Professor David Lamb

- School of Science and Technology

Phone: +61 +61 2 6773 3565

Mobile: 0428 886 088

Building: Building C24 (Stokes Building), Room 16

Biography

David is a physicist who has worked in precision agriculture, smart farms and applied physics, including optical fibre sensing and plasma physics, for 30 years. He is presently the Chief Scientist and Deputy CEO of Food Agility, an Australian Cooperative Research Centre focussed on transforming the agrifood sector using the power of data and digital. He has co-designed/led more than 90 industry-funded R&D projects and, in addition to running the CRC R&D portfolio, he also leads the AgTrace initiative in partnership with DAFF. Passionate about ‘reality-fuelled’ agtech innovation on farms, he established the University of New England's SMART Farm in 2007, and recently the Charles Sturt University Global Digital Farm initiative. In the early 2000’s he established Australia’s first badged tertiary course in Precision Agriculture (UNE) and in 2018 co-created of the ‘Farm of the Future’ Pavilion at the Sydney Royal Easter Show. He has an additional interest in renewable energy sources and the mechanism of lightning, including the mysterious ‘ball lightning

Qualifications

BSc(Hons), PhD (NE)

Awards

International Society of Precision Agriculture, Pierre C. Robert Precision Agriculture Award for individuals who have made significant contributions to precision agriculture science and technology (2022).
McClymont Distinguished Professor (Research) Award, University of New England, 2016-2020
2015 Research Excellence Award, Cooperative Research Centre for Spatial Information, November 2015.
UNE Vice Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Research (2007)

Primary Research Area/s

Precision agriculture including remote and proximal sensing, IoT devices; Precision livestock management including on-animal sensors (movement, methane emissions).; Remote and proximal sensing of the environment

Research Interests

Precision agriculture including remote and proximal sensing, IoT devices.
Precision livestock management including on-animal sensors (movement, methane emissions).
Remote and proximal sensing of the environment
Applied optics including optical fibre sensing of physical and chemical parameters
Plasma physics including electrical breakdown of gases and associated phenomena in ionised gases

Research Supervision Experience

10 Post-doctoral Research Fellows

27 PhD students

4 Masters students

11 Honours students

Publications

Alam, Md. S., Lamb, D.W., Rahman Md. M and Randall, M (2024). “Developing A Reference Method for Indirect Measurement of Pasture Evapotranspiration at Sub-Meter Spatial Resolution”. Smart Agricultural Technology. 9: 100567. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atech.2024.100567.
Aeberli, A., Phinn S., Johansen, K., Robson, A. and Lamb D.W. (2023) “Characterisation of banana plant growth using high spatiotemporal resolution multispectral UAV imagery” Remote Sensing, 15, 679. (https://doi.org/10.3390/rs15030679).
Sadgrove, E.J., Falzon, G., Miron, D. and Lamb, D.W. (2021) “The Segmented Colour Feature Extreme Learning Machine: Applications in Agricultural Robotics”. Agronomy, 11, 2290. (https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy11112290).
Peden, S., Bradbury, R.C., Lamb, D.W. and Hedley M. (2021) “Prediction of water content of eucalyptus leaves using 2.4 GHz radio wave”. Journal of Electromagnetic Analysis and Applications. 13: 111-122. (DOI: 10.4236/jemaa.2021.138008).
Crabbe, R.A., Lamb, D.W. and Edwards, C. (2019) “Discriminating between C3, C4, and mixed C3/C4 pasture grasses of a grazed landscape using multi-temporal Sentinel-1a data” Remote Sensing. 11, 253 (doi:10.3390/rs11030253).
Rahman, M.M. and Lamb, D.W. (2016) “Trigonometric correction factors renders the fAPAR-NDVI relationship from active optical reflectance sensors insensitive to solar elevation angle”. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture, 121: 43-47. (DOI 10.1016/j.compag.2015.11.020).
Verma, N.K. and Lamb, D.W. (2015) “The use of shadows in high spatial resolution, remotely sensed, imagery to estimate the height of individual Eucalyptus trees on undulating farm land”. The Rangelands Journal. 37: 467-476 (DOI 10.1071/RJ15021).
Boerkamp, M., Lamb, D.W. and Lye, P.G. (2012) “Determining crystal growth kinetic parameters using optical fibre sensors”, Journal of Crystal Growth 361:132-134. (DOI 10.1016/j.jcrysgro.2012.09.011).
Lamb, D.W., Schneider D.A., Trotter, M.G., Schaefer, M.T. and Yule I.J. (2011) “Extended-altitude, aerial mapping of crop NDVI using an active optical sensor: A case study using a Raptor^TM sensor over Wheat.” Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 77: 69-73.
Lamb, D.W. (2009) “Electrically- heated cables protect vines from frost damage at early flowering”. Australian Journal of Grape and Wine Research. 15: 79-84.

Lamb D. W. and Hooper A. (2006) “A comparative assessment of two optical fibre anemometers for measuring the speed of the electric wind in a negative polarity, atmospheric corona discharge”, Measurement Science & Technology, 17 1343-1349.

Memberships

Member, International Society of Precision Agriculture (ISPA)
Member, Australian Institute of Company Directors (MAICD)
Member, Australian Institute of Physics (MAIP)
Member, Institute of Physics (UK) (MInstPhys)
Senior Member, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (SMIEEE)
Foundation Member, Geospatial Council of Australia
(formerly Surveying and Spatial Sciences Institute (SSSI); Spatial Sciences Institute (SSI))
Member, Society of Precision Agriculture Australia (SPAA)

Consultancy Interests

Smart Farms, Precision Agriculture, Livestock methane detection, Electric breakdown of gases (ball lightning)

Community and Advocacy Organisation Collaborations

Contribution to numerous federal and state government committees of inquiry and completed numerous national reviews.