Prof Richard Lucas

Professor Richard Lucas holds a Sêr Cymru Research Chair within the Earth Observation and Ecosystem Dynamics (EOED) Research Group (RG), Department of Geography and Earth Sciences (DGES), Aberystwyth University.  He has also held positions at the University of New South Wales Australia, the Australian Federal Government and Swansea University (UK). He has expertise in quantifying and understanding the response of terrestrial and coastal ecosystems and environments to change (including that associated with climatic variation), through integration of Earth observation data from various sources. He has also developed innovative methods for extracting relevant information on terrestrial ecosystems at scales ranging from individual trees to the global.  Key achievements include the generation and public release of the Australia’s Mangrove Portal and Plant Biomass Library, the development of the Earth Observation Data for Ecosystem Monitoring (EODESM) system for routine monitoring of land cover and change, and advancing both the retrieval of forest biomass and structural attributes at regional to global scales and local to global characterisation, mapping and monitoring of mangroves. He currently leads the Living Wales project which is facilitating the development of national land cover monitoring to support national and international conservation and sustainable use of environments. He studied Biology and Geography (1983-1986) at the University of Bristol, where he also obtained his doctorate (1986-1989) and, in 2017, completed an Advanced Diploma in Leadership and Management from the Australian Institute of Management, Sydney.