Climate Futures

Climate Futures Members

The Climate Futures team brings together world-class expertise. With over 40 members from across Macquarie University we aim to take a multi-disciplinary approach to understand the risk and impacts that climate change will have on our physical and socio-ecological systems.

Member	Research theme	Research Interests
Dr Marco Amati Honorary Member	Institutions, Policy and Planning	Sustainable urban development with a focus on climate change issues through the planning of urban green spaces. The social, economic and environmental challenges associated with developing sustainable cities and urban regions internationally. The role of urban planning in adapting for climate change.
Dr Leanne Armand Department of Biological Sciences	Marine and Coastal Impacts and Adaptation	Marine phytoplankton in the Southern Ocean and along the Australian Coast. Environmental ecology (modern and palaeo). Palaeoceanography and palaeoclimatology. Community composition with respect to iron and silica availability.
A/Prof Hope Ashiabor Department of Accounting and Corporate Governance	Institutions, Policy and Planning	Environmentally related taxes. Regulatory aspects of carbon finance. Taxation Law and international tax.
A/Prof Brian Atwell Department of Biological Sciences	Terrestrial Biodiversity and Freshwater Impacts and Adaptation	Mechanisms of tolerance of rice to abiotic stresses (flooding, heat and drought) at the physiological and gene level. Finding tolerance to extreme environments using Australian wild rice species. Physiology and stress response of eucalypts in future climate regimes, including drought and rising CO2 levels.
Dr Linda Beaumont Department of Biological Sciences	Terrestrial Biodiversity and Freshwater Impacts and Adaptation	Climatic and bioclimatic modelling. Potential effects of climate change on both invasive weed species and native fauna and flora. How species distributions would change under various climate change models. Effects of climate change on biodiversity in the Wet Tropics.
A/Prof Paul Beggs Department of Environment and Geography	Institutions, Policy and Planning	Climate change and climate impacts on human health. Impacts of aeroallergens such as pollens, mould spores and house dust mite on human health.
Dr Melanie Bishop Department of Biological Sciences	Marine and Coastal Impacts and Adaptation	Climate change impacts on coastal and estuarine community ecology. Impacts of disturbance on coastal environments, especially benthic systems. How environmental and ecological factors alter marine biodiversity and ecosystem function.
Dr Kirstie Fryirs Department of Environment and Geography	Terrestrial Biodiversity and Freshwater Impacts and Adaptation	Geomorphic river condition and recovery potential. Integrative river science. Upland swamp function and hydrology. Sediment and seed dynamics in rivers of southeastern Australia. Upper Hunter River.
Dr Grant Edwards Department of Environment and Geography	Economics, Environment Risk and Hazards	Air pollution and boundary layer meteorology. Climate change, atmospheric mercury, agricultural pollution, atmospheric particulate matter, and industrial pollution. Biogeochemical cycles in natural ecosystems and ecosystems impacted by anthropogenic activity.
Professor Tim Flannery
A/Prof Ian Goodwin Department of Environment and Geography	Marine and Coastal Impacts and Adaptation	Impacts of climate change and climate variability on Australian coastlines, the Antarctica and the South Pacific. Coastal management and protection. Environmental and coastal geoscience, climatology, environmental hazards, paleoclimatology and paleoceanography.
Dr Paul Govind Macquarie Law School	Institutions, Policy and Planning	New member information not available yet
Prof Rob Harcourt Department of Environment and Geography	Marine and Coastal Impacts and Adaptation	Animal Behaviour and Ecology. Biological Conservation.
Dr Usha Harris Department of Music, Media, Communication and Cultural Studies	Science Communication and Education	Media and communication in the South Pacific. Communication for social change including international campaigns.
Prof Sandy Harrison Department of Biological Sciences	Terrestrial Biodiversity and Freshwater Impacts and Adaptation	Palaeoclimatologist, with a special interest in how climate changes affect the land-surface, terrestrial biosphere and hydrological processes. Development and use of numerical models in conjunction with observations to understand the mechanisms of climate change.
Prof Ann Henderson-Sellers Department of Environment and Geography	Economics, Environmental Risks and Hazards and Science Communication and Education	International leader in meteorology and climatology. Risks associated with climate change in an environment of increasing vulnerability. Media and communication about climate change
Dr Paul Hesse Department of Environment and Geography	Terrestrial Biodiversity and Freshwater Impacts and Adaptation	Climate change of the recent geological past (Quaternary period) and its impacts on the Australian environment. Interaction of Aeolian processes, climate change and climate variability in arid environments. Dynamics of wetlands and rivers in the semi-arid northwest of NSW, focusing on Macquarie Marshes.
Dr Grant Hose Department of Biological Sciences	Terrestrial Biodiversity and Freshwater Impacts and Adaptation	River health, pollution impacts on water quality and ecotoxicology. Impacts of climate change on freshwater and groundwater systems.
Prof Richie Howitt Department of Environment and Geography	Institutions, Policy and Planning	Social justice, ecological sustainability, economic equity and cultural diversity in the context of indigenous self- determination. Recognition of native title and indigenous rights, the social impacts of resource-based development projects. Corporate culture in Australia's resource industries, and issues of power, research ethics and geographical scale, social impact assessment, natural resource management, geographical education.
Prof Lesley Hughes Department of Biological Sciences	Terrestrial Biodiversity and Freshwater Impacts and Adaptation	Impacts of climate change on Australian species and ecosystems. Climate change and conservation policy.
Dr Ian Jamie CBMS		Volatile Organic Compounds: Source Signatures and Emission Profiles. Aerosols: Formation, Structure and Chemical Compositions. Indoor Air Quality.
Dr Darrell Kemp Department of Biological Sciences	Terrestrial Biodiversity and Freshwater Impacts and Adaptation	The evolution of colour signals. Ultimate and proximate influences upon phenotypic diversity. Male territoriality and contest behaviour. Host-endosymbiont evolutionary dynamics.
Caroline Lehmann Department of Biological Sciences	Terrestrial Biodiversity and Freshwater Impacts and Adaptation	Vegetation Dynamics and Fire.
Prof John McAneney Director Risk Frontiers	Economics, Environment Risk and Hazards	Risk analysis of catastrophic events. Pricing catastrophe risk. Research into natural hazards and their impacts on the built environment.
A/Prof Andrew McGregor Department of Environment and Geography
Dr Joshua Madin Department of Biological Sciences	Marine and Coastal Impacts and Adaptation	Coral reef ecology and the ecological consequences of major hydrodynamic disturbances on coral reefs. Macroecology - Using species’ trait and biogeographical data to understand macroecological patterns and processes. Ecological informatics - Developing ecological ontologies to aid in the integration of ecological and environmental data.
Prof Raymond Markey Director of the Centre for Workforce Futures Department of Marketing and Management	Institutions, Policy and Planning	International comparative employment relations systems. Employee voice and participation. Work/life and work/family balance. Politics of industrial relations.
Dr Belinda Medlyn Department of Biological Sciences	Terrestrial Biodiversity and Freshwater Impacts and Adaptation	Mathematical modeling of impacts of climate change on plant ecosystems. Impacts of climate change on Australian forest ecosystems and ecosystem nutrient cycling. Meta-analysis of plant responses to climate change. Carbon balance of forest ecosystems, and impacts of climate change on plant community composition.
Dr Fiona Miller Department of Environment and Geography	Institutions, Policy and Planning	Connections between vulnerability assessment and adaptation in the health and water sectors in the Asia Pacific. Social equity dimensions of adaptation. Social vulnerability to heat stress. Social and cultural dimensions of water planning
Prof Peter Nelson Department of Environment and Geography	Institutions, Policy and Planning	Energy and the environment. Methods for the measurement and estimation of greenhouse gas emissions from energy and waste sources. Assessment and control of air pollution and on environmental issues associated with energy use. Atmospheric chemistry of pollutants and greenhouse gases, including characterization of the composition of gas and particulate phase trace pollutants.
Dr Ross Peacock Department of Biological Sciences	Terrestrial Biodiversity and Freshwater Impacts and Adaptation	Vegetation dynamics in response to climate change and climate variability. Interaction of climate change, threatened fauna and pest animal management. Modelling changes in canopy litter production, decomposition and fuel biomass under regional climate change scenarios. Understanding the consequences of rainforest seedlings, saplings and adult trees differing in their trait driven responses to increasing temperature, rainfall and CO2.
Prof Colin Prentice Department of Biological Sciences	Terrestrial Biodiversity and Freshwater Impacts and Adaptation	Modelling ecosystem processes and scaling up from processes at the level of plants and soil micro-organisms to describe the large-scale exchanges of water, carbon dioxide and trace gases between the atmosphere and land. "Next generation" ecosystem and land surface models.
A/Prof David Raftos Department of Biological Sciences	Marine and Coastal Impacts and Adaptation	Internal defence ( immune) mechanisms of advanced invertebrates(ascidians/oysters/echinoderms) at the cell and molecular biological levels, particularly regarding the effects of climate stress on disease susceptibility. Effects of environmental stress on marine invertebrates.
Dr Ram Ranjan Department of Environment and Geography	Economics, Environment Risk and Hazards	Economics of Water. Economics of Global Warming Mitigation and Adaptation Responses to Global Warming. Resilience Modeling.
Dr Peter Rogers Department of Sociology	Institutions, Policy and Planning	Disaster Management and Resilience. Organisational Resilience and International Standards. Community Resilience and Shared Responsibility. Urban Environments, Sustainability and Public Space. Anticipation, Assessment, Planning, Prevention, Response and Recovery.
Dr. Catherine Simpson Department of Music, Media, Communication and Cultural Studies	Science Communication and Education	Science communication.
Dr Sandra Suchet-Pearson Department of Environment and Geography	Institutions, Policy and Planning	Indigenous rights and environmental management. Indigenous self-determination in the context of cultural tourism in North East Arnhem Land, northern Australia.
Dr Ben Spies-Butcher Department of Sociology	Institutions, Policy and Planning	Understanding the Implications of Social Policy for Sustainability.
Dr Erika Techera Honorary Member	Marine and Coastal Impacts and Adaptations	International and comparative environmental law. Marine environmental governance including the conservation and management of sharks. Cultural heritage law including the safeguarding of intangible heritage. Environmental management in the Pacific and Indian Ocean regions.
Dr Frank Thomalla Honorary Member	Institutions, Policy and Planning	Climate vulnerability, climate resilience and adaptive capacity focusing on coastal zones. Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation. Specialising in risk, vulnerability, resilience and adaptation research and focussing on coastal zones.
A/Prof Stefan Trueck Department of Applied Finance and Actuarial Studies	Economics, Environment Risk and Hazards	Financial Economics. Risk Management (Credit and Operational Risk). Energy Markets and Carbon Trading.
Dr. Chi Truong Postdoctoral Research Fellow Department of Applied Finance and Actuarial Studies	Economics, Environment Risk and Hazards	Environmental and Resource Economics. Catastrophic Risk Modelling. Real Option Modelling.
Greg Walkerden Department of Environment and Geography	Institutions, Policy and Planning	Managing socio-ecological systems. Developmental practices for organisations and networks, and for individuals.
Dr Jane Williamson Department of Biological Sciences	Marine and Coastal Impacts and Adaptation	Effect of chemical cues from marine algae on settlement and metamorphosis of marine herbivores. Ecology of marine plant-animal interactions. Aquaculture of Australian edible sea urchins.
Dr Chris Wright Department of Marketing and Management	Institutions, Policy and Planning	Globalisation and the labour market. Employment relations. Business and trade union strategies. Comparative political economy. Industrial and Manufacturing policy.
Dr Zoe Wong Department of Accounting and Corporate Governance	Economics, Environment Risk and Hazards	Evaluation and Sustainability. Quality Control and Risk Management. Educational Research. Accounting Information Systems & Auditing.
Dr Alexander Zahar Macquarie Law School	Institutions, Policy and Planning	Climate change law.