Publications and reports

Dr Pascal Castellazzi

Dr Pascal Castellazzi is a hydrogeologist with a focus in remote-sensing. He holds a current position as a research scientist at CSIRO, looking to understand how recent developments in geodesy and remote-sensing can be used to support groundwater exploration, to help evaluate the sustainability of water resources, to make conclusions about aquifer-system dynamics, and to prevent water-related hazards. Dr Castellazzi has a PhD in groundwater depletion monitoring using GRACE and InSAR, as well as industry experience in hydrogeology and remote-sensing.

Mr Randall Cox

With 50 years of experience, Mr Randall Cox is a leading expert on water resource management and related policy formulation, with specific interest in groundwater management. Now retired, he has extensive experience in developing and implementing strategies and stakeholder management across the interface of resource and agricultural sectors in Queensland. He was centrally involved in the development of water planning, water entitlement and trading systems in Queensland. Mr Cox also led the development of a policy framework for the assessment and management of cumulative impacts in Queensland and was the general manager of OGIA for six years.

Dr Nicolas Espinoza

Dr Nicolas Espinoza is a geotechnical and reservoir engineer. He is an Associate Professor of Petroleum Engineering at the University of Texas, United States of America, researching the mechanics and physics of natural porous solids, methane recovery from microporous organic rocks, methane hydrate-bearing sediments, and geological carbon sequestration.

Dr Joseph Foley

Dr Joseph Foley is an agricultural engineer with 30 years of experience in irrigated agricultural industries. He is currently an Associate Professor in Water Engineering and Irrigation in the Centre for Agricultural Engineering at the University College of Southern Queensland, researching irrigation and agricultural hydrology, civil and agricultural hydraulics, water and energy use efficiency, and irrigation performance and management. Dr Foley currently conducts research in autonomously optimised surface and pressurised broadacre agricultural irrigation.

Mr David Gibson

Mr David Gibson is a geologist and hydrogeologist. Now retired, he was with Geoscience Australia for 48 years and has been a part of projects including geological and regolith mapping, salinity and groundwater, and airborne electromagnetic (AEM) geophysical interpretation.

Dr Phil Hayes

Dr Phil Hayes is a geologist, hydrogeologist and specialist in groundwater modelling with more than 25 years of experience. He is currently an Associate Professor of Water Resources at the University of Queensland, focusing on groundwater modelling for impact analysis, gas production reservoir modelling, gas migration in the shallow subsurface, fugitive emissions quantification, carbon capture and storage, and the geomechanical impacts of groundwater and gas extraction. His career includes more than 20 years of consultancy in hydrogeology and impact modelling for water resources, infrastructure, contaminated land, radioactive waste disposal and mining projects. Dr Hayes has also been a member of the Independent Expert Scientific Committee on Unconventional Gas Development and Large Coal Mining Development (IESC)

Dr Koroush Khoshelham

Dr Koroush Khoshelham is a spatial information engineer. An Associate Professor in the Department of Infrastructure Engineering at the University of Melbourne, his research includes photogrammetry, 3D computer vision, indoor positioning and navigation, mobile mapping, indoor mapping, building information modelling, automated interpretation of imagery and point clouds, and applications of LiDAR. Dr Khoshelham is involved in the Australasian Spatial Information Education and Research Association (ASIERA), and the International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ISPRS) and serves on the editorial board of several international journals.

Dr Kevin McDougall

Dr Kevin McDougall is a surveyor with more than 40years of experience. He is currently a professor of surveying at the University of Southern Queensland in the School of Surveying and the Built Environment, teaching and researching in geospatial information systems, surveying computations and geomatic engineering, with a focus on spatial data infrastructure, spatial data modelling and data sharing. Dr McDougall has been a company director in a private surveying practice, is on the board of directors for the Institution of Surveyors Australia (Queensland Division) Bicentennial Education Foundation and is part of the International Centre for Applied Climate Sciences (ICACS).

Dr Noel Merrick

Dr Noel Merrick is a groundwater modeller, hydrogeologist and geophysicist with more than 50 years of experience in groundwater, retiring in 2009 as an Associate Professor at the University of Technology, Sydney, where he was the Director of the National Centre for Groundwater Management. Throughout his career, Dr Merrick has been involved in consultancy regarding environmental impact studies for major infrastructure, resource and mining projects. As a researcher, he pioneered methods for resource sustainability quantification and management, particularly using optimisation techniques, and has been engaged in research projects with Cooperative Research Centres for aquaculture, rice, cotton and contaminants.

Dr Catherine Moore

Dr Catherine Moore is a groundwater scientist and modeller with more than 25 years of experience across local government, groundwater consultancies and research organisations. She is currently a researcher at the Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences (GNS) in Auckland, New Zealand, focusing on mathematical and empirical explorations of appropriate model complexity to enhance decision support. Dr Moore is a part-time member of the Flinders University-led Groundwater Modelling Decision Support Initiative. Her modelling interests include the developing of pragmatic tools for robust decision-support modelling, quantifying model predictive uncertainty, identifying cost-effective data acquisition and monitoring strategies, and optimising model-data assimilation.

Dr Matthias Raiber

Dr Matthias Raiber is a groundwater hydrogeologist, hydrochemist and geologist. Currently with CSIRO as a principal research scientist, he is a leading expert on the geology and hydrogeology of sedimentary basins, including the Great Artesian Basin. He specialises in the development and application of workflows integrating geological, geophysical, hydrogeological, isotope and hydrochemical information to improve understanding of the connections between deep and shallow groundwater aquifers and surface water systems. Dr Raiber has experience in isotope hydrology, 3D geological modelling, impact assessment on groundwater and coal-bearing formations and sedimentary basin hydrodynamics, (including groundwater recharge and aquifer connectivity).

Dr Brian Smerdon

Dr Brian Smerdon is a hydrogeologist with 25 years of experience. Currently, he is a research associate at the University of Alberta, Canada, in the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, leading collaborative research initiatives that embrace field-based and modelling approaches to conceptualise groundwater circulation and its interaction with surface water, further exploring isotopic, geochemical, numerical modelling, and physical hydrogeology techniques. Prior to this, he worked in the industry at CSIRO investigating regional-scale groundwater flow processes through combined use of hydrodynamic analysis, environmental tracers, and numerical modelling and at the Alberta Geological Survey, contributing to multi-disciplinary projects in the sphere of hydrogeological characterisation, as well as various consultancies.

Mr Peter Taylor

Mr Peter Taylor is a land and water scientist (irrigation agronomist) with more than 40 years of experience in the industry. He is a director and partner of SMK Consultants, a provider of environmental and planning services for the rural sector, with a focus on preparing environmental impact statements involving rural industrial facilities and irrigation development across eastern and northern Australia. Mr Taylor is a member of Irrigation Australia, the Environment Institute of Australia and New Zealand and an approved farm water resource consultant under the NSW Sustaining the Basin program.

Dr Q J Wang

Dr Q J Wang is a hydrological forecaster with more than 15 years of experience. Currently, he is a professor at the University of Melbourne, Distinguished Visiting Professor of Tsinghua University, and Pao Yu-Kong Visiting Chair Professor of Zhejiang University, with research including statistical hydrology, hydrological modelling, optimisation, irrigation, and regional planning with a particular focus on water forecasting research projects and services. Dr Wang has published more than 150 journal papers and was co-chair of the Hydrologic Ensemble Prediction Experiment (HEPEX), an international community for research and practice of ensemble hydrological forecasting. He led the 2018 independent expert review on potential impacts of groundwater sustainable diversion limits and irrigation efficiency projects on river flow volume under the Murray-Darling Basin Plan, and in 2019-20, led an expert review of the Bureau of Meteorology’s hydrological modelling approaches.