Chair of Applied Ecology and Conservation, Associate Professor Lian Pin Koh from the University of Adelaide’s Environment Institute is an expert on unmanned research aircrafts, known as drones.
He has partnered with conservation and research organisations from more than a dozen countries including the Worldwide fund for Nature, the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Wildlife Conservation Society, the Jane Goodall Institute, Conservation International, Greenpeace and the Max Plank Institute.
This man knows drones – he has spoken about conservation drones at the 2012 WWF Fuller Symposium in Washington DC, the 2013 TEDGlobal event in Edinburgh and the 2015 Clinton Global Initiative University in Miami, Florida.
Associate Professor Lian Pin Koh has helped to establish, and serves as Director of the University’s Unmanned Research Aircraft Facility (URAF), and is the Founding Director of ConservationDrones.org.
The URAF provides the organisational infrastructure, as well as the technical and legislative knowledge base concerning the use of unmanned aircraft, or Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS), for a wide range of environmental and agricultural applications. It also serves as a coalescing node for fostering partnerships and interactions related to RPAS applications between students, researchers, natural resource managers and industry partners in South Australia.
“Through my research using Conservation Drones, I aim to connect conservation workers and researchers worldwide, especially those in developing countries. We aim to raise awareness of conservation challenges, and inspire others to adapt emerging technologies for conservation,” says Associate Professor Koh.
For more information about the Facility, contact Associate Professor Lian Pin Koh (lianpin.koh@adelaide.edu.au) or view the new URAF website.
Image source: conservationdrones.org
