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Associate Professor Damian Gore - Teaching

Undergraduate Teaching

I teach at second year, and the Unit descriptions are given below. If you'd like to look at descriptions of these or other units, go to the University Handbook at: www.handbook.mq.edu.au

ENVE237 Natural Hazards. 

Everybody is at risk from natural hazards, either physically or economically, and as the global population grows, so too does the social and economic impact of natural disasters. Recent disasters in Australia have caused damage greater than $1.5 billion and globally individual disasters have caused damage greater than $100 billion. These disasters are a significant drain on our economy and cause enormous human suffering. However, some individuals, communities and societies are more at risk than others and experience greater losses following natural hazards. This unit examines the risk posed by natural perils through an understanding of the causes and impacts of the most significant natural hazards such as earthquakes, volcanoes, floods, tropical cyclones and tsunami, as well as 'megahazards' such as asteroid impacts with Earth. A number of career paths are available for specialists in natural hazards—for example, the emergency services, disaster managers, the insurance industry and hazards research. Students with internet access can take the unit without attending campus, as the practicals, extensive lecture notes and other support materials are available on the web.

ENVE270 Environmental Science Fieldwork. 

A range of field methods in the Environmental Sciences are covered in this unit. The unit takes place in the Winter Vacation as a 10 day field school where students undertake studies of water, soil, sediment, flora and aquatic fauna to develop competence in widely used practices, methods and equipment. The unit is particularly suitable for students planning continuing study in one of the majors in natural and environmental sciences. All students must attend the field trip in July, and there are no formal classes outside of this trip.

Honours and Postgraduate Supervision

My research, and coincidentally that of my students, falls within two main research programs; Environmental science and Antarctic geoscience.

Environmental science

Environmental science is a broad area where potential research projects are worthwhile, and where students can be fast-tracked to either research or industry positions. Potential topics range from applied human impact issues (e.g. mitigation of mine site impacts) to more theoretical studies (e.g. designing the behaviour of Permeable Reactive Barriers) and assessment of river and pollutant behaviour (e.g. consideration of contaminant storage characteristics in fluvial systems). My students and I collaborate with colleagues in industry as well as research departments in biology, chemistry, engineering and geology/geophysics. I have interests in fluvial processes at local to regional scales, but I tend to focus on the former because they offer more tractable research issues. Over recent years my students and I have worked in stormwater quality, including nutrient loadings, ecosystem recovery potential and gross pollutants, as well as patterns and characteristics of fluvial sedimentation in streams in the semi-arid zone of western NSW. I specialise in X-ray analyses (XRF, TXRF, XRD) of environmental samples.

Antarctic geoscience

To slightly misquote a colleague of mine, to be in Antarctica is to discover. It is the last of the earth's landmasses where new discoveries abound. It's no surprise then that Antarctic research tends to be as diverse as the landscape. Much of my research, and that of my students, concerns Quaternary and Tertiary glacial history, geomorphic processes, and the impacts that humans have had on the continent. While this is a very exciting area to work in, organising a postgraduate program in Antarctica is not trivial, and to become involved you have to fulfil a number of criteria, and allow about a year and a half to prepare applications and grants. Recent projects involve PhD students and postdoctoral fellows at Windmill Islands, Vestfold Hills and northern and southern Prince Charles Mountains. I work extensively with a wonderful team of colleagues at the Australian Antarctic Division, The University of Melbourne, and elsewhere around the world.

Present and past research students*

* Other present and recent Honours and postgraduate projects in Environmental Science, including some abstracts, can be viewed at -

theses

If you are interested in intellectually stimulating work in remote and beautiful parts of the globe, and have interests in polar and fluvial geomorphology and geochemistry or environmental science more generally, email or give me a call.