AUT - Philip Sallis
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Philip Sallis
Professor of Computer Science and GeoComputation and director of the Geoinformatics Research Centre
What makes for a good year of wine? This was the question that sparked Professor Philip Sallis’ return to research after 10 years as AUT’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor. The question has led to his research on how climate, atmosphere, plant and soil data can be combined to make sense of and perhaps anticipate events in nature such as crop-destroying winds gusts or hail or frost in New Zealand. Working in the field of GeoComputation, and predominantly the domain of agrometeorology, Professor Sallis builds precision instruments which monitor environmental elements and then builds numerical models from the data they produce.
As founder and director of the Geoinformatics Research Centre at AUT, he’s built an international team of researchers and PhD students across nine countries. A research contract in Chile, supported by a government grant and for which he is principal investigator, involves working with three universities, two science agencies and numerous industry partners.
After graduating from Victoria University in maths/statistics and computer science, he went to the Faculty of Engineering at The City University in London to complete his PhD. His work pre-dated but became an integral part of what is now known as software engineering. Ordained as an Anglican Priest, in addition to an earlier degree major in history, he gained a Graduate Diploma in Theology at The University of Otago where in 1987 he was appointed to the Foundation Chair of Information Science. Prior to this he held academic positions in London and Sydney.
Professor Sallis is a fellow and past president of the New Zealand Computer Society and a member of the Royal Society of NZ. He’s also a life member of the International Association of Mathematical Geosciences and a senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers. Past work and research has seen him collaborate with NIWA, the Auckland Council, the Winegrowers Association NZ, Plant & Food Research NZ and other government agencies and industry.