Hugh is a Research Fellow at the University of Wollongong, SMART Infrastructure, specialising in environmental data, particularly air quality and water quality. He is lead of the Developing and Enabling stream of the Blue Futures Global Challenges keystone project. Research includes work with a network of innovators, real-time, low-cost sensing of water quality, building a water quality database for the south coast and researching ways to reduce plastic waste. Air quality projects investigate traffic emissions and the use of native vegetation to reduce people’s exposure to heat and air pollution in cities such as Wollongong and Liverpool, SW Sydney. He co-supervises two PhD students: Nuwanthi Kristhombuge, who is investigating quantification and biodegradation of microplastics and Mamatha Tomson, whose topic is using green infrastructure to mitigate urban air pollution. His background is in agent-based modelling, spatial data analysis, marine ecology, health and web mapping. Other areas of interest include quantitative ecology and theoretical evolution.
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