The 2021 Howitt Lecture
Presented in partnership with the Geological Society of Australia (Victoria Division).
Associate Professor David Kennedy is a coastal geomorphologist who specialises on the impacts of climate change, storms, tsunami and sea level rise on coastal landforms, particularly coral reefs and islands, rocky shorelines (cliffs and shore platforms) and estuaries. Surveying using total stations and remote sensing (eg. LiDAR) technologies are central to his research, which is combined with sedimentological and geochronological methodologies as well as real time measurement of wave and tidal processes. David’s research is based in the Pacific Islands and Australasia as well as in the Caribbean. He currently holds several elected positions chairing research working groups for the International Association of Geomorphologists and the International Quaternary Association. He co-leads the Victorian Coastal Monitoring Project, a multi-agency group commissioning citizen scientists to produce 3D models that precisely measure shoreline change, which was the recipient of the 2020 Eureka Prize for Innovation in Citizen Science.