Keynote Speakers

Professor Bruce Thom AM

Chair of the Coasts and Climate Change Council

Formerly Vice-Chancellor University of New England (1994-1996), Professor Thom has held positions such as Foundation Professor of Geography, Royal Military College, Duntroon (University of New South Wales, 1977-1984); Professor of Geography University of Sydney (1985-1993); and Pro-Vice-Chancellor Research, University of Sydney (1990-1993).

He holds the title of Emeritus Professor from University of Sydney. Professor Thom served as Chair of the Australian State of Environment Committee 1998-2002, and as Chair of the Coastal Council of New South Wales (1999-2004). He was Visiting Professor in the Faculty of Built Environment at the University of NSW.

He served as the Visiting Professor for Coastal Management and Planning at the Department of Infrastructure, Planning and Natural Resources in Sydney. He also formerly held the position of Visiting Professor in the NSW Department of Planning.

Professor Thom is a member of the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists, President of the Australian Coastal Society and Deputy Chair of the Federal Government's Coasts and Climate Change Council.

In 2010 Professor Bruce Thom was awarded a member of the Order of Australia for his contribution to the ecological management of the coastal zone and as a contributor to public debate on natural resource policy.

Mr Phil Watson

Principal Coastal Specialist, Office of Environment and Heritage (OEH), NSW Department of Premier and Cabinet

In 1990, Phil graduated from the University of Technology, Sydney with an honours degree in Civil Engineering. His time since has been spent working in natural resource management roles for the NSW Government.

Phil’s primary role within OEH is to provide expert advice both to state and local government authorities in the areas of coastal processes, coastal hazards, hazard management techniques, sea level rise, coastal engineering generally and coastal policy issues as required. This has often necessitated representing the NSW Government as an expert witness in the Land and Environment and Supreme Courts, similarly on an as needs basis. In addition to these roles, Phil has previously managed the NSW Government’s Coastal Management Program, River Entrance Management Program and matters involving the administration of the Coastal Protection Act 1979.

Over recent years Phil has undertaken significant research into sea level rise and has been acknowledged internationally for raising public awareness of sea level rise issues through development of the original “King Tide Photo” initiative throughout NSW in 2009. This successful initiative has since been taken up in several other parts of the world in an ongoing capacity. Phil has been an active participant in the area of Coastal Zone Management in NSW over the past 20 years and has presenting many papers on CZM issues at State, National and International Conferences.

Dr Andrew Garcia

Research Physical Scientist, Civil Works Directorate, Headquarters, US Army Corps of Engineers

Dr. Andrew Garcia is a research physical scientist with the Civil Works Directorate, Headquarters, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. From 1972 until 2010 he was with the Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory, Engineer Research and Development Center of the Corps of Engineers. He began his career with the Army Engineers performing numerical model studies on the generation and effects of seismic sea-waves (tsunami) along the Pacific Coast of the continental United States and Alaska. He subsequently was involved in the development and verification of numerical wind-wave and storm-surge models. During the most recent two decades his research focus has been on the coastal effects of land-falling tropical and extra-tropical cyclones, along with field and laboratory air-sea interaction research on wind-wave generation and dissipation.

In 2008 Andrew joined the Corps' Actions for Change team to help review and revise project planning and design policies and procedures for adapting to the effects of climate change. He is co-author of the initial and current Corps project policy for adapting to sea-level change and presently is involved in the development of engineering implementation guidance and, separately, evaluation of project compliance for the relevant policy directives.   

Andrew received a BA in physics from the University of South Florida, a MS in physical oceanography from Texas A&M University, and the PhD in meteorology from Purdue University. During his forty-plus year professional career, he has received numerous awards including the Department of the Army Superior Civilian Service Medal, the Chief of Engineers Medal of Excellence, the U. S. National Weather Service Modernization Award, and the American Society of Civil Engineers Life Member Award.

Dr Jon Knight

Research Fellow, Australian Rivers Institute, Griffith University

Dr Jon Knight has an environment science degree from Griffith University, a Master of Geographic Information Systems (in remote sensing) and a PhD from the University of Queensland. He was awarded his PhD for a thesis detailing habitat requirements of the saltwater mosquito Aedes vigilax in mangrove basins at Coombabah Lake in SE Qld. With 20 years’ experience in saltmarsh and mangrove ecology and with a special interest saltwater mosquitoes, Jon is currently leading a project to develop and evaluate a novel approach to managing mosquitoes in mangrove basins using knowledge of the hydrology of mangroves and mangrove micro-topography.