Mr Mike Grundy: managing trends in Australia's landscapes

Mr Mike Grundy is leading CSIRO’s research into observing and understanding trends in Australian landscapes.

• 3 September 2009 | Updated 14 October 2011

• Current activities
• Background
• Academic qualifications
• Achievements

Current activities

Mr Mike Grundy has recently established the new Landscape Systems and Trends Theme within the equally new Sustainable Agriculture Flagship.

The Theme brings together science in sensing, information management, modelling and integration to increase our ability to observe, monitor and manage change across landscapes, industries and regions.

CSIRO has been increasing our ability to do this in the water and climate space; it is also essential across our land. The Theme has science teams from eight Divisions – a real mix across the organisation. 

Previously, Mr Grundy led the Managing Australia's Soil and Landscape Assets Theme (MASaLA) where he coordinated research designed to be responsive to, and anticipate the knowledge needs of land resource managers and decision makers across Australia. Overall, he has been a Theme Leader in CSIRO for three years. 

He has a long-standing personal research interest in spatial soil science and its application to agricultural and forest production, environmental protection and systems approaches to complex problems – and has led major multi-disciplinary natural resource assessment activities for nearly 20 years.

Background

Prior to establishing the new Landscapes Theme and leading the MASaLA Theme, Mr Grundy was the Theme Leader for Healthy Water Ecosystems within the Water for a Healthy Country Flagship. 

That theme concentrated CSIRO's water ecosystem research skills on to the national high priority issues in the Great Barrier Reef catchments, south-east Queensland, the Murray-Darling Basin and south-west Western Australia.

Before joining CSIRO, Mr Grundy was the Leader of the Queensland Salinity Program. The program involved the:

• collection of fundamental information on the landscape drivers of the salinity process
• development of new and/or enhanced scientific approaches
• delivery through community-based natural resource management bodies.

Concurrently, he was also Principal Land Resources Officer for the Queensland Department of Natural Resources, Mines and Water.

This role included the professional leadership, management and direction of the delivery of activities associated with research and development in land resource assessment across Queensland and through collaborative activities across Australia.

Academic qualifications

Mr Grundy has been awarded three degrees from the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia, including:

• Bachelor in Agricultural Science with Honours, 1977
• Masters of Agricultural Science, 1980
• Bachelor in Economics, 1991.

Achievements

Mr Grundy has published more than 80 monographs, book chapters, journal or conference papers and some 20 less formal articles.

Mr Grundy has also been awarded the following professional memberships and honours:

• Fellow and a Honorary Life Member, Australian Institute of Agricultural Science and Technology
• Board Member, International Soil Conservation Organisation
• Ron McDonald Memorial Lecturer, 2005
• Australia Day Achievement Medallion, 2005
• President, International Soil Conservation Organisation, 2002–04
• President, Australian Society Soil Science, Queensland, 2002–03
• Premier's Award for Excellence, 2003
• Co-chair, Organising Committee, World Congress Soil Science
• External reviewer, Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research.

He was recently invited to the 2008 National Cooperative Soil Survey Conference run by the United States Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service (USDA-NRCS), and the Australian Earth Sciences Convention in 2006.

Learn more about the Sustainable Agriculture Flagship.