Bushfires Expert Database

Find a local expert from one of the following categories:

  • Community preparation and resilience
    Name Faculty Expertise Overview
    Professor Paul Babie Faculty of Professions Property law research explicitly exploring the challenge posed by climate change and environmental harm generally, to the future of property law. How can governments legislate to regulate the way we relate to e.g.  land, cars, houses, IP, etc, in ways that ensure better outcomes both for people and for the environment / water allocation law and use.
    Associate Professor Douglas Bardsley Faculty of Arts The analysis of risks to socio-ecological systems and the development of effective responses to them in the fields of bushfire management, agricultural development, invasive species management, coastal planning, human migration, biodiversity conservation and climate change adaptation.  
    Associate Professor David Brown Faculty of Professions Property law issues and in particular, termination/frustration of contracts especially leases (e.g. experience post NZ earthquake).  
    Dr Peter Burdon Faculty of Professions Climate Change Law with a particular emphasis on Australia's obligations under the Paris Agreement, national determined contributions and climate finance.
    Professor David Chittleborough Faculty of Sciences Movement of particulate and dissolved organic carbon, clays  from soils In catchments and their impact on water quality in streams and storages. Element and mineral analysis of soils. Chemical and mineralogical techniques to track the source and dispersion of clays and organo-mineral components from their source in catchments and transport into waterways.    
    Professor Jodie Conduit Faculty of Professions Customer engagement, corporate volunteering, volunteer engagement, service systems, market shaping.
    Dr Alex Gorod Faculty of Professions Analysis tool disaster recovery to improve emergency response and preparedness; modeling and simulation. 
    Professor Adam Graycar Stretton Institute Stakeholder mapping, assessment of policy instruments for each substantive intervention, and a translation exercise of turning science into policy and community awareness. 
    Associate Professor Indra Gunawan Faculty of Professions System reliability modelling, maintenance optimisation, project management, applications of operations research, and operations management / development of an innovative concept of a public private emergency collaboration (PPEC) to improve critical infrastructure protection in Australia.
    Dr Scott Hanson-Easey   Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences A social psychologist with experience working with the emergency services and diverse rural and metropolitan communities on risk communication and resilience building. His research has informed emergency and disaster management risk communication interventions for government and non-government stakeholders. His work enhances risk communication efforts, and addresses cultural, economic, social, structural, and discursive factors. His research has guided agencies such as the CFA, SA SES and SAMFS, Australian Red Cross, Australian Refugee Association, Hutt St Centre, Anglicare, and Australian Council of Social Service with better communication strategies, especially for those who speak English as a second language.
    Mr Paul Leadbeter Faculty of Professions Land use planning law and experience in the areas of water law, vegetation clearance laws and reservation of land for conservation purposes.
    Professor Megan Lewis Faculty of Sciences

    The Spatial Sciences Group (SSG) offer considerable expertise in environmental surveillance, remote sensing and geospatial analysis, to enhance management and monitoring of fire affected environments at scales ranging from extremely high-resolution to broad landscapes. They are able to advise and provide training for field personnel in the use of novel technologies and data streams.                                          

    • Rapid mapping of burnt areas
    • Monitoring impacts and regeneration after fires                              
    • Characterisation of past fire frequencies, extents and regimes (using decades of archived imagery) to inform fire prediction, control burning and habitat management for wildlife
    • Analysis of climatic, environmental and cultural influences on fire regimes
    • Spatial prediction of heatwaves and extreme weather
    • Dynamic regional land cover and fuel load assessment to inform fire prediction models
    • Geographic analysis of land uses, infrastructure and environmental constraints to underpin safety and emergency planning
    Dr Michelle Lim Faculty of Professions Futures-focused biodiversity law and governance. 
    Professor Dusan Losic Faculty of Engineering, Computer and Mathematical Sciences The incorporation of graphene in fire retardant materials, and how this could be incorporated into materials to prevent the initiation of combustion as well as exploring the potential use as additives in fluids to enhance fire-fighting effectiveness.
    Professor Holger Maier Faculty of Engineering, Computer and Mathematical Sciences The integrated assessment of regional bushfire risk and the effectiveness of different mitigation strategies over a range of time periods due to changes in future conditions such as climate change, population growth, economic development, land-use planning, fuel load reduction. The group have co-developed UNHaRMED – the Unified Natural Hazard Risk Mitigation Exploratory Decision support system for testing the effectiveness of different bushfire risk reduction strategies supporting Government agencies reduce future risk.   
    Professor Kostas Mavromaras Faculty of Profession Expertise in workforces and on the provision of services to people with disability. Considerable experience in policy evaluation.
    Dr Cesca McInerney Faculty of Sciences Examines how climate change influenced terrestrial ecosystems in the geologic past.
    Dr Megan Moskos Faculty of Professions Expertise in both Indigenous communities (rural and remote) and rural and remote resilience and recovery.
    Professor Gus Nathan Faculty of Engineering, Computer and Mathematical Sciences Centre for Energy Technologies; Smouldering and the onset of bushfires; modelling of fires, in confined spaces such as aircraft; combustion research involving solid, liquid and gaseous fuels, in the production of fine particle emissions, including soot, and in the development of technology to control combustion-generated pollutant emissions; renewable energy, renewable fuels, hybrid energy systems and laser diagnostics; atmospheric emissions, chemistry and modelling.
    Associate Professor Melissa Nursey-Bray Faculty of Arts Development of short  courses/workshops on adapting to bushfires - to deliver to stakeholders/local governments regarding risk/climate management or for bushfire management/situations. Community engagement/building adaptive capacity. Building effective disaster and recovery communications to manage future risk. Indigenous engagement re managing after fire events on country/places of residence.
    Dr Jasmin Packer Faculty of Sciences Co-designing alternatives to prescribed burns for landscape-scale and fine-scale management (threatened flora) with industry; Co-designing with industry and community on translocations to minimise future risk to threatened species from bushfire. Responses after fire for wildlife and their habitat quality.
    Professor Carolin Plewa Faculty of Professions Customer engagement, corporate volunteering, cross-sectoral business collaboration, sponsorship, market shaping.
    Professor Chris Preston Faculty of Sciences Weed management.
    Dr Thomas Prowse Faculty of Engineering, Computer and Mathematical Sciences The impact of prescribed burning on avian diversity and abundance in the Mount Lofty Ranges and is familiar with the broader literature on optimising anthropogenic burning for conservation and biodiversity.
    Professor Fran Schultmann Faculty of Professions Sustainable production and logistics, decision support, supply chain management and optimisation, project management, technology assessment, construction management, and information and communication technologies.
    Associate Professor Carolyn Semmler Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences Immediate psychological responses to crisis and long term science communication and behaviour change to mitigate risk and prepare for climate change.
    Professor Peng Shi Faculty of Engineering, Computer and Mathematical Sciences Using Autonomous Multi-Vehicle Systems in Bushfire Fighting. Security of Cyber-Physical Systems. Wireless Sensing Networks. Robotics and Automation. Intelligent Systems.
    Professor Andrew Skuse Faculty of Arts Communication for risk reduction, mitigation and recovery. Understanding how communities utilise information and communication resources/technologies to access information about emergencies, to socially network and link to emergency stakeholders. Assessment of information needs, uses and preference to tailor emergency communication appropriately and effectively. The application of communication and community engagement mechanisms to support the creation of positive feedback loops to feed data to emergency organisations and promote greater accountability and transparency of aid delivery. Social analysis of resilience and recovery utilising participatory people-centred methodologies and tools to learn lessons from recent emergencies, including how SA might respond to heightened levels of risk.
    Professor Veronica Soebarto Faculty of Engineering, Computer and Mathematical Sciences Eco-friendly and resilient approaches to planning, building design and construction.
    Professor Dale Stephens Faculty of Professions The Adelaide Law School Research Unit on Military Law and Ethics (RUMLAE) is ideally suited to lead the research effort to address these critical legal and policy issues relating to ADF natural disaster support within Australia and advise in a practical sense on the issue.
    Dr Jonathan Tyler Faculty of Sciences Reconstructing climate and fire histories from lake and wetland sediments. Assessing the long-term link between climate variability, vegetation change and fire occurrence. Using stable isotopes to trace the movement of water and materials through the environment.
    Professor Wendy Umberger Faculty of Professions Behavioural economics, agribusiness, agricultural, food and nutrition/health sciences. Understanding the links between food system transformation and consumer and producer welfare.
    Professor Michelle Waycott Faculty of Sciences

    The development of long term planning strategies to deliver resilience and high priority management needs delivering defined outcomes to the community. Species recovery policy development and identification of evidence base to inform decision making associated with policies and regulations.
    Dr Sam Wells Faculty of Professions Community sustainability and social enterprise, organisational sustainability (including sustainability of the human environment), the complex systems view of change, and the dynamics of a paradigm shift to sustainability.
    Professor Seth Westra Faculty of Engineering, Computer and Mathematical Sciences Water Research Centre - hydrological team. Implications on runoff volumes from catchments, flood risk implications, water security for reservoirs and environmental water implications.
    Professor Sarah Wheeler Faculty of Professions Water markets, climate change and agriculture. She focuses on the links between mental health of farmers and children, climate change, water scarcity and farmer adoption.                
    Professor Tom Wigley Faculty of Sciences Pre-fire drought and weather during the fires. With a focus on climate, carbon cycle modelling and climate data analysis he is one of the world's foremost experts on climate change and one of the most highly cited scientists in the discipline.             

     

  • Rapid damage assessment and response

    Name

    		 Faculty Expertise Overview
    Associate Professor Jeremy Austin Faculty of Sciences Conservation genetics of threatened species, genetic management of threatened species and eDNA biodiversity assessment.
     

    Dr Cris Birzer

    		 Faculty of Engineering, Computer and Mathematical Sciences Humanitarian research, clean water, food, sanitation under emergency conditions. As a member of the Australian Defence Force in was involved in the 2019/2020 Australian bushfire response and as a civilian with the UN in the 2015 Nepalese earthquakes emergency response.
    Dr Sam Baroudi Faculty of Profession Project management in disaster recovery, construction. 
    Professor Justin Brookes Faculty of Sciences Water Research Centre (see also Westra, Gillanders, Santos). Modifications to landuse change the way the water flows and how this transports particles, chemicals and contaminants across the landscape. Wildfires change the landscape and chemistry and soils become highly erodible. This presents an immediate threat to aquatic habitats as particles and chemicals are transported into streams, rivers and estuaries. Particles can reduce light availability and so change primary production in the system, which is the basis for energy flow and food webs. An additional challenge with fires is a modification of hydrology as vegetation rebounds and water capture and evapotranspiration increases. This changes water yield in water supply catchments and groundwater recharge rates.
    Associate Professor Cassandra Collins Faculty of Sciences Surveillance and assessment of fire damage in vineyards.
    Professor Robert Fitzpatrick Faculty of Sciences

    Soil Forensics with the Acid Sulfate Soils Centre. The irreversible alterations to soil minerals and soil structure from intense fires.  Fire may cause severe mineral alterations to soils, which includes the permanent conversion of some minerals into new minerals under a range of temperature conditions. Trace element availability and soil structure is affected. X-ray diffraction analysis (and experiments) on bone fragments - can be applied to bones and bone fragments being recovered from wild animals in fires.
    Professor Megan Lewis Faculty of Sciences

    The Spatial Sciences Group (SSG) offer considerable expertise in environmental surveillance, remote sensing and geospatial analysis, to enhance management and monitoring of fire affected environments at scales ranging from extremely high-resolution to broad landscapes. They are able to advise and provide training for field personnel in the use of novel technologies and data streams.

    • Rapid mapping of burnt areas
    • Monitoring impacts and regeneration after fires                              
    • Characterisation of past fire frequencies, extents and regimes (using decades of archived imagery) to inform fire prediction, control burning and habitat management for wildlife
    • Analysis of climatic, environmental and cultural influences on fire regimes
    • Spatial prediction of heatwaves and extreme weather
    • Dynamic regional land cover and fuel load assessment to inform fire prediction models
    • Geographic analysis of land uses, infrastructure and environmental constraints to underpin safety and emergency planning.           
    Dr Michelle Lim Faculty of Professions Futures-focused biodiversity law and governance.
    Dr Richard Matthews Faculty of Engineering, Computer and Mathematical Sciences Experience in developing and using Open Source Intelligence methods to obtain information from isolated and cut off communities. Information can be used to assist the decision making process of agencies by providing immediate targeted surveillance. This surveillance can then be triaged to better provide an assessment of communities, verify information provided from alternate sources and inform responses enabling informed decisions to be taken to assist those on the ground.
    Dr Lewis Mitchell Faculty of Engineering, Computer and Mathematical Sciences Expertise in the movement of information over social networks using mathematical models, coupled with data science techniques, including. Experience working on misinformation and/or social media related to the bushfires.
    Dr Thu Phuong Pham Faculty of Professions Impact of Natural Disasters and Corporate Failures on Financial Markets.
    Dr Ramesh Raja Segaran Faculty of Sciences The Uncrewed Research Aircraft Facility (URAF) offers environmental surveillance, remote sensing and geospatial analysis, to enhance management and monitoring of fire affected environments. Training for field personnel in the use of novel technologies and data streams. Detecting post fire hotspots and wildlife data collection/retrieval.  Fuel load assessment to inform fire prediction models. Longer-term impacts of controlled burning and habitat management.
    Dr Abel Santos Faculty of Engineering, Computer and Mathematical Sciences Water Research Centre (see also Westra, Gillanders, Santos). Modifications to landuse change the way the water flows and how this transports particles, chemicals and contaminants across the landscape. Wildfires change the landscape and chemistry and soils become highly erodible. This presents an immediate threat to aquatic habitats as particles and chemicals are transported into streams, rivers and estuaries. Particles can reduce light availability and so change primary production in the system, which is the basis for energy flow and food webs. An additional challenge with fires is a modification of hydrology as vegetation rebounds and water capture and evapotranspiration increases. This changes water yield in water supply catchments and groundwater recharge rates.
    Professor Peng Shi Faculty of Engineering, Computer and Mathematical Sciences Using Autonomous Multi-Vehicle Systems in Bushfire Fighting. Security of Cyber-Physical Systems. Wireless Sensing Networks. Robotics and Automation. Intelligent Systems.
    Dr Leigh Thredgold Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences Firefighting heat management. Understanding skin absorption of chemicals in hot environments. 
    Professor Michelle Waycott Faculty of Sciences How plant species, and the communities they occur in, react to disturbances including fire. Impact assessment to plants and water quality. Development of methodologies to detect plant recovery trajectories, significance of impact of disturbances such as fire and flood. Identifying management needs associated with species  recovery and engaging with policy development to deliver improved management outcomes to the community.
    Professor Kerry Wilkinson Faculty of Sciences World leading expertise in smoke taint in wine and amelioration.

  • Transitional arrangements to recovery
    Name Faculty Expertise Overview
    Dr Kathryn Amos Faculty of Engineering, Computer and Mathematical Sciences Sediment transport and deposition.
    Associate Professor Jeremy Austin Faculty of Sciences Conservation genetics of threatened species, genetic management of threatened species and eDNA biodiversity assessment.
    Professor Peng Bi Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences Environmental health, climate change, infectious diseases, emergency public health event response and population health.
    Dr Wayne Boardman Faculty of Sciences Conservation of endangered species, emerging wildlife diseases, wildlife disease ecology, health and diseases of Australian native wildlife, wildlife anaesthesia.  Crisis management with the organisation of emergency wildlife care. Post-fire – wildlife recovery: both of us have experience and lead several wildlife re-introduction or animal supplementation programs. (See also Anne-Lise Chaber.)
    Dr Anthelia Bond Faculty of Professions Applied ecology and economics. Ecological and social data collection and analysis (including spatial analysis). Project management.
    Dr Philip Brewer Faculty of Sciences Post-fire germination and plant regrowth. How plant hormones help plants respond to changed growth conditions.
    Associate Professor Phillip Cassey Faculty of Sciences Many of Australia’s unique habitats and endemic flora and fauna are highly threatened by invasive alien species - particularly mammalian predators and large herbivores.  Many of these species (e.g., feral horses, goats, deer, and predatory cats and foxes) will respond quicker following extreme habitat changes (such as fire) than native species, and will exacerbate the population extinction risk for these species. Fire events will often lead to a concentration of populations (distribution and abundance) and can facilitate unique opportunities for innovative control strategies, post fire. 
    Professor Timothy Cavagnaro Faculty of Sciences The soil ecology research group at the University of Adelaide focuses on the question: How do we manage soil ecological processes to achieve agricultural and environmental sustainability in a time of significant environmental change?   When plant material is not completely burnt; or is exposed to differing degrees of charring before it falls to the soil surface where it is decomposed by the soil microbiome; it can cause a dramatic shift in the composition of the soil microbial community and reduced mineral nitrogen availability in the soil.  This will have important flow on effects for vegetation and soil recovery after a fire.
    Dr Anne-Lise Chaber Faculty of Sciences Conservation of endangered species, emerging wildlife diseases, wildlife disease ecology, health and diseases of Australian native wildlife, wildlife anaesthesia. Crisis management with the organisation of emergency wildlife care. Post-fire – wildlife recovery: led several wildlife re-introduction or animal supplementation programs.
    Professor Anna Chur-Hansen Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences Knowledge and research abilities in relation to the psychological impact of loss of companion animals, livestock and wildlife on individuals and groups.
    Associate Professor Cassandra Collins Faculty of Sciences Surveillance and assessment of fire damage in vineyards.
    Professor Sean Connell Faculty of Sciences Local marine conservation and local marine technology.  Aquaculture industry (abalone & oysters). Diversifying income with eco-tourism.
    Adj. Professor Chris Daniels Faculty of Sciences Wildlife recovery.
    Dr Steve Delean Faculty of Sciences Biodiversity monitoring, and the management of over-abundant native and pest species. Statistical models to guide the management of native and feral species.
    Dr Manjula Dissanayake Faculty of Professions Entrepreneurial learning taking a technology-centric approach, personal initiative coach, experienced entrepreneur.
    Professor Steve Donnellan SA Museum/Faculty of Sciences Systematics and population genetics of Kangaroo Island and Mount Lofty Ranges vertebrates. Are island populations conspecific with the mainland or island endemic? Impact on conservation status, translocations and rescue options.
    Dr Xiaoguang Duan Faculty of Engineering, Computer and Mathematical Sciences Advanced manufacture of scalable functional nanomaterials for green chemical processes. Applications of nanotechnology for environmental remediation, including purification of microplastics and emerging bushfire microcontaminants in drinking water and marine systems.
    Dr Juraj Farkas Faculty of Sciences The Metal Isotope Group offer expertise and tools to trace the sources and pathways of heavy metals released into the environment due to bushfires. They can apply existing methods and develop new metal isotope tracers to better understand the mobilisation and fluxes of these toxic metals released from 'burned vegetation & infrastructure' into the local soils and eventually hydrological reservoirs - soil waters, streams, groundwaters - contaminated by such fire-mobilised metals.
    Dr Sharyn Gaskin Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences Adelaide Exposure Science & Health (AESH) specialises in understanding the population exposures (environmental and occupational) during and after fire and what to do and avoid to ensure the by-products of combustion do not contribute to adverse acute and chronic health outcomes. Technical Advice Co-ordinators for the State Emergency response network.
    Professor Bronwyn Gillanders Faculty of Sciences Effects of bush fire on the estuarine systems including water quality and fish assemblages.
    Associate Professor Steven Goodman Faculty of Professions Wineries: marketing communications, value chains, cellar door design, wine quality perceptions and customer engagement.
    Dr Alex Gorod Faculty of Professions Analysis tool disaster recovery to improve emergency response and preparedness; modeling and simulation.
    Professor Frank Grutzner Faculty of Sciences Genetic testing of scat, swap, hair and soil samples. Citizen Science and public engagement.
    Associate Professor Anne Hewitt Faculty of Professions Discrimination law and policy relevant to the bushfire crisis: When making available services to facilitate individual recovery this raises the spectre of potential discrimination that may result from the way services are offered, rolled out, made available and accessed.
    Professor Bob Hill Environment Institute  The evolutionary response of plant species to regenerate after fire.  As fire frequency rises with climate change and they become more intense, especially when associated with long-term drought events, then the evolutionary mechanisms can begin to fail. It is critical that we monitor this, since failure of these adaptations is a major issue prohibiting successful native vegetation regeneration post-fire.
    Professor Sandra Hodge Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences Respiratory diseases. Understanding key respiratory and inflammatory responses and designing specific clinical approaches that improve recovery time, and monitor/minimise long-term health adversity from bushfires.
    Dr Katja Hogendoorn Faculty of Sciences Dr    Hogendoorn    Katja    Sciences    Insect recovery and monitoring. How certain key invertebrate taxa (for functional groups) recover over time (ants, native bees, water invertebrates etc).    katja.hogendoorn@adelaide.edu.au                        
     
    Mr Craig Johns Faculty of Professions Analysis of agribusiness and agroforestry value chains and value chain improvement activities across the industry. Global food experience from production through to consumption from the perspective of both the private and public sectors.
    Dr Olena Kravchuk Faculty of Sciences Statistical design and analysis of field assessment and spatially balanced sampling,     the analysis of complex statistical models in relation to biological applications, bioinformatics and statistical genome analysis of plant, pathogen and animal settings.
    Professor Chris Leishman Faculty of Arts The University’s Centre for Housing, Urban and Regional Planning (CHURP) has consistently undertaken work in the area of regional planning and as such could offer expertise into how to support regional communities to survive disasters. The centre’s expertise also includes: housing supply and affordability, housing and land development, sustainable residential development.
    Professor Megan Lewis Faculty of Sciences

    The Spatial Sciences Group (SSG) offer considerable expertise in environmental surveillance, remote sensing and geospatial analysis, to enhance management and monitoring of fire affected environments at scales ranging from extremely high-resolution to broad landscapes. They are able to advise and provide training for field personnel in the use of novel technologies and data streams.                                                           

    • Rapid mapping of burnt areas
    • Monitoring impacts and regeneration after fires                              
    • Characterisation of past fire frequencies, extents and regimes (using decades of archived imagery) to inform fire prediction, control burning and habitat management for wildlife
    • Analysis of climatic, environmental and cultural influences on fire regimes
    • Spatial prediction of heatwaves and extreme weather
    • Dynamic regional land cover and fuel load assessment to inform fire prediction model 
    • Geographic analysis of land uses, infrastructure and environmental constraints to underpin safety and emergency planning.
    Dr Michelle Lim Faculty of Professions Futures-focused biodiversity law and governance.
    Professor Petra Marschner Faculty of Sciences Nearly all organic carbon and nitrogen on the surface and top few centimetres of the soil is lost during bushfires. Since most soil organisms live in these layers, many are killed during the fire. Natural ecosystems rely on soil processes where leaves and other organic material are broken down by organisms such as beetles, ants, earthworms, bacteria and fungi, releasing nutrients into the soil to be taken up by again by plants. Fire interrupts this cycle. The question we are trying to answer is how long it takes before soil processes are restored to levels prior to the fire. In particular, we are interested in how soil amendments can enhance recovery of soil processes. This understanding is critical for recovery of plants and ecosystems after fire.
    Professor Faye McCallum Faculty of Arts Wellbeing of teachers and leaders and the impact of their wellbeing on learners and school communities.
    Professor Mike McLaughlin Faculty of Sciences Soil and environmental chemistry, ecotoxicology, risk assessment, food quality, crop nutrition, and fertiliser technology.
    Professor Tracy Merlin Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences Evidence synthesis on the safety, effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of any type of health intervention (health technology assessment), evidence-based policy, clinical epidemiology, health services, mental health.
    Associate Professor Luke Mosley Faculty of Sciences Intense bushfires can have major deleterious effects on soil including loss of organic carbon and nutrients, increased erosion, and water repellency. Effects may last for decades or more post-fire. Wind and water erosion post-fires also can create major impacts on water supplies and ecosystems.
    Associate Professor Melissa Nursey-Bray Faculty of Arts Development of short  courses/workshops on adapting to bushfires - to deliver to stakeholders/local govts re risk/climate management or for bushfire management/situations. Community engagement/building adaptive capacity. Building effective disaster and recovery communications to manage future risk. Indigenous engagement re managing after fire events on country/places of residence.
    Associate Professor Patrick O'Connor Faculty of Professions Ecological assessment design and implementation. Incentive design and implementation. Recovery evaluation and reporting.
    Dr Jasmin Packer Faculty of Sciences Co-designing alternatives to prescribed burns for landscape-scale and fine-scale management (threatened flora) with industry; Co-designing with industry and community on translocations to minimise future risk to threatened species from bushfire; Responses after fire for wildlife and their habitat quality.
    Associate Professor Paul Grbin Faculty of Sciences Head wine maker, collaborates with wine chemists to  study effects on wine and amelioration techniques.
    Dr Thu Phuong Pham Faculty of Professions Impact of Natural Disasters and Corporate Failures on Financial Markets. 
    Professor Dino Pisaniello Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences Adelaide Exposure Science & Health (AESH) specialises in understanding the population exposures (environmental and occupational) during and after fire and what to do and avoid to ensure the by-products of combustion do not contribute to adverse acute and chronic health outcomes. Technical Advice Co-ordinators for the State Emergency response network.
    Dr Ramesh Raja Segaran Faculty of Sciences The Unmanned Research Aircraft Facility (URAF) offers environmental surveillance, remote sensing and geospatial analysis, to enhance management and monitoring of fire affected environments. Training for field personnel in the use of novel technologies and data streams. Detecting post fire hotspots and wildlife data collection/retrieval.  Fuel load assessment to inform fire prediction models. Longer-term impacts of controlled burning and habitat management.
    Dr Abel Santos Faculty of Engineering, Computer and Mathematical Sciences Water Research Centre (see also Westra, Gillanders, Santos). Modifications to landuse change the way the water flows and how this transports particles, chemicals and contaminants across the landscape. Wildfires change the landscape and chemistry and soils become highly erodible. This presents an immediate threat to aquatic habitats as particles and chemicals are transported into streams, rivers and estuaries. Particles can reduce light availability and so change primary production in the system, which is the basis for energy flow and food webs. An additional challenge with fires is a modification of hydrology as vegetation rebounds and water capture and evapotranspiration increases. This changes water yield in water supply catchments and groundwater recharge rates.
    Associate Professor Carolyn Semmler Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences Immediate psychological responses to crisis and long term science communication and behaviour change to mitigate risk and prepare for climate change.
    Professor Peng Shi Faculty of Engineering, Computer and Mathematical Sciences Using Autonomous Multi-Vehicle Systems in Bushfire Fighting. Security of Cyber-Physical Systems. Wireless Sensing Networks. Robotics and Automation. Intelligent Systems.
    Associate Professor Ben Sparrow Faculty of Sciences Long term ecosystem monitoring, including in response to extreme events.
    Dr Natasha Speight Faculty of Sciences Research on the diseases of koalas - supporting their conservation and management.
    Professor Paul Steffens Faculty of Professions Start-up processes and firm growth; entrepreneurship for economic growth; youth, senior, immigrant entrepreneurship, personal initiative coach.
    Associate Professor Yan Tan Faculty of Arts Migration and displacement. Translation into workable policy to reduce vulnerability and promote sustainable urbanisation and rural development.
    Dr Amanda Taylor Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences Mental health and wellbeing for emergency service volunteers.
    Dr Vicki Thomson Faculty of Sciences Feral cats are one of the main drivers of native animal declines and extinctions in Australia. Feral cats are often able to move into burnt areas after fires and outcompete, or predate on, vulnerable populations of local native animals that are now without protective cover. How native species survive this post-fire devastation is important for their future prognosis.
    Dr Andrew Thornhill Faculty of Sciences Molecular phylogenetic analyses. The genetic spatial distribution of Australia's flora to improve conservation planning. Vegetation survey, plant identification, and herbarium collection skills.
    Associate Professor John Tibby Faculty of Arts Can combine fire records (from charcoal and potentially other indicators ­ such as sediment FTIR) to infer fire history and then use a suite of other approaches (sediment geochemistry, pollen and diatom analysis) to examine the soil response to fires and the knock on effects to vegetation and aquatic ecosystems. The resilience of soils and ecosystems to fire. To what extent do they resist perturbations vs entering a new state?  
    Dr Leonid Turczynowicz Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences
    • Adelaide Exposure Science & Health (AESH) specialises in understanding the population exposures (environmental and occupational) during and after fire and what to do and avoid to ensure the by-products of combustion do not contribute to adverse acute and chronic health outcomes Provision of occupational health advice on mitigation of hazards for workers in affected areas including correct PPE.
    • Technical Advice Co-ordinators for the State Emergency response network.
    • Human health risk assessment of chemicals produced or released following bushfires to air, soil, water and for buildings.
    • Vapour intrusion exposure assessment associated with leaks and losses of fuels and other volatile unburnt hydrocarbons into soils and groundwaters.
    • Risk communication for affected communities including workers.
    Professor Deborah Turnball Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences Psychology/Mental health.
    Professor Michelle Waycott Faculty of Sciences

    How plants adapt to stressful environments and respond to specific stressors such as fire, sea-level rise, nutrient excess/depletion and physical disturbance. Plant attributes at a species level – sometimes referred to as ‘vital attributes’ – that relate to a species ability to recover from fire.  Population structure studies to determine provenances and the ability of species to maintain modern connectivity, increasingly important in our current climate.  Resilience of plant habitats under changing conditions. Seed collections for restoration and translocation activities and ex situ conservation.
    Interaction between management and policy to deliver long term resilience of plant communities and species recovery under scenarios of threatening processes.
    Professor Phil Weinstein Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences The effects of bushfire smoke on firefighters. The mental health effects of environmental degradation. The post-disaster needs of communities.
    Associate Professor Mathew White Faculty of Arts Leading positive change, application of wellbeing and positive psychology in education. Rebuilding wellbeing of leaders and teachers in bushfire-affected school.
    Professor Kerry Wilkinson Faculty of Sciences World leading expertise in smoke taint in wine and amelioration.
    Associate Professor David Parsons Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences Respiratory health and disease expertise, including research into the effects of Cystic Fibrosis health, disease, and treatment (incl genetic therapies); effects of inhaled lead dust on lung health; and use of revolutionary low dose X-ray based lung function imaging to diagnose and monitor lung disease from any source. 
    Dr Martin Donnelly Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences Respiratory assessment expertise including novel non-invasive airway health assessment methods based on using synchrotron imaging to detect, quantify and follow changes in airway surface health. Access to 4Dx Permetium for XV regional lung function assessments in rats and mice, and fluoroscopy equipment for XV assessments in large animals.