Associate Professor Rachael Nolan
View Rachael's Researcher Profile
I'm fascinated by the role of disturbances in ecosystems, in particular the effects of fire on the landscape. I have two main areas of research. The first is focused on understanding how ecosystems respond to disturbance, and what this means for ecosystem services such as carbon sequestration, habitat values and water resources. The second research area I focus on is developing models of forest flammability due to dynamics in fuel loads and fuel moisture content.
I enjoy being out in the bush, so much of my research involves fieldwork. I also do some remote sensing and modelling.
I was awarded a Senior Research Support Program Fellowship in 2021 to continue my bushfire research.
For more information, visit: rachaelnolan.com (opens in a new window)
Areas of research/teaching expertise
Bushfires (opens in a new window), Fire ecology, plant ecology, plant ecophysiology, ecohydrology
Awards and Recognition
- Association for Fire Ecology Early Career Award, 2023.
- Excellence in Research Impact, Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Vice-President (Research, Enterprise and International) Research Award, with HIE Bushfire Research Group, Western Sydney University, 2023.
- Awarded the prestigious 2021 Eureka Prize for Applied Environmental Research with colleagues, 2021
- Awarded a University Research Support Program Fellowships in Bushfire Research: Environmental and Social Impacts, 2021
- Awarded a Forests Young Investigator Award, 2020
Grants / Current Projects
Monitoring dieback in coastal IFOA region forests
Co-Researcher: Brendan Choat
Partner/Funding Body: NSW Natural Resources Commission
Period: 2024
Understanding the confluence of Eucalyptus dieback and koala habitat in NSW - Stage 1
Co-Researchers: Brendan Choat, Ben Moore, Rachael Gallagher, Belinda Medlyn, Matthias Boer
Partner/Funding Body: NSW Department of Planning and Environment
Period: 2023-2024
Understanding the confluence of Eucalyptus dieback and koala habitat in NSW - literature review
Co-Researchers: Brendan Choat, Ben Moore, Rachael Gallagher, Belinda Medlyn, Matthias Boer
Partner/Funding Body: NSW Department of Planning and Environment
Period: 2023-2024
Does fire regime and post rainfall impact fuel recovery following the Black Summer fires?
Co-Researchers: Chris Gordon and Matthias Boer
Partner/Funding Body: NSW Rural Fire Service
Period: 2023
Assessment of the impact of damage to retained trees
Co-Researcher: Brendan Choat
Partner/Funding Body: NSW Government Natural Resources Commission
Period: 2023
Instantaneous detection of high-risk lightning with pinpoint accuracy
Co-Researchers: Matthias Boer, Marta Yebra, Colleen Bryant, Geoff Cary
Partner/Funding Body: NSW Smart Sensing Network (NSSN) Grand Challenge
Period: 2022-2023
Quantifying the recovery trajectory and aboveground productivity in rainforest species after fire on rich versus poor soils
Co-Researchers: Kristine Crous, Brendan Choat, David Ellsworth and Robert Kooyman (MQ)
Partner/Funding Body: Herman Slade
Period: 2022
NSW Smart Sensing Network (NSSN) grand challenge
Co-Researchers: Matthias Boer, Marta Yebra, Colleen Bryant and Geoff Cary
Partner/funding body: NSW RFS, ACT RFS, Fire Neural Network, ACT Parks and Conservation Service
Period: 2022-2023
NSW Bushfire and Natural Hazards Research Centre
Co-Researchers: Matthias Boer, Belinda Medlyn, Rachael Gallagher, and Ben Smith
Partner/Funding Body: NSW Department of Planning and Environment
Period: 2022-2026
Physics-aware machine learning for data-driven fire risk prediction
Co-Researchers: Matthias Boer and Ross Bradstock
Partner/Funding Body: NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment
Period: 2022-2024
Predicting vegetation dynamics in Australia's arid zone
Co-Researchers: Belinda Medlyn and Brendan Choat
Partner/Funding Body: Bush Heritage Australia and Arid Recovery
Period: 2022-2024
DPIE Cumberland Plain Conservation Plan - Research Strategy and Implementation
Co-Researchers: Paul Rymer, Uffe Nielsen, Matthias Boer, Rachael Nolan, Elise Pendall, Jeff Powell, Yolima Carrillo, Catriona Macdonald, Ben Moore, Markus Riegler, Neil Perry and Juan Salazar
Partner/Funding Body: NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment
Period: 2021-2025
The influence of climate change on bushfire fuels in Victoria
Co-Researchers: Mingkai Jiang, Ben Smith, Matthias Boer, Belinda Medlyn and Assaf Inbar
Partner/Funding Body: Country Fire Authority
Period: 2021-2023
Determining the physiological underpinnings of eucalypt dieback in NSW
Co-Researchers: Brendan Choat, Belinda Medlyn, Sebastian Pfautsch, Matthias Boer, David Tissue, Paul Rymer and Mark Tjoelker
Partner/Funding Body: NSW Environmental Trust
Period: 2021-2024
Impacts of drought stress on bushfire risk
Co-Researchers: Matthias Boer, Belinda Medlyn, Brendan Choat and Anne Griebel
Partner/Funding Body: RedEye Consulting and the Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources
Period: 2021-2022
The regreening of the Blue Mountains: Using citizen science to study post-fire recovery in the Blue Mountains
Co-Researchers: Belinda Medlyn, Brendan Choat, Paul Rymer, Matthias Boer, Sally Power, Amy-Marie Gilpin, Uffe Nielsen, Ben Moore and Kate Umbers
Partner/Funding Body: NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment
Period: 2021-2022
Forecasting live fuel moisture content, the on/off switch for forest fire
Co-Researchers: Matthias Boer, Belinda Medlyn and Brendan Choat
Partner/Funding Body: Australian Research Council Linkage
Period: 2020-20213
Quantifying forest mortality after record-breaking drought and unprecedented wildfire in Eastern Australia
Co-Researchers: Matthias Boer, Brendan Choat, Belinda Medlyn and Anne Griebel
Partner/Funding Body: Hermon Slade Foundation
Period: 2020-2022
Review of CSIRO report on climate change risk to sequestration projects under the Emissions Reduction Fund
Partner/Funding Body: Climate Change Authority
Period: 2020
When does fire kill trees? Developing a predictive model of post-fire tree mortality
Partner/Funding Body: WSU Early Career Researcher Fellowship
Period: 2018
People
- Professor Matthias Boer
- Associate Professor Yolima Carrillo
- Associate Professor Chris Cazzonelli
- Professor Brendan Choat
- Professor James Cook (Theme Leader - Plants Animals and Interactions)
- Doctor Eleonora Egidi
- Professor David Ellsworth
- Doctor Manuel Esperon
- Doctor Adam Frew
- Associate Professor Rachael Gallagher
- Professor Oula Ghannoum
- Doctor Christopher Gordon
- Professor Scott Johnson
- Associate Professor Catriona Macdonald
- Doctor James Makinson
- Doctor Jessica Meade
- Distinguished Professor Belinda Medlyn (Theme Leader - Ecosystem Function and Integration)
- Associate Professor Ben Moore
- Professor Uffe Nielsen (Theme Leader - Soil Biology and Genomics)
- Associate Professor Rachael Nolan
- Associate Professor Alexie Papanicolaou
- Professor Elise Pendall
- Associate Professor Jonathan Plett
- Professor Jeff Powell
- Professor Sally Power
- Doctor Renée Marchin Prokopavicius
- Professor Markus Riegler
- Associate Professor Paul Rymer
- Doctor Demi Sargent
- Associate Professor Robert Sharwood
- Distinguished Professor Brajesh Singh
- Professor Ben Smith (Director of Research)
- Distinguished Professor David Tissue
- Professor Mark Tjoelker (Interim Director)
- Doctor Bin Wang
- Doctor Jun-Tao Wang
- Professor Justin Welbergen
- Distinguished Professor Ian Wright (Chief Scientist)
Honorary and Adjunct Appointments
