Geomorphologist Robert Wasson discusses Flood Risk Reduction in India
Channel: Down To Earth
Date: 15/03/2017

Prof Robert Wasson is a geomorphologist with an international reputation in palaeoenvironmental reconstruction, river catchment processes and responses to changes of climate and land use, development and application of geochemical tracers of material movement through river catchments, and cross-disciplinary methods that attempt to bridge the gap between the human and natural sciences.

He has a First Class Honours degree in geomorphology from the University of Sydney, and a PhD in Earth Sciences from Macquarie University. He has held teaching and research positions at Macquarie University, The University of Auckland, Monash University, and the Australian National University (ANU).

He joined CSIRO after post-doctoral positions at the University of Auckland and the ANU. His final position with CSIRO was as Assistant Chief in the Division of Water Resources. During his time at the ANU he was a Research Fellow in the Department of Biogeography and Geomorphology, Head of the Department of Geography and Human Ecology, Dean of Science, then Director of the Centre for Resource and Environmental Studies in the Institute of Advanced Studies. His most recent position has been as Deputy Vice Chancellor Research and International at Charles Darwin University, the Australian university closest to Singapore.

He has done research in most parts of Australia, and in India, Pakistan, Nepal, the Philippines, Indonesia, Timor Leste, China, and New Zealand. His current research centres on the history of extreme floods and human responses and adaptation to them. 

Down To Earth chats with him, discussing Flood Risk Reduction and issues surrounding it.


Down to Earth is Science and Environment fortnightly published by the Society for Environmental Communication, New Delhi. We publish news and analysis on issues that deal with sustainable development, which we scan through the eyes of science and environment.