Richard Morgan

Professor

BSc(Lond) PhD(B'ham)

Contact Details

Room 4C8, Richardson Building.
Email rkm@geography.otago.ac.nz
Tel 64 3 479 8773 (Secretary)
Fax 64 3 479 9037

Background

Richard joined the staff of the Geography Department in 1979 to teach biogeography. He trained in the UK and specialised in the effects of human activities on contemporary vegetation communities, particularly forests. Over the years his biogeographical interests broadened to include the investigation of human activities on soil systems; at the same time he developed an interest in the management of human activities, to avoid or reduce impacts on the environment. In particular Richard has  strong research and teaching interests in  impact assessment (in all its forms and varieties), and in environmental management generally. His is the course co-odinator for the BAppSc Environmental Management major.

Richard served as President  of the International Association for Impact Assessment (IAIA) in 2003-4 and was on the Board of Directors for 3 years in all He is still closely involved with the Association and its work worldwide in advocating for, and supporting capacity building in impact assessment. His work with IAIA has taken him to meetings in all parts of the world, and involvement in workshops, training courses, and research undertakings on a variety of themes and issues, including health impact assessment in developing countries, certification of environmental professionals in Sub-Saharan Africa, and environmental management processes in refugee settlements.  A current project he is involved with is impact assessment support for Small Island Developing States (SIDS).

Richard is the national convener (chair) of the New Zealand Association for Impact Assessment (NZAIA, an affiliate of IAIA), which has a membership of almost 200 practitioners.

Together with his research students and collaborators at Otago and elsewhere, Richard established the Centre for Impact Assessment Research and Training (CIART) to act as a focal point for IA research and the dissemination of research findings of staff and student work. Richard is on the editorial boards of the Journal of Environmental Management, (Elsevier/Academic) and Environmental Sciences (Swets, Netherlands).

Research

Publications

Teaching

Supervision

Inaugural Professorial Lecture

Richard's Inaugural Professorial Lecture, "From Orange Boxes, to tsunamis and climate change: realising the potential of impact assessment", is available as a video and audio file. Please follow the links below.

IPL Audio Podcast (mp3)

IPL Video Pocast (mp4)