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Prof Matthias Boer

My research interest focuses on the landscape ecology and management of fire-prone environments. I am particularly interested in the biophysical basis for spatial variation in current and future fire regimes, and in the mechanisms and feedbacks by which fire may mediate, reinforce or constrain impacts of changing climate, [CO2] or land use on ecosystem functions and services such as regulation of water and carbon fluxes or biodiversity conservation.

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Assoc Prof Rachael Gallagher

My primary interest is plant conservation, particularly under climate change.  Conservation biology; ecology; plant functional traits; biogeography; macroecology; species adaptation to climate change; global change biology                             

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Dist Prof Belinda Medlyn

My research focuses on how plants, especially forests, respond to increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide and climate change. I work at the interface between experiments and models: my aim is to develop evidence-based models of how ecosystem productivity, water use and species composition will be affected by global change, and to do so I work closely with a number of experimental teams world-wide to test and improve ecosystem models.                            

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Assoc Prof Ben Moore

My research focus on plant-animal interactions, chemical ecology and the causes and consequences of variation in plant chemistry. I am particularly interested in the chemical, nutritional and physiological ecology of Australian marsupials, like the koala, that feed on Eucalyptus. How is climate and landscape change altering the ecology of these interactions?                  

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Dr Rachael Nolan

I study how ecosystems respond to disturbance, and what this means for ecosystem services such as carbon sequestration, habitat values and water resources. My research is also developing better tools for predicting bushfires and planning prescribed burns.

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Prof Elise Pendall

I`m a soil and ecosystem ecologist who investigates the responses of biogeochemical cycling to climate change and ecological disturbances. Key research questions investigate how climate change and ecological disturbances might impact carbon storage and water loss from these sensitive ecosystems.

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Prof Benjamin Smith

I'm an ecologist and ecosystem modeller. I'm interested in the role of the biosphere in regional and global climate dynamics, using Earth system models to examine biogeochemical and biophysical feedbacks of ecosystem change to the atmosphere. I'm developing models for exploring responses of vegetation and ecosystems to drivers such as climate change, rising CO2 concentrations and land use.

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Assoc Prof Justin Welbergen

My research is concerned with the ways animals respond adaptively to changes in their social, ecological, and physical environment, especially among birds and bats. I have strong interests in evolutionary ecology, climate change biology, and conservation. Twitter @animalecolab, @batslab, @lyrebirdlab

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Research fellows


Dr Alison Hewitt

Bushfire recovery responses, structure and community composition dynamics in endangered woodlands.


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Dr Chris Gordon

I am a fire and landscape ecologist with a key focus on providing high quality research for environmental and ecosystem management. My research uses field, remote sensing and climate data to identify key drivers of environmental change, with a focus on wildfire ecology and risk management, plant ecology, trophic ecology and statistical inference.


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Dr Anne Griebel

I’m a tree physiologist with an interest in disturbance ecology. I’m passionate about unraveling the effects of heat and drought stress on tree health, ecosystem structure and function, and the biosphere-atmosphere exchange of carbon, water and energy. I am particularly intrigued by the trade-offs between carbon sequestration and water loss, interactions between mistletoes and their hosts, and how droughts and heatwaves influence the flammability of Australian ecosystems.


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Dr Assaf Inbar

I'm an ecosystem modeller and working as part of a team with developing a new community dynamic vegetation model for Australia (Dynamics of Australian Vegetation - DAVE). I have vast knowledge and experience in fire-related ecological, hydrological and geomorphological processes, especially in the South-eastern Australian perspective.

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Dr Mingkai Jiang

My primary field of research is ecosystem ecology. I have a broad research interest in plant physiology, ecosystem ecology, global change biology and biogeochemical land surface modelling.




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Dr Juergen Knaur


Dr Jessica Meade

I'm an animal ecologist with a particular interest in animal behaviour, navigation and spatial ecology. My research focus on navigation, involving a combination of high resolution tracking and experimental manipulation to investigate the sensory basis of navigation. Spatial ecology, identifying natural patterns of movement including foraging and migration and cooperative breeding, examining parental investment and helping behaviour. 




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Dr Jinyan (Jim) Yang

I'm an ecological modeller with broad interests on plant morphological and ecophysiological processes as well as their responses to climate change. I have investigated the modelling of the responses of Australian grassland phenology to rainfall variability. After that I joined the HIE Bushfire Research Group on the project “The influence of climate change on bushfire fuels in Victoria”. 




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Postgraduate students


Kathryn Fuller

I am a fire and forest ecologist with a primary focus on biogeography. My current research uses spatial analysis to quantify relationships between key fuel attributes, stand composition, biophysical drivers and fire behaviour.  




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Sienna Grady


Shiva Khanal


PhD Candidate Simin Rahmani

I received my Master of Environmental Biology from University of Wollongong (UOW) in 2018. I studied the pollution level from bushfire smoke plumes. I started working as a research assistant in UOW and Western Sydney University where I collected field data, did laboratory works and statistical analysis to examine effects of drought and fire on forest mortality and recovery. After that, I started my PhD in the field of fire ecology at WSU in 2021. My research focuse on drought and fire integration and their effect on tree mortality and recruitment.


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William McNeice

Collaborators


Bushfire Hub Researchers


Víctor Resco De Dios