Using astrophysics research techniques to help tackle major challenges facing the planet
Talk Outline
I will describe how we are using astrophysics research techniques to help ecologists protect ecosystems, save critically endangered animal species, and stop peat forest fires that are a major contributor to climate change. Building on technological and software innovations in astronomy, our “Astro-Ecology” team have developed a drone plus thermal infrared imaging system and an associated automated detection/identification pipeline that provides a cost-effective and efficient way to automatically detect animals and peat fires. I will describe the current status of the system and our efforts to enable local communities to run routine monitoring and management of animal populations and peat fires over large and inhospitable areas, and thereby tackle global biodiversity loss and climate change.
You can view a recording of the talk here.
About the Speaker
Steve did his undergraduate at Durham University, PhD at University of New South Wales (Sydney, Australia), was an SMA Research Fellow at the Harvard-Smithsonian Centre for Astrophysics, then an ESO Fellow in Garching before getting an academic position at LJMU, where he’s been since 2013.