Dr Chris Gordon’s passion for ecology and environmental management started during his honours research and employment as a research assistant at the University of Sydney in 2007. After his PhD he undertook three years of postdoctoral work in Denmark, returning to Australia in 2020. He is now a Research Fellow with the Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment at Western Sydney University.
What is unique about your work?
I have a background in fieldwork that gives me a sound understanding of how circumstances on the ground relates to bushfire models and predictions. My speciality is taking smaller scale field data and linking it to bigger scale spatial and GIS models. Essentially, my work functions across scales and across methods.
At the BNHRC, I am leading projects examining how fire severity and climate impacts hazard reduction outcomes. While the latter is yet to start, for the former I am using ground litter data to improve fuel load modelling.
What are the challenges and opportunities?
Liaising with end-users can be a challenge but is also a huge opportunity. The goals of academic researchers differ to those of hazard managers, so it’s important to have effective communication in both directions. But the chance to access data from end-users that many researchers can’t otherwise get is very exciting.
What are your other interests?
I love surfing and rock climbing, and sometimes feel my life is dictated by the rhythms of the ocean. A great place I’d love to go to combine both kinds of adventure is Flinders Island off Tasmania.
And a person I would like to meet would be Duke Kahanamoku, a five-time Olympic swimming medallist and the person who popularised surfing globally (including bringing surfing to Australia in 1914). It would be fascinating to learn more about the obstacles he overcame as an Indigenous Hawaiian during the early 1900s, and the differences between surfing then compared to now!
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