Simon Lawson

Biography

Prior to joining UniSC, Simon was team leader for forest health research in the Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (DAF) and has over 45 years’ experience in applied forest entomological research in Australia and internationally.

His research focuses on developing effective, sustainable management methods for insect pests of plantation forests in Australia and internationally, with an emphasis on the biological control and chemical ecology of forest pests. Previously, his research focused on controlling and managing Ips species bark beetles in Australia and Japan, and on the biological control of the insect vector of pine wilt disease in Japan. He also has strong interests in forest biosecurity, population modelling, and international collaborations in forest health.

Research areas

• biological control of forest insects in planted and native forests
• integrated pest management in hardwood and softwood plantation forestry
• identification and development of semiochemicals for forest insect pest management
• forest pest risk modelling
• forest biosecurity

Professional memberships

• Entomological Society of Queensland

Awards

• Japanese Government Ministry of Education Monbusho Scholarship 1989
• Science and Technology Agency of Japan Postdoctoral Fellowship 1993
• Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Scientific Visits to Japan Awardee 2002
• Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Scientific Visits to Japan Awardee 2003
• Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute of Japan, Research Fellowship for Foreign Specialists Awardee 2003

Expert media commentary

Dr Simon Lawson's specialist areas of knowledge include forest entomology, biological control, integrated pest management and forest biosecurity.