenty years in the planning and
management of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. Has also delivered
training and capacity building projects in coastal zone management and
marine protected area management in many countries of the SE Asian Region.
