Philip Gibbons has 30 years of experience in land management. He spent the first half of his career working with the state governments in Victoria and New South Wales as a park ranger, fire fighter and forest ecologist. Since completing a PhD in 1999 he has played key roles in: codes of practice for harvesting timber from native forests, native vegetation laws, biodiversity offsets policy, protected area management and links between land management and house loss during bushfires. He is currently a Professor at The Fenner School of Environment and Society at The Australian National University where he teaches courses related to biodiversity conservation.

B. App. Sc., M. For., PhD

My research focuses on the management of native vegetation. I focus on improving environmental impact assessment and environmental offset policy, how to manage landscapes to reduce house-losses and other assets during wildfires and cost-effective ecological restoration in natural and urban landscapes. I work closely with Commonwealth and State Governments, non-government agencies and the private sector.

My research informs a course I have been teaching for over a decade: Biodiversity Conservation (ENVS3039/6024), although I teach into a range of other courses such as Contemporary Perspectives in Environment-Society Interactions. There is a focus on field-based learning in my courses.